For Lucy Geiger, a senior at Parkland High School, the school day starts not with the bell, but with a search for an open parking spot. The disorganization creates safety issues, stress, and back-ups throughout the nearby roads. Lucy says, “I don’t like the parking lot because it’s overly crowded with only 2 exits and 2 entrances for the students.”

The issue of the parking lot is simple: it’s too small and not easily accessible. Not having adequate space and exits for everyone causes a mess. Most importantly, the safety of the students, teachers, and anyone driving is at risk. Katie Generose, a senior at Parkland, says, “People could get into accidents easily because everyone is rushing out at the end of the day which causes them to do whatever it takes to get out as fast as possible.” Along those lines, Olivia Satkowski, a senior, also agrees by saying, “I’ve heard so many people that have been hit and had damage done to their car because of this.” 

The parking lot can create a lot of stress for students, teachers, and anyone driving close to the vicinity. Katie says, “Nobody follows the rules of how to let people out of the lot.” Katie made it clear that she feels stressed when driving in the parking lot. This is because people are careless when it comes to others. Among the three other people asked about their opinion of the parking lot, they all said something similar to Katie.

Expanding the parking lot would create fewer back-ups on the main roads near and the little aisles in the parking lot. Lucy says “It’s very time-consuming because the main roads are also blocked up.” By expanding it, people would be able to move along faster without having to keep stopping, creating back-ups. Olivia says, “Having buses come out a few minutes later would help because then it limits the race to get out before the bus blockade.” Mr. Hauser, a physics teacher at the High School, agrees by saying, “We need another exit down to Ritter Road.” This is a key point because it would open up the nearby roads more.