Parking passes appear to have once again become a hot topic for students, particularly upperclassmen. Each year, student drivers are required to purchase a $25 pass to be allowed to park their vehicles in the school parking lot. Some students think the price of the ticket is unreasonable, especially since they now have to pay for testing services like the PSAT ($17) and the SAT ($56) which had been free to FCHS students in previous years.
Some students are complaining that the parking pass fee is just adds to the pressure of paying for expenses like field trips, school sports merchandise, and attending school sports and extracurricular events like Homecoming.
“As a senior, I have a lot of things to start thinking about and paying for. It’s my last year of high school, so I should be able to have fun not worrying about how much money I have,” said senior Logan Shaffer.
During class meetings the first week of school, juniors and seniors were told they had to purchase the parking passes and display them in cars, or else face consequences like referrals, loss of driving privileges, or even their car getting towed at their expense.
“I went almost all of last year without buying [a pass], and now they’re threatening to take away my license if I don’t buy one. That seems pretty harsh to me,” said one senior who asked to remain anonymous.
Some students believe that they shouldn’t have to pay this expense just because they drive themselves to school.
“I think it’s a bit pointless to have to pay to park at school. Just because I drive myself doesn’t mean I’m different from anyone else that goes to school on a day-to-day basis. It’s just kind of unfair,” said senior Eliza Vesga.
In the past, Principal Margo Bruce has noted that money raised from the parking pass goes to teacher appreciation activities, such as providing snacks for teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week. Since hearing that, students are even more discouraged this year than ever to purchase a parking pass for themselves.
“I think paying for parking in the first place is a little extreme, but the fact the money isn’t even going toward something that can benefit the school as a whole really bothers me. I’m all for teacher appreciation, but I don’t think this is the way to go about paying for it,” said junior River McMillian.
This year, Bruce said that the funds raised still help underwrite teacher appreciation supplies, but also for other things such as helping students in need of things like school supplies, and maintenance for the parking lot.
“Above all, the parking passes are important so we know who is on campus. I can look at the tag and know who they are and that they are supposed to be here. Though students think it’s too expensive, we have the lowest price in the district. In some circumstances a student doesn’t even get their license until the second semester of the year. We only charge them half of the price at $12.50,” said Bruce.
Making students purchase parking passes is indeed a common practice in most high schools, and many schools charge much more for the privilege. A 2022 Fluco Beat article (https://theflucobeat.com/schoolcommunity/2022/11/14/parking-pass-problems/) noted that out of six area high schools, FCHS charges the least for its parking passes, which some schools charging as much as $100 per year.
