Parking Problems Teachers and Students Fight it Out

“Do as I say, not as I do.”

This age old adage has been used by parents around to world when accounting for behavior that did not follow the moral codes they impose upon their children.

Recently the statement has applied to teachers; specifically, teachers telling students where to park.

The area by the administration building holds faculty cars, the back parking lot close to the school  contains student parking, and the area in front of the school is a free-for-all. A mystery, however, is the status of the parking lot in between the gym and the portables. Are the tiny spaces only for staff parking, can students also park there if it is convenient to do so? This has never been truly outlined, and leaves students ambiguous about the faculty’s authority to make them move.

“The student’s have a new parking lot all to themselves,” Mr. Elliot, a math teacher, sad, “It’s spaces are much wider too than the ones by the portables. I don’t know why they would try to park here. I don’t like parking here.”

“I hurt my foot in the Kelso soccer game,” Christina McDonald 12 said, “So parking right by Leadership was handy. But every day I was asked to move, even though I moved after class, and I even parked down by the Harding Building and someone told me to move.”

What is most frustrating about being told to move from such convenient parking spots is that teachers do not follow their own guidelines. Every day, RAL faculty parks in the back parking lot that is designated for students, taking up spaces that are close to the school and forcing kids to park farther away than necessary.

“Teachers probably park in student spots as a reaction,” Elliot said, “Either the staff parking lot isn’t big enough, or students are in their spots.”

As a student who does not usually drive a car, the complaints I have heard about teachers parking in the student parking lot have mostly come second-hand. However, walking to the back parking lot at 7:25 a.m. proves this to be true.

On behalf of the RAL student body, I implore that the parking be better outlined so that we the kids know whether or not we are being tricked out of our rightful spots. And once the lines have been drawn, I ask the teachers to follow their own rules.

If there are simply not enough parking spots to go around, that is a whole new parking problem.