Starting in October, a solar panel construction team will be installing solar panels in the student parking lot.
According to Assistant Principal Ralph Cave, about 25 percent of the parking lot will be closed off at a time as the solar panel construction workers occupy parking spaces. As a result, not as many parking permits will be sold this year.
The lines in the parking lot were repainted over the summer in order to create more space. The spaces were also repainted straight, instead of diagonal. According to Administrative Assistant Rainie Maciel, there were 198 parking spaces last year, while there are 227 parking spaces for students this year.
However, even with the increased space, less parking permits will be sold as the solar panel construction team is expected to be working at school from October to March.
“Approximately 40 less [parking permits will be sold],” Assistant Principal Cristy Dawson said. “But we don’t know for sure.”
According to Dawson, the issue of limited parking spaces is further exacerbated by limited street parking. Besides the school parking lot, there are very few places around the school where students can park.
Cave said the fact that a quarter of the parking lot will be closed off for the majority of the year will affect both students and staff.
“For example, if [the solar panel construction workers] were parking in the teacher’s spots, [the teachers] would have to find somewhere else to park,” Cave said.
According to Dawson, the junior class will be the more greatly affected by the reduction in parking permits as many juniors will not be ensured parking spaces.
“I feel terrible for the junior class,” Dawson said.
A meeting will be held on Thursday, August 19 with the construction company to confirm details regarding the project.
“It’s pretty vague right now,” Cave said.
Parking permits will be sold on Wednesday, August 18 at 7 p.m. for the seniors and 7:30 p.m. for the juniors.
“We always oversell just a little bit because students are absent and stuff like that,” Dawson said. “This year we just have to be stricter about that.”
