The Accolade Editorial Board unanimously agrees that Sunny Hills does not offer enough parking spaces for students in the east and west lots, especially in the spring semester when more are getting their drivers’ licenses; school officials should consider opening up more spaces on campus or else the problem will only get worse.
The numbers don’t lie. Since the return of in-person instruction after the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 closed down schools, the statistics that school accounting clerks provided to The Accolade reflect a growing trend of students buying parking permits.
Starting with the 2021-2022 school year, the total fell three shy of 300 of the more than 2,400 students enrolled. That increased to 330 in the 2022-2023 school year followed by another seven more to reach 337 in 2023-2024. The biggest jump came this school year to 373.
The Accolade’s data team tallied in April the total slots labeled “Student” in the east and west parking zones, and that number came to 345, leaving nearly 30 student motorists without a dedicated place to leave their vehicles when they arrive on campus. That could explain why so many have been found using staff-labeled slots before first period starts at 8:30 a.m. (Also keep in mind that some students choose not to follow school policy and take the risk of never buying parking permits, which have resulted so far in warnings issued by campus supervisors as well as text messages sent to parents reminding them to tell their children to park in correctly labeled slots.)
We have addressed this problem with school officials, but they have opted to ignore our concerns when our top editors met with administrators in April. They instead insist that the campus does have enough space, but student motorists choose not to park so far away from their first-period classes. We are also aware that our own adviser, Tommy Li, has emailed administrators on several occasions in April and May complaining of an overabundance of students parking in the area where he and other staff normally leave their vehicles as they arrive on campus and that more needs to be done besides verbal or written warnings to follow school policy.
Those messages usually inform student violators that they could receive a parking ticket from city officials or a revocation of their parking permits — if they ever got one to begin with. As of May, The Accolade has yet to find anyone who has received either of these consequences, which explains why our adviser had such a hard time finding a place to park and had to resort to parking in a yellow loading zone near one of the doors outside his classroom on two or more occasions.
If administrators are not planning to increase the number of parking spaces for students, they should not have oversold parking permits. Checking the number of spaces before the start of a new school year and notifying the students that a limited number of parking permits will be sold would prevent problems like the current one.
Our school’s history shows an ability to adapt facilities to student needs. Just as we’ve expanded classroom buildings and athletic facilities over the years, we must now prioritize parking infrastructure. We have also noticed that the parking issue usually occurs in the middle of the spring semester, as more students tend to get their drivers’ licenses after turning 16. Given that scenario, we implore school officials to consider these potential solutions:
- Adding more parking spaces; right behind our classroom in the 130s building lies a fenced-in lot that school officials use to store various furniture or school vehicles. The auto tech class also uses it throughout the day, but not all slots are filled up. Why not open up that area only in the spring semester to accommodate for the increase of student drivers?
The fenced-in lot facing Room 139 usually has six or more parking spaces vacant for most of the school day. This is an option school officials should consider making available for student motorists to park in. (Photo taken by Tommy Li) - Transforming the front and back spaces that are left unused by staff most of the time into student spaces; since student drivers have yet to face any serious consequences for parking in staff lots, why not just redesignate them for their use? Red cones should then be place in designated staff slots so that when teachers arrive, they can ensure that they have spaces for them to use.
The fenced-in parking lot between the 130s and 150s buildings contain as many as 15 slots that school officials could consider opening up for student motorists to park in, especially in the spring semester when more pupils are getting their drivers’ licenses. (Photo taken by Tommy Li)
We implore the administration to take this issue into consideration and address the problem before the 2025-2026 school year. Our parking system has reached a breaking point, and it’s time for action before it becomes a full-blown safety crisis that could also impact the safety of students and staff. Please stop parking this issue and consider our solutions.
The Accolade Editorial Board is made up of the top editors and section editors on the 2024-2025 staff with the guidance of adviser Tommy Li. If you have a question about the board’s decision or an issue for the board to discuss and write about, please send an email to [email protected].
