The PVHS parking problem is well-known among the student body and the staff. “Creative” parking jobs, staff spaces being taken and students parking illegally have been issues plaguing PVHS for years. Not only that, but it can only get worse due to the school’s continued growth.
People like Mauricio Pena, one of our campus supervisors, sees increased enrollment at PV High as a good thing but the issue that it poses requires some thinking.
“For next year [and] the following year, we’re going to have to figure out some new ideas,” Pena said.
Even now, there are not enough spots for the drivers of the student body, which has led to some interesting incidents. The staff may have been working on a fix, but students have started to take the issue into their own hands.
The main issue is that it disproportionately affects students without a zero period, like senior Cami Michel.
Even though she gets “to school at around 8:15, miraculously there’s never any parking,” said Michel.
This led her to come up with a creative solution by parking on a patch of grass in the junior lot.
Many students at PV see these parking jobs as something that is almost necessary.
Michel said that she does not regret her parking job despite having gotten in trouble for it. She’s “had to start driving a motorcycle type [moped] to school and parking on PV Drive West because [she] can’t handle the heat anymore.”
Some of these parking jobs are down right illegal, but campus supervisor Elena Stewart said that they’re lenient “just because we know that there’s a lot of kids on campus.”
Despite this, there are instances where they can not be as tolerant. No matter how understanding the staff try to be, Stewart said that when students park in “some of the other spaces like handicap and anything that’s super egregious,” those students may have to suffer some consequences
Still, in regards to whether there are actually enough spots on campus for all of the student drivers to park acceptably, Stewart says “yes and no.”
There are not enough spaces on campus but some off campus spots help with the issue.
The parking spot drought does mean that occasionally, students may have to park in non-traditional parking spots, such as the woodchips next to the senior lot, and the woodchips near the administration offices.