For the past few years at NHS, both juniors and seniors have been allowed to park on campus. Junior spots were offered by a lottery process. However, this year it is a little different.
For the 2024-25 school year, NHS has stopped offering parking spots to juniors. Many juniors who had just gotten licenses over the summer or even last school year as sophomores had planned to register for a parking spot this school year.
“There are not enough parking spaces to go around to make it a fair process. Also, many seniors get their driver’s license later in the year and they reserve the right as a senior student to have parking,” said Principal Hugh Galligan.
Many were confused and dismayed when they discovered this was no longer an option in the fall. Especially, when there are so many open spots in the student parking lots and this has not been a problem in years past.
“It’s kind of unfair that there are so many spots open but they were not given to anyone,” said junior Sylvie Deeks.
One factor that might have played a role in the decision to not offer parking spots to the junior class might be the volume of unauthorized parking happening on campus over the last two years.
If you do not have a parking pass and assigned spot, you cannot park on campus. Seniors are also not allowed to reserve a spot for a Junior or let them use their assigned spot.
However, as a result of the many open spaces this year, many juniors have been illegally parking on campus.
An email by the NHS administration was recently sent out addressing this issue. The email tells students that parking on campus is a senior-only privilege. If a junior is found parking on campus, they are subject to consequences.
This email however did not address why juniors are not allowed to register for a parking spot.
Some juniors feel this decision might be beneficial in limiting chaos in the school parking lot during drop-off and pick-up times.
Junior class president Joann Yamoah says this decision is “upsetting but I get where they’re [administration] coming from.”
