Beginning in the 2015-16 school year, designated student parking was moved to the back parking lot, which has proven to be an inconvenience for students since its implementation.

The back parking lot is a great spot for students to interact with one another and complete last minute homework before school begins. However, the negatives of requiring all students to park there outweigh the positives.

The primary reason why students should not be required to park only in the back lot is the traffic that is created at the end of the school day. The school buses are supposed to leave at 2:40 p.m; however, they often leave early, which leaves students stuck in bumper to bumper traffic as the buses depart.

When students are late to their cars, they end up waiting in a long line as they race to get off school grounds. The security guards directing traffic allow the buses to leave first, as well as the parents and staff waiting to pick up their kids. This further delays the students’ departure to get to their after school extracurriculars and jobs.

Despite their scheduled 2:40 departure time, buses regularly begin their departure at about 2:37 p.m. This leaves less than 10 minutes for students to finish their eighth period work, pack up and get to their cars ahead of the buses.

Another major concern is that there are only 94 parking spaces in the back lot, sometimes leaving student drivers scrambling to find a spot. Not every student drives to school every day, so RHS administration sells more permits than they have spots in the back lot. So what happens when everybody makes it to school on a certain day? In this case, they are asked to park on the side of the building or in the front parking lot. This is inconvenient and can cause students to be late to class as they must spend extra time searching for a spot.

Furthermore, there are times when the staff lot is full, forcing teachers to take student parking spots, or even simply because it is closer to their classroom.

When teachers park in the student lot, it also disrupts the free environment students appreciate before and after school. In the morning, students are preparing for seven hours of sitting in front of their teachers, so seeing them pull into the space next to them as they are mentally preparing for the long day can be stressful.

RHS students would be better served parking in the front lot as they did until 2015, because parking in the back is inconvenient, stressful and problematic.