Prior to parking on school grounds, Jefferson students are required to obtain a parking pass. This policy was made to identify vehicles, maintain safety and regulate parking for students and staff. The school’s safety and security staff Frank McNulty manages the parking pass requirement.
“We ask for them to have a parking pass because if there’s an incident on school grounds, then we know whose car belongs to who,” McNulty said. “The number that’s on the tag correlates to the car.”
The school uses the passes to match each vehicle to a student driver. This allows staff to contact the correct student or family if an accident or issue occurred. Because the system requires record keeping, the parking pass comes with a fee. At the beginning of the school year, the cost started with $200. In the second semester, the price decreased to $100.
“The school system just has it as a fee for that, and then the money goes back into the school,” McNulty said.
To get a parking pass, students are required to complete several steps.
“You pay it on MySchoolBucks, and then you can go to the security office,” senior Aryaa Sharma said. “The security office will check your payment, and then they will give you a parking pass.”
Even though having a constraint, Sharma supports the idea of parking pass.
“I like the parking pass,” Sharma said. “It’s a good way to make sure that everybody’s registered and able to have a spot.”
However, she expressed how other schools have their own parking spots, saying it’s part of a senior tradition.
“A lot of other schools do parking spots, and they can paint their parking spot,” Sharma said. “As a senior, I feel like that would have been nice things to have.”
Despite that, she continues to drive because it saves time.
“I drive and it takes me about 30 minutes, but if I was on the bus, it would take me like an hour,” Sharma said. “The benefit of driving to school outweighs the constraint.”
Parking administration is handled by the security team. Staff members regularly check to ensure that vehicles have parking passes.
“We will randomly go around the parking lots and see who has a pass or doesn’t have a pass,” McNulty said. “If they don’t have a pass, we will usually give them a ticket.”
Getting tickets repeatedly can lead to bad consequences.
“You could lose your parking pass privileges, or you are not going to be able to bring your car on campus,” McNulty said.
Even so, the system helps ensure that only authorized people use the parking space on school grounds.
“It makes sure that people who actually go to Jefferson are parking here,” Sharma said. “It’s not just random people taking up spaces.”
Surprisingly, after parking passes became required, no single students stopped driving to school.
“I don’t think it’s been a hindrance for a lot of people,” Sharma said. “Most people are willing or can pay the fees.”