As the second semester begins, it seems like school rules are getting stricter. Since coming back from break, I feel like so many new rules have been put in place by the school, and if they’re old rules, they just seem to be getting stricter.

First of all, students are being given tickets in the parking lot. Students are supposed to buy parking passes at the beginning of the school year, but since school started, most people have not bought passes. There are many reasons for this. Some students might use a different car every day, or every other day coming to school and they don’t want to pay for the overpriced parking passes for the multiple cars they drive. In general, parking passes can be very expensive for a lot of students. Since the beginning of the school year, everyone was able to park in the parking lot without getting any warnings or tickets. However, after winter break, there have been orange warning slips on almost every car in the parking lot. The parking lot has been an issue for pretty much the whole year, and there have been many complaints about it. But, this is probably the biggest complaint I have heard. A lot of students, including myself, do not think we should have to buy parking passes, since the school year is almost over anyway. Also, to be honest, we are not even guaranteed to have a spot to park in. So many people have started driving to school and there are just not enough spots in the parking lot. Many of my friends who have either late start, or come from Niles North because of their BNAT class, have to park across from the school most of the time. It does not make sense for them to have to pay for a parking pass when they cannot even get a spot in the parking lot.

That’s just one of the stricter rules that have been implemented. Many students have been getting detentions for leaving the school for study hall. I get the school wants us to stay inside the building and be able to get to class on time, but why are there such strong rules against leaving for study halls? Most students do not even do anything during study hall. It is not a time when students are learning, so it does not hurt to leave the building for one period. I am gonna be honest, students do not want to stay in school when they technically do not have a class. Instead, we should have a paper where parents sign allowing juniors and seniors to leave for study hall because they already go off-campus for lunch.

All in all, the school should add more parking spots and let students leave for study hall. Hopefully next year these problems will be solved, even though I am going to be gone.