As the weather is getting colder and fewer students are walking to school, it’s the season for parent drop-off. After traffic control has been trying to guide parents to successfully drop off their kids, dropping students off has never been as chaotic as this year. As someone who drives to school every morning, I have dealt with the chaos firsthand.
In the mornings, I can never find parking due to some parents occupying the parking spots to either drop off their kids or wait to pass the time for whatever reason. Then, when they begin to leave the parking spots, they risk hitting other cars of students who are trying to park.
Not only do parents occupy the parking spots that hold up students from parking their cars, some also stop on the street to drop their kids off. When a parent drops their kid off on the street, this causes commotion for other people trying to get to work and causes an extra delay for student drivers trying to get to school.
I come to my first-period class late very frequently, not because I am an irresponsible student who can not manage my time wisely, but because I am late due to the traffic parents create. On a daily basis, I am delayed around ten minutes waiting in line to get into the parking lot, arriving on Oakton at 7:50, but not getting to the parking spots until 8:05. I have had to find the ideal time to leave my house to make it to school at the right time before the parents begin their stampede, but it is difficult as I have the responsibility of dropping my sister off to school every morning.
Dropping children off should not take longer than a minute at the door. While the students are their children, they do not need to take forever to hug and kiss their teenagers before being dropped off, it holds up time not only for their own child but for many others as well.
Mornings are not only an issue, but also after school. I assume parents are too tired or have no strength in the mornings to honk their horns because, after school for pick-up, they tap the horn as if they are on a game show. In game shows every question that contestants think they know, they tap the buzzer, however, in the Niles West parking lot, every negative thought that comes to parents’ heads gets expressed through the sound of an irritated honk. At least they are not expressing their feelings verbally.
However, not all days are bad. Parking lot chaos tends to happen more frequently on late start days and days with rain, snow, or colder temperatures. Days that do not contain the previously mentioned, go smoothly. As cold weather is approaching, I think that first-period classes should have a five-minute leeway period where students are not marked tardy the first five minutes of class, but any time after will be given a tardy.
It is understandable that parents have places to be and responsibilities to take care of, however, it is no excuse for chaotic, unorganized behavior in the parking lot when many students have school to attend.
