Students lost approximately 112 parking spots on the east side of campus when construction started on the indoor turf room expansion project last spring. According to administrators, the parking loss led to students overhauling staff parking through the spring semester. Admin hopes the addition of 60 parking spots on the south side of the Ag building will help relieve the issue.

According to the student handbook, students need to purchase parking permits, and cars found without a permit properly displayed can be towed at the owner’s expense. Parking permits will cost students $10 and can be paid for on mypaymentsplus.com.

“There are around 360 student parking spots,” Assistant Principal Todd Reynolds said. “We’re not always out there actively patrolling. Our students are very responsible and sometimes they’re just in a big hurry and they don’t want to be tardy.”

Administrators said that when they do tour the parking lot, open spaces are still available but perhaps not convenient for where students want to enter the building.

“Honestly, the parking situation is not that bad,”  senior Amber Bertoni said. “There are plenty of spots to park, but 90% of the spots are a mile walk from the building and walking through a parking lot with a bunch of teenage drivers is very scary.”

Other seniors have mentioned the desire to have reserved spots that are painted similar to other area high schools like Amarillo High. 

“I love the idea of adding one more thing to help your senior year be memorable,” Reynolds said. “But if we let seniors paint their parking lot space, who’s going to be responsible for cleaning it when they leave?”

For now, the idea of reserved spaces is tabled.

As of Sept. 1, only 215 students have purchased parking permits leaving reason to believe that over 100 parking spots are still available.