OPINION: BHS Should Address Student Parking Woes

By Taylor Novella

Our student parking situation is a mess – no numbered parking spots, people parking in spots that don’t exist, teachers parking in the student lot.

If we have to pay $30 a year for a parking pass, we should be guaranteed a spot, but this is not currently the case. On multiple occasions I have seen cars parked where they shouldn’t, and the question is “why?” 

The biggest issue with all of our student drivers is that the teachers have a card to enter through many doors in the building whereas students don’t have that luxury. So we have to walk to the school’s main entrance and if we have to park further away – like the B lot –  it can make students late for class. Not only that but teachers don’t have to pay to park, while we have to fork over $30 for a spot that isn’t even guaranteed to be ours.

One reason our parking lot is a mess is because of the lack of numbered spots. The issue with this is that people park wherever they want; this includes teachers — although teachers have their own parking lot with numbered spaces, some park in ours due to easy access into their classrooms according to a recent article in The Branford Buzz. This leaves fewer spots for students, and then leads students to park in spots that don’t exist. 

On Branford High School’s website there is a Student Parking Form which students are required to fill out in order to be able to park in the lot. The form states that “Students may not park in handicapped spaces…faculty/staff spaces (numbered spots), and visitor spaces, on parking lot islands or on the grass.” 

Why do we get specific parking instructions and not the adults who need it?

In other schools students are allowed to paint their specific spots before school even starts. It gives students the right to showcase their personality and their creativity, it also gives them their own spot for the entire year so someone else can’t park in it. We need to do that at BHS. It would solve many issues that we have and it would even create more school spirit.

Here’s how it should go: before school starts our drivers would have to buy a parking pass that would guarantee them a parking spot. Then they would get a numbered spot and have  the opportunity to decorate their spot before school starts. The students would have to showcase their parking pass and any car that doesn’t have one would be ticketed.

This would eliminate the students that don’t pay and would force the teachers to go park in their own lot.

My hope for next year is that the new drivers don’t have to struggle as much as we did, Branford High School should make a change and not scam students into buying a parking pass.

If we pay $30, we should be guaranteed a spot.

Editor's Note: Taylor Novell is a senior at Branford High School. The opinions expressed are her own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Branford High School or The Branford Buzz.