One of the most prevalent issues CKHS Students and Staff Currently face is the way student parking is being handled due to lack of space and faraway parking areas. 

Many CKHS students have expressed their discourse with the way they are being treated when they are unable to find a spot in the student parking section. 

CKHS senior Lexie Fortney is just one of many students who has been consistently affected. 

“Johnson would keep an eye out for me and then he would, like, hunt me down if he saw my car and that security lady, she was so rude,” stated Fortney. “The second day I parked in visitor because it was empty, she was just on my case about making me move. She didn’t even try to start it off in a kind manner. It was the first time I met her too.”

Many students have formed their own opinions on whats led to the recent insurgence of parking issues.  

Fortney believes that the fault lies in the construction of the new school.

“Part of the problem is that they didn’t make the parking lot bigger and now that they’re finally enforcing the rules it’s just creating more problems when it was fine beforehand,” Fortney stated. 

CKHS senior Dawson Forrier believes that these issues are stemming from a different cause.

“I think part of the problem is people with parking passes not understanding they need a pass or that we’re maxed out on passes,” Forrier stated. 

Some students, however, seem to believe the stark opposite.

CKHS senior Destiny Pelayo holds the opinion that the lack of passes is the problem. 

“Why does it matter so much that we need a pass?” Pelayo asks. “I feel like students work minimum wage jobs; we shouldn’t have to have a student’s car booted or towed off. We can barely afford that.”

Putting aside the root of the issue however, when informed, every student agreed that forcing students to park as far away as the district office is both outrageous and potentially dangerous. 

“I didn’t know that until last Thursday actually,” Pelayo continued. “I found out because I was told by another student that a girl was on her way to school walking here and she got tapped by a car… the situation could have been completely avoided… it could have gone really bad,” she continued. 

The parking rules and acknowledgements form currently available for viewing on the CKHS website states, 

“Student vehicles parked in fire lanes, staff parking, visitor parking, behind the weight room or in any other no parking areas may be clamped and will be assessed a $30 fine even on the first offense. Students are prohibited from parking in staff lots until after 3:00pm. Tickets will be issued until after 3:00pm.”

However there is another side to this situation. Teachers have thoughts as well.

Erik Randall, a teacher at CKHS, does not find the students entirely at fault.

 “I wouldn’t blame the students per say because they have to go to school too” Randall stated. “If they can’t find a place to park and then the only place that is available is there, [the teacher parking lot]  then I don’t think it’s fair that they are getting tickets. But I suppose also if they’ve been told not to park there they shouldn’t be surprised if they are getting ticketed.”

Randall also had thought about the current need for more parking. “The larger point I would wonder is why does a new school not have enough parking?” he stated.

Betsy Gordon, another CKHS teacher, displayed her thoughts on the teacher’s side of the issue.

“The teachers should be here earlier in the morning,” Gordon said. “Teachers have to go to meetings… we are unable to be in our positions so we need priority for parking.” she continued.

Other teachers seemed to have some similar thoughts. 

A CKHS teacher, David Tracewell, has had a different experience.

“Most of my colleagues get here pretty early or a little bit after me, so there’s never been an issue with the staff parking side.” Tracewell said. 

Teachers also seem conflicted about who is entirely at fault for the discourse. 

“I don’t think we should be blaming anybody, on one hand the district had no idea how many students would be driving the bus ridership has gone down,” Tracewell said. “But then we built a brand new building. We should’ve thought about the number of spaces because at the old building that was always an issue.”

It has been made abundantly clear that staff also have some interesting takes on this issue. Most seem quite unsure of who is to blame. However everyone is certain that this is an issue that must be solved.