Every morning, juniors and seniors flood into the parking lot, quickly pull into an available spot and scurry to their first class of the day. Factors including limited space and student actions create uncomfortable and potentially unsafe conditions for students. Teenagers in California can get their driver’s license as early as 16 years old, given they have had their learner’s permit for at least six months and have completed six hours worth of driving lessons with a licensed instructor. Many students turn 16 at some point between their sophomore and junior years of high school. Notably, though, only juniors and seniors can obtain a parking permit to park in the student lot.

“Last year, I used to park on Ward Way since I didn’t have a first period so I couldn’t get on any of the other streets in time [for school],” current Junior Liam Hanley said. “It was a massive pain to get to school every day because I had to walk all the way from Ward Way to [the] B Wing. It was super inefficient and slow.”

However, current sophomores understand the reason for only allowing upperclassmen into the student lot. Sophomore Alex Ochoa explained that he parks in the mornings on Hull Avenue before walking to his first period class in the J Wing.

“[Juniors and seniors] have their driver’s licenses [already],” Ochoa said. “They can get all the permits before all the sophomores can.”

Junior Kai Kapur proposed an idea to address the space restrictions. This idea spurred out of a situation where Junior Luke Balisteri was forced to park in a spot that couldn’t accommodate the size of his car.

“We [should] just label certain spaces [as] compact vehicle parking and designate specific spots for larger vehicles like [mine],” Balisteri said. 

Kapur, who witnessed the debacle in the lot regarding Balisteri’s car, explained why unlabeled parking spots fail to utilize space.

“Larger automobiles need larger spots,” Kapur said. “When people in smaller cars take those larger spots, it’s subsequently not going to work.”

Besides discussions over space in the lot, students also deliberated on policy regarding locking the student parking lot. It is relevant to note that Woodside High School is a closed campus.

“I just really don’t like how [the gate] locks when you get to school a little late,” Hanley said. “I had an appointment one day and the gate was locked so I had to park somewhere else. It was just a pain.”

Hanely went on to explain that students coming and going from the lot at unconventional times should not experience complications if their arrival or departure is permitted by the school.

“I feel like they should keep [the gate] unlocked to make it a lot easier for students that need to leave school early or arrive back at school,” Hanley said.

Other concerns students voiced related to behavior in the lot and how certain behaviors were bothersome or unsafe to other students.

“Sometimes I do get a little concerned with how fast people are driving in there,” Senior Tucker Gillbrand said. “It’s probably above the five-mile-an-hour speed limit. Also, I get really annoyed when people play super loud music.”

While the issue with music may not be as easy to control, Gillbrand suggests more supervision during the busiest hours for the student parking lot.

“[The school could] put someone in the parking lot [who is]  high visibility,” Gillbrand said.  [They could be] waving people through making sure they’re not speeding around the corners.”

While opinions on the student parking lot vary from person to person, students hope faculty can hear out their queries about certain logistics and conflicts in the lot.  

“I think it is important for the school to address,” Hanley said. “It would be nice.”