Lizzy Burke
Features Editor
“Although I’m slightly afraid to admit this, I don’t always park in the dirt lot, where I should. Sometimes if I’m tight on time when heading to school I’ll choose to park in the junior lot, instead, since it’s closer,” sophomore Sara Wilson said.
Sara is one of the hundreds of students who are constantly navigating around the strict parking laws here at the high school. Segregated parking is not a new trend for New Canaan High School, but recently there have been many complaints about the severe punishment and conflict it presents.
“I think it’s completely wrong that these rules are in place,” junior Katie Kuberra said. “By enforcing certain parking locations based on your grade, the school is promoting bullying by the seniors and the concept of “seniority”.”
Sara agreed, saying she has similar feelings. “Although I’ve personally never been involved, I have seen a lot of sophomores getting yelled at by upperclassmen for parking where they aren’t supposed to park, or getting tickets from the parking attendants for not having the proper pass,” she said.
To be able to park on campus, students must pay 50 dollars to purchase a parking pass. However, there are limited parking spaces, so buying one of these passes can prove difficult. This proves especially true for sophomores or juniors who get their licenses late. “For the sophomores it’s almost impossible for them to get parking passes,” Katie said. “Subsequently, the juniors without parking passes, because they received their license at a later date, can’t park in the visitor lot because it’s full of sophomores. This overflow creates a domino effect and makes juniors get the most parking tickets and bullying from the upperclassmen.”
Junior Liz O’Sullivan is an example of the end of this “domino effect”. “I park in the dirt lot because there are no more junior parking passes available, and the administration has been really vigilant about the parking rules,” she said.
Liz, a junior who got her license late in comparison to the rest of her grade, must make the long walk from the dirt lot to school each morning because of the limited parking space.
Sara identified with the hassle of parking in the dirt lot. “Parking in the dirt lot doesn’t make much sense,” Sara said. “I would feel the same way if I was a junior or senior, because the dirt lot is so much farther away. Walking that far is not fair, and it often makes people late to school.”
Sophomore John* is another student who questions the purpose of the dirt lot. “ I think a lot of sophomores park in the junior lot because of the availability. Why should we park in the dirt lot when there are well over 30 empty spaces every day in the junior lot?” he said.
Many students resent the pricy tickets that result from violating a parking law, with attendants on the lookout for even the smallest infraction. “The parking attendants enforce where we park, and they’re always out monitoring the parking lots and giving expensive tickets,” Liz said.
Katie had a similar opinion. “The prices of the parking tickets are ridiculous,” she said. “Other schools’ parking tickets go up to 10 dollars tops. I can’t afford the 40 dollar parking tickets and I know I’m not alone.”
Others have speculated on the general struggle it presents to the students who worry about parking every day. “The administration creates stress and chaos by making it such a big deal to park your car somewhere. We’re all just trying to get ourselves to school and put our car somewhere so we can get an education for a few hours,” Katie said.
Sophomore Alex Dobbin has also been affected by parking limitations. “Recently I had a double sleep in, and didn’t go to the junior lot because I was assuming that I wouldn’t find a spot,” he said. “I tried to park in the dirt lot, but it was full, so I had to park at the Waveny castle. I then walked all the way to school in the pouring rain, just because I couldn’t find parking.”
Although it seems like the school has gone to great lengths to make parking difficult for students, it is all with good reason. “I think the purpose of the strict enforcement is to keep people in their correct lot, for organizational reasons. However, the organization is based off of pure convenience,” Sara said.
Alex agreed. “I believe that the purpose of these rules are mainly to maintain the parking lots for those who truly deserve them,” he said. “There are a lot more driving seniors than juniors, and juniors than sophomores, so it’s understandable why these restrictions are in place.”
Whether you’re parking in Band Land, the Junior Lot, the Senior Lot, the Dirt Lot, or the Jock Lot, every student who drives must get to school in some way. “In a perfect world, we’d all get to school every day and always have a place to park,” Sara said.
