BY: RAMSEY RICKETTS
CBA PRESS
Over the last few weeks at CBA student parking passes have been a source of confusion and frustration.
CBA PRESS
Over the last few weeks at CBA student parking passes have been a source of confusion and frustration.
Senior Ryan Compton explained that, "I think student parking passes should be free because there's no competition to get to the spots. We have a huge parking lot, no one really uses it and there's so many spaces. I don't really get why we're paying for parking in the first place."
An anonymous source corroborated Ryan's viewpoint, saying, "It kinda seems ridiculous because it's an empty parking lot. No one really knows what they're paying for." The source went on to say, "I don't understand why I'm paying $25. Other schools in the area, that I know, that I have friends that go to, none of them have ever paid $25 to park per year. I paid Sophomore and Junior year, and now I'm paying Senior year, that's $75 when the parking lot is basically empty."
In fact, out of all of our anonymous student sources, every one stated that the price for parking should be lowered, if not abolished.
Some other common questions among students were, "Why do motorcyclists not have to get parking passes," and, "What will be the consequences of parking without a pass?"
In order to get to the bottom of these questions and more, I conducted an interview with upper school principal Rebecca Wolfenbarger.
Below is a list of student questions with responses from Ms. Wolfenbarger.
Q: "Why was it decided that parking passes would be a fee separate from tuition?"
A: "In part, because not all students park on campus. We charge everybody a tuition, but only student drivers, and even some students who are old enough to drive, don't drive to school. So, that is a choice, not something that is required. But if you choose to drive to school and use our parking spaces, then you pay for the hang tag."
Q: "Is it true that motorcyclists are not required to pay for parking?"
A: "That is not true. They are required to have a hang tag. If they don't, it's because they have slipped by and I haven't caught them yet. Yes, they are required to have a hang tag, unless they're faculty members, we do have a couple faculty members that drive a motorcycle."
Q: "What exactly does the money from student parking passes go towards?"
A: "It covers signage, for instance I'm going to put signs up that designate specific student parking areas to protect the students spaces so that as we grow there is potential, this particular year it is possible we could have as many as 45 student drivers parking on campus. That's a lot of parking spaces when you think about Wednesday mornings and times when we have a host of parents here. So I want to make sure that those spaces are protected. And, If I can look down and aisle and I see all those people in there have Clayton-Bradley hang tags on there I know those are legitimate student spaces. But if I see someone in that designated space without a hang tag I will find out who's car that is and ask them to move. Let's say a student comes rolling in here at 8:35 and people have parked in the area designated for students, then, where are they going to park? Were not there yet, were not at that point yet, but we will be eventually. Sooner than later. Its laying the groundwork for what's going to come. Because I know what's going to happen over the next year or two, so this is just laying the groundwork. It helps pay for signage, it helps pay for striping, if we need more striping, eventually we may have to number the spaces, put specific numbers and assign student spaces. Were not going to do that yet, were not at that point yet. If there's a pothole that pops up in the pavement, it pays for the repair. It goes to all of the things having to do with driving on the campus."
Q: "What will be the ramifications for parking without a pass?"
A: "You can have your driving on campus privileges revoked until that's taken care of. I'd rather not have to do that, I think everyone wants to cooperate and wants to be part of this. There's no high school campus, that I am aware of, that does not require parking tags for students particularly, and most of the time they require them for faculty as well so they know who's on their campus. It also helps us to kind of identify if we see a car here that were not familiar with. For instance, I pretty well know what cars all of the teachers drive, just by seeing them. And if we see a car on campus we've never seen before, it looks a little odd. Why is that car here? It's here at odd times of the day. So we have to begin to put things in place that are going to be safety measures for later. So it's not something that we all of a sudden do. You build as you go, so these are all things we are putting in place now while we are small and easily manageable. So when we get to where we have 160 students at the high school, all of those kind of details have been taken care of and it's not something we have to worry about."
Regardless of your feelings about student parking passes, the message is clear –– Pay the $25 or you will not be parking on campus.
An anonymous source corroborated Ryan's viewpoint, saying, "It kinda seems ridiculous because it's an empty parking lot. No one really knows what they're paying for." The source went on to say, "I don't understand why I'm paying $25. Other schools in the area, that I know, that I have friends that go to, none of them have ever paid $25 to park per year. I paid Sophomore and Junior year, and now I'm paying Senior year, that's $75 when the parking lot is basically empty."
In fact, out of all of our anonymous student sources, every one stated that the price for parking should be lowered, if not abolished.
Some other common questions among students were, "Why do motorcyclists not have to get parking passes," and, "What will be the consequences of parking without a pass?"
In order to get to the bottom of these questions and more, I conducted an interview with upper school principal Rebecca Wolfenbarger.
Below is a list of student questions with responses from Ms. Wolfenbarger.
Q: "Why was it decided that parking passes would be a fee separate from tuition?"
A: "In part, because not all students park on campus. We charge everybody a tuition, but only student drivers, and even some students who are old enough to drive, don't drive to school. So, that is a choice, not something that is required. But if you choose to drive to school and use our parking spaces, then you pay for the hang tag."
Q: "Is it true that motorcyclists are not required to pay for parking?"
A: "That is not true. They are required to have a hang tag. If they don't, it's because they have slipped by and I haven't caught them yet. Yes, they are required to have a hang tag, unless they're faculty members, we do have a couple faculty members that drive a motorcycle."
Q: "What exactly does the money from student parking passes go towards?"
A: "It covers signage, for instance I'm going to put signs up that designate specific student parking areas to protect the students spaces so that as we grow there is potential, this particular year it is possible we could have as many as 45 student drivers parking on campus. That's a lot of parking spaces when you think about Wednesday mornings and times when we have a host of parents here. So I want to make sure that those spaces are protected. And, If I can look down and aisle and I see all those people in there have Clayton-Bradley hang tags on there I know those are legitimate student spaces. But if I see someone in that designated space without a hang tag I will find out who's car that is and ask them to move. Let's say a student comes rolling in here at 8:35 and people have parked in the area designated for students, then, where are they going to park? Were not there yet, were not at that point yet, but we will be eventually. Sooner than later. Its laying the groundwork for what's going to come. Because I know what's going to happen over the next year or two, so this is just laying the groundwork. It helps pay for signage, it helps pay for striping, if we need more striping, eventually we may have to number the spaces, put specific numbers and assign student spaces. Were not going to do that yet, were not at that point yet. If there's a pothole that pops up in the pavement, it pays for the repair. It goes to all of the things having to do with driving on the campus."
Q: "What will be the ramifications for parking without a pass?"
A: "You can have your driving on campus privileges revoked until that's taken care of. I'd rather not have to do that, I think everyone wants to cooperate and wants to be part of this. There's no high school campus, that I am aware of, that does not require parking tags for students particularly, and most of the time they require them for faculty as well so they know who's on their campus. It also helps us to kind of identify if we see a car here that were not familiar with. For instance, I pretty well know what cars all of the teachers drive, just by seeing them. And if we see a car on campus we've never seen before, it looks a little odd. Why is that car here? It's here at odd times of the day. So we have to begin to put things in place that are going to be safety measures for later. So it's not something that we all of a sudden do. You build as you go, so these are all things we are putting in place now while we are small and easily manageable. So when we get to where we have 160 students at the high school, all of those kind of details have been taken care of and it's not something we have to worry about."
Regardless of your feelings about student parking passes, the message is clear –– Pay the $25 or you will not be parking on campus.
