Over the past year, BFA has undergone several policy changes; among these changes has been student parking, specifically senior parking. There should be more senior-only parking.

Currently, there are fewer than 15 on-campus parking spots allocated to students; not just seniors, for all students. Under the new policy, these marked spots are available for all grades, so anyone who drives to school can park there in a first-come, first-served style. 

As a BFA student myself, I have heard this become an ongoing complaint among students. We find it unusual that, as seniors, we don’t have our own allocated parking spots that seniors before us had. 

For many years before this, there have been upperclassmen parking spots specifically for seniors. 

Most days that I come to school, many staff parking spots stay open throughout the day that students cannot take because we now get ticketed if we are misparked on campus in a spot that isn’t specifically for students. 

I personally know students who drive to school who have had to turn around and go home, skipping periods or even a day, because they cannot find parking reasonably close to the high school. This hinders education and adds stress to the already stressful daily lives of upperclassmen. 

Remember when you were in high school and you waited 3 or 4 years to be able to drive to school and park in the upperclassmen spots? It is a rite of passage for many high school students that we all look up to being able to do. 

Some people could refute this by saying that there is parking at the complex; however, the bus that picks kids up at the complex leaves around 6:45 to get to BFA. Students would have to be at school almost an hour early to just sit around and do nothing until 8:10 when classes actually start. 

I understand that parking has always been an issue at BFA, partly because our school is located on Main Street, and the other part is that teachers and other staff also need to be able to park. Here’s what I propose. We give staff marked parking. We know how many staff there are (school administrators, teachers, the Abbey staff, etc.); therefore, we can give them guaranteed spots. We can also allocate spots just for seniors. The rest of the unused parking spots can be given to any other student who wants to drive to BFA. This ensures that staff get parking spots and that seniors still get a chance to park on campus, while also giving room for other students to park in unused spots.