With the increase of tickets given out to students for parking in East’s lots without a pass, the administrators have taken action. For the first time ever they are allowing a specific number of sophomores to purchase parking passes next semester.
Previously, freshmen and sophomores had to park in the Prairie Village Pool parking lot, known by the students as the “sophomore lot.” Though juniors used to only be allowed to park in the southeastern lot by the soccer field and seniors in the northern main lot in front of the school, both will now be open to all upperclassmen. But, the named “junior lot” and “senior lot” stuck. Now that some sophomores are going to be allowed to park in the main lots, the names are no longer relevant.
Once word got out about this controversy, the majority of sophomores were ecstatic, while upperclassmen felt quite the contrary.
“There will be a day sometime next semester – we have not decided yet – where we will either have the sophomores line up at 5 a.m., and first come first serve, or do a sort of lottery ticket thing,” Haney said. “Once we reach a magic number, then we will stop giving them out.”
The reason for this change is because many seniors feel that they deserve to park in the “senior” lot even though they do not have a pass, which most do. The administration wants the students with parking passes to be the only ones parking in the East lots, and they feel this is the way to accomplish that. Basically, that means pushing out the seniors without a pass. Haney and the administrators want to remind East that parking is a privilege, not a right.
The majority of seniors and juniors are outraged by this, mostly because they believe this will increase traffic and accidents, and they do not want to lose their parking spot.
Junior Cameron Fritz drove all sophomore year and feels that if he had to walk the long walk everyday, then the current sophomores should have to do the same.
“I think that [the sophomores] should have to struggle through parking in the sophomore lot just like everyone else did,” Fritz said. “But, if they do park in the senior lot then they should only be able to park in the back row, so that they are not taking spots from juniors and seniors.”
Fritz also believes that the traffic and accidents in the senior lot will escalate.
“It’s pretty tough to get out of the senior lot already, and now with the less experienced drivers there might be more accidents,” Fritz said.
However, Haney believes that the upperclassmen have been dealing with the traffic for years now, and it will not change much.
Fritz thinks that East should keep the same parking policy that has been in effect for years.
Due to their growing frustration, there are rumors and threats floating around from the upperclassmen, saying if a sophomore parks in their spot, forcing them to park in the sophomore lot, they are going to deface the sophomore’s car.
Fritz thinks that’s a bit extreme.
“If I knew them then I would say something to them, but if I didn’t know them then I guess I would just have to find another spot,” Fritz explained. ”But if I had to park in the sophomore lot, then I would be mad.”
These threats will most likely go away once one person does something to a sophomore’s car, because Haney said that if something were to happen, then the senior or junior found responsible will lose their parking privilege.
Sophomore Riley McCullough, one of the many students who has parked in the senior lot without a pass and has received tickets for doing so, has been driving to school since freshman year and has received a few tickets for parking in the senior lot in that time. She is extremely happy with the change.
“Coming from a sophomore I think this a good idea,” McCullough said.
McCullough also expressed how excited she is to get a parking pass in the future.
“I will definitely be getting [a parking pass], I would do anything to get one.” McCullough said, “I would even sleep at East overnight to get one.”