“I think students shouldn’t have to pay for parking passes. We already have to pay for gas and insurance, so we shouldn’t have to pay for passes since we have to be at school,” an anonymous student said when asked what they think about paying for a parking spot. 

At the beginning of the school year, students who drive are asked to pay a $25 fee for a mirror hanger giving them permission to park in the Rocky parking lot. If the fee is only required to be paid once for all of the students’ high school years, many students are left wondering why they have to pay for parking passes at all.

“Our main goal is to guide students to take a step into adulthood. When they go to college or work for businesses later in life, they will be expected to pay for parking. We want to slowly prepare them for life outside of school. Another one of our goals is to use the money from parking passes to fund Character First prizes, snacks, and all kinds of things the deans support and provide,” dean Russ Stapleton answered when asked about why students pay for parking passes. 

To get a parking hanger, students should see PSD campus security officer Eric Avilucea within the first few days of school. They have to present him or one of the deans the following documents: vehicle registration, proof of insurance, driver’s license, and proof of payment of required fee. 

Once they get their parking hanger, students must put it somewhere visible in their car, such as hanging it on the rearview mirror. 

“We have parking rules that students are expected to follow, mostly for their own safety. The main one is to always have your parking hanger visible in your car. This allows us to identify who the car belongs to in case of an emergency,” Stapleton explained when discussing the importance of the passes. 

In the last few years, several cases have been reported of students parking in the wrong parking lot, mostly to avoid traffic at the end of class. This takes spots away from the people who are supposed to park there. 

There are four main parking lots at Rocky: the senior, junior, and sophomore parking lots are designed for students of respective grades and the staff parking lot is for teachers and staff members. Students are expected to park in the correct parking lot; they risk a warning if they do not follow the rules. Each student is allowed to have three warnings. After three, students may either have a conversation with the deans or to receive a boot on their vehicle. 

“When students are parked on a curve, in handicap spaces, or in the staff parking lot without authorization, it can lead to dangerous situations that would justify getting your car booted,” Mr. Avilucea explained when asked for the different reasons of why cars have been booted in the past. 

To get the boot removed, students should go to the dean’s office to have a conversation. Their parking pass will be revoked and their parents will be informed. 

If students didn’t have a parking pass prior to the booting, then it’ll be required from them to get one and pay the $25 fee that goes along with it. 

If they already had a parking pass, then it’ll be revoked and students will be expected to pay a $25 fee again to get the boot removed and obtain a new parking pass. 

Continuous unsafe driving and warnings can lead to the loss of parking privileges, such as not being allowed to park on campus anymore. 

Parking in the right parking lot and ensuring that you have a parking pass is important to keep all Rocky students safe.