Students who drive to school every day know the many challenges of making it in and out of the parking lot. First, make it to the car, watching out for other drivers. Pull out of the parking spot, trying to wedge yourself between the line of cars behind you. Inch forward towards the main flow of traffic and hope that someone lets you in. Finally make it out and, if you’re lucky, it’s been less than 15 minutes.
“Most of the traffic stems from the student parking lot which I think is the worst thing because people have places to be and things to do and the way it gets held up by parents who are sitting there and not even moving all the way down so more cars can come in is absurd,” said freshman Alyssa Last.
Trying to get into the school isn’t much better either. A five minute drive turns into a 20-minute wait in line to get into the school. Even once you get into the parking lot, making it through takes a terrible amount of time because parents wait for their students to get out of the car before they start moving again, which holds up the whole line.
“The amount of traffic that happens getting in and out of the school makes me pretty frustrated and I end up late to class even when I leave my house early,” said senior Kassidy King.
The same thing happens after school when parents come to pick them up, they hold up the line while waiting for their students to make it to the car, resulting in unnecessarily longer and slower moving lines. The amount of excess cars in the parking lot, paired with a massive amount of new drivers, creates the perfect environment for an accident to occur, and they do.
Drop off in the student parking lot makes it difficult for everyone to get to class on time, which isn’t fair for students who have no choice but to park there. As a result, when students are late it creates a huge line to get a late slip from the campus supervisor at the gate which in turn results in more class time lost. This is why there is a sign in front of the gate asking parents to please drop off late students at the attendance office. There are also two other parking lots, and a designated drop off area in front of the school made for parents to drive through to drop off which is also another option for late students.
“It makes my job a lot harder when students don’t get dropped off where they need to be, and it makes other students wait in line much longer than they should to get a pass to go to class,” said Mission Hills supervisor Lisa Wood
The student parking lot should be primarily reserved for student driving needs, not parent drop off and pick up needs. Eliminating excess traffic from that area will make mornings easier for students, parents, and people who pass by the usually congested area.