Every upperclassman who has driven to school without an assigned parking spot knows the agony of finding a parking spot or having to walk from your car parked 2 blocks away from school. One would most likely also receive a “look” from the residents when you exit your car. Each morning, students unassigned a parking spot, whether it is the unlucky seniors who received the short end of the stick or the juniors who already have their driver’s license, walk 10 additional minutes on top of their morning drive. They also need to walk 10 minutes back to their car  – most likely burning after being parked in the sun for an entire day. Although some could argue the extra exercise is beneficial, many would also disagree. 

Currently, juniors are not allowed to drive to school. This rule has been causing commotion since many students can not conveniently get a ride to or from school. This also causes students to either use a rideshare company or carpool with a friend to school: also problematic due to COVID. As a result, many juniors continue to drive to school. ICE, also known as Mr. Lyman, has been understanding, allowing those who really need to drive. The current requirements for those drivers, as ICE (Mr. Lyman) states, is to park 2 blocks north of Baptiste Way and not block any resident’s driveway. He explains that if students need to drive, they need to park as dispersed as possible to not upset the neighbors. It is important to not upset the neighbors, as they are the ones responsible for approving construction projects on Prep’s campus. 

Students continue to make the point: the residents bought their house next to three schools, so why would they expect students to not be parking on the streets? Although this is a reasonable argument, the parking issue still stems from the limited parking spots we have at Prep. We only have enough parking spots to accommodate around half of the senior class, while St. Francis has a multi-story parking structure. The Flintridge Prep family should work together to explore solutions to this old problem. A junior who preferred to not be identified stated, “I think there are better ways to handle the parking situation. I’m not saying it would be easy to fix the problem but I think applying for a parking structure or even discussing with the city about the parking situation would reassure both the Prep community and those living around us.” Although the school’s administration has already contacted the city and the city did not approve of the construction of a parking structure, it is still a small step forward to resolving this dilemma.