If you are a senior or junior who parks in the student reserved lots, you know the struggle of traffic, especially leaving the school at dismissal. Friends become foes, and leaving the lot seems to become a race against one another.
“People don’t know how to drive. There have been many accidents [in the student lots]. I have to cut people off because they won’t let me in,” Silas Scheel, senior, said.
This school year, 268 students purchased a student parking permit for $200. There are 180 instructional days in the FCPS school year. This means a student parking pass costs roughly $1.11 per instructional day and $5.55 per school week. By purchasing the permit, each student agrees and is expected to follow the established rules, including parking only in their assigned space, obeying all campus traffic laws, and being personally responsible for theft or damages.
The majority of students abide by the policies given, but some students disregard them. Along with that, student driving in general is a potential safety concern, with teenagers having the highest crash rate of any age group, according to Virginia’s State Corporation Commission.
“People are in a rush to get out and beat traffic, but they’re really reckless because of that and they rush out even when they shouldn’t,” Maggie Bilski, junior, said.
Dismissal is a hectic time for all students and faculty alike. However, there are many factors that go into dismissal that students often overlook. The buses need to leave on time to stick to their schedule to pick up students from primary schools after dropping off high school students, which means every minute counts. Keeping the flow of traffic smooth and respectful is key.
To ensure safety, leaving the lot cannot be about getting out the quickest; it’s must be about safety and ensuring the transportation services keep to their schedules.
“The majority of our students are very mindful, very respectful, and exhibit good driving practices. But there are times when I’m standing out at dismissal before buses leave, where I notice students are acting inpatient. They are often cutting each other off or speeding to try to get out before the buses,” Ms. Corbin, assistant principal said.
“While I understand that our students have a lot of responsibilities after school, we also have a responsibility to make sure that we are working as best as we can to respect our transportation services, as well as making sure that our students understand that safety is our first priority,” she said.
Some students who have purchased a parking spot, have found it occupied by some other vehicle: another student, staff member, or in some situations, third party visitors.
This inconvenience for students can snowball as then they might park in other spots. In some instances, it might be uncontrollable such as when delivery trucks park in the most convenient lot, usually either of the student lots.
“I’ve had the same car park in my spot for three days in a row,” Bilski said.
When vehicles are parked in spaces not assigned to them, it creates a disorderly situation.
Eliza Anderson, junior, said, “People parking in other people’s spots is bad because it sets off this big chain reaction where no one can park in their spot.”
Last year, there were numerous collisions involving students and staff, which highlighted the risks of unauthorized parking.
This year, a new strategy has been implemented which dissaudes students to park in the staff and kiss-n-ride lot once the school day begins. After the bell rings for the start of the day, a gate closes off the entrance of the staff lot. It opens up at dismissal.
So far, feedback from faculty this year proves the new protocol to be effective in keeping students from parking in the staff lot.
“Parking behavior by students has improved tremendously this year because we have limited access to our staff parking lot for students. We used to have a lot of students who would park in ours [faculty lot] without a permit often in staff spots. That would create a lot of safety issues for our building,” Corbin said.
