Niles West administration now requires students to park in assigned spots. Upon purchase of a parking pass, students are offered a list of available spots to choose from, which they are required to park in every day.
Senior Subhaan Patel is one of many who bought a parking pass.
“I like the new system, because I don’t have to worry about finding a parking spot when I come to school late, because of a doctors appointment or I oversleep or something,” Patel said.
Students like Patel are not the only people who like the new system. Math teacher Lynne Rauser agrees that this new system is an improvement for students as well as teachers.
“If they enforce it, if they do what they actually say they’re gonna do [and] they ticket you, then it will be way better,” Rauser said.
According to Rauser, the system is an improvement and will continue to be an improvement if the consequences are enforced.
“After you receive three warnings, then you will receive a ticket. After the ticket, they’re implementing that they’re going to begin towing the vehicle,” head of security Al Lopez said.
Lopez reported that on Aug. 13, the first day of school, there were over 20 violators who parked where they were not supposed to. There were two violators on Aug. 20. He believes the system is working because students are beginning to purchase parking passes and are following the rules.
Even though the system has been met with much appreciation by students and teachers, some students don’t like the system.
“I don’t like it because I feel like if I come to school early I deserve to get a closer parking spot than someone who shows up third period. I also don’t think students should have to pay for parking, especially not $300. Maybe if it was cheaper, I would be fine with it, but $300 is just too much,” senior Nitin Sharma said.
Many students share Sharma’s complaints. The price of parking has been a big complaint for quite a few years.
“That has traditionally been done in our school long before I got here, I’ve only been here a year, and we look at driving as a privilege. So when they pay, that money is actually going right back into our school to provide for things that we do for our students,” Niles West Principal Jeremy Christian said.
Regarding the cost of parking, Christian also went on to say that, “We’ll look into it in the future and see if there’s something that can be done about it.”
