Every year, Lakewood High School releases parking permits for students at the beginning of August, first to seniors and then to other students. The permits are available on a first-come, first-served basis until they sell out. They cost $20 and require students to provide all information about their car, including insurance details and a picture of their license. Students parking in the student parking lot during school hours are required to have a parking permit and are only permitted to park in the rows after the first and second rows, which are designated for staff use only.
The permits are released sporadically throughout the year. After being released in August, the school’s Book Room conducted another permit release the second week of September. The Book Room stated in recent emails that they plan to do more releases throughout the year.
“We’re going to open up probably like 10 to 15 passes every so often throughout the semester,” said Asia Mestek, one of the Book Room secretaries.
Due to students obtaining their licenses throughout the year at various times, many have struggled to get parking permits between permit releases. As a result, students started parking on streets adjacent to the school, like Robinwood and Bunts. “I’ve parked on the North side of Robinwood, Olivewood, and even once I had to park on Parkwood past the high school,” said Adrien Tullio, a senior at Lakewood High School. The streets near the school are usually full, and some of them require a residential parking permit. Parking on these streets during harsh weather can pose dangers and cause students to be late.
It is hard to find a solution to this problem. “We could put 100 parking permits on sale, and then we’ve got schedule changes for students,” said Bridgette Firstenberger, Lakewood High School Associate Principal. While a good idea, releasing all of the parking permits at the beginning of the year isn’t possible due to students’ schedules. “As they’re released, we take a couple of weeks to evaluate what the parking situation looks like, and then decide whether or not we still have permits for students to purchase,” Firstenberger said.
A possible solution could be to make students responsible for going to the Book Room and requesting the permit form themselves, rather than waiting for the form to reopen every few months for all students. The school could still release the same number of permits at the beginning of August to ensure student parking on the first day of school. This would make it easier for students to get a parking permit anytime throughout the school year, while keeping the system organized for staff.
The school has considered assigning parking spots in the lot to each student with a parking pass, but this comes with its own set of problems. “We’ve actually talked about that, and in theory it’s a good idea, but the second the weather turns bad and kids can’t find their spot, they’ll go park in someone else’s spot,” Firstenberger said. Many schools use assigned parking spots and most likely have a solution for this problem. Maybe next year, there will be a way to make assigned parking spots for students while avoiding weather-related issues. “Even if you get an assigned spot, that’s bad or further away, it’s still a guaranteed spot every morning,” Tullio said.
“With the limited space that we have available, we are doing the best that we can with the space that we have,” Mestek said. For now, the parking permit process will remain unchanged, and staff will continue working hard to accommodate students in the student parking lot. The parking pass system at Lakewood High School could be modified in the future to be more efficient for both students and staff.
