At 7:30 on a late start Wednesday, Huntley High School junior Sandy Le breathes a sigh of relief. She still has thirty minutes before school officially starts and the buses have appropriately dropped her off on time.
However, outside those bulky HHS doors, junior Meagan Powell has just been reintroduced to the school’s ill-fitting idea of the answer to last year’s situation.
“As soon as I enter the parking lot, I realize it’s going to be awhile before I find a spot,” said Powell.
Furiously scanning the parking lot for an open space, Powell quickly realizes that she is out of luck. The area which she normally parks in is filled. This now means that she must comb through the parking lot amongst the worst spots, far from her locker and classes.
“I tend to arrive late as it is on other days, but on late starts, I’m virtually screwed,” said Powell.
The idea of free-for-all parking was proposed last year after Dean of Students Chris Duncan noticed that the parking spaces were not always filled up or handled efficiently. There were a significant amount of spaces left open after fourth hour. Duncan was searching for a system that would ensure that every feasible spot would be filled, every day.
However, this new system has the tendency to generate chaos, especially between 7:20 am and 7:30 a.m. when the rush of students reaches its peak.
“It’s crazy,” said senior Jeffrey Prado. “I wish I could just have my spot guaranteed.”
The new system operates with more of a first-come-first-serve atmosphere. In a way, it’s survival of the fittest, and whoever can get there first gets the better spot.
“I just wish I could drive in, park in my own assigned spot, without having to worry so much about parking,” said junior Haleigh Greer.
Students forced to cope with their schedules find themselves scouring through the worst possible spots left over for them after third hour.
“It’s a complete inconvenience for those who have to go to McHenry County College or just have late arrival, period,” said Greer.
Being forced to pay $50 to $100 to be unsure of your parking situation up until the very moment you shift your gear into park is an absolutely unfair. This system can only benefit those who are able to arrive early to school.
“Sometimes they end up in the cruddy spots. I appreciate last year’s method. This year you just never know where you might end up,” said Greer.
What some students have reported is that further into the school year, students basically claim their own spots. However, the problem with this is that unavoidably the spots in that area will be filled, forcing the students to familiarize themselves with new areas.
“Besides, further into the school year, we develop our own sections and it becomes somewhat like last year’s system,” said senior Leticia Russel.
While it is a rather simplistic concept, free-for-all parking simply is not a fair system for every Huntley High School student. The school should return back to its days of assigned parking, and limit the disarray that occurs every day in the student parking lot.
Day by day, students must worry about examinations, issues dealing with their peers, and further academic hassles. With the birth of this new parking system, it has only been worsened.
Post Author: Franca Onyibor. Franca is a junior at Huntley High school as well as a staff writer. She is one of the many faces behind the The Voice. She occasionally volunteers her time at the church and participates in select volunteering programs. She enjoys catching up on a good book from time to time as well as hanging out with friends. One day she hopes to become a psychologist and (while this may sound overused) make a real difference in a child’s life.