As the KO community heads into the second semester of the school year, many have noticed a slight change encroaching on the minds of students and teachers alike. Over the past month, the KO parking lot has arisen as a popular topic of conversation, as this often forgotten area of campus has come to light due to new, emerging problems.
Before discussing the various issues with the parking lot, it is important to understand why these problems are occurring now. Recently, the KO administration asked the staff and faculty to stop parking on streets neighboring KO—specifically Outlook Ave and Kingswood Road—due to complaints from homeowners. Additionally, KO announced that the Outlook circle, used as a small parking lot for some faculty, would be permanently changed into a pedestrian only area.
Beyond these administrative decisions, the KO parking lot faces the annual addition of new drivers to the lot, as sophomores and juniors gain their licenses and take up more spots. As KO adds more students and thus, more cars, these problems have only been exacerbated.
These circumstances have brought the KO community to the issue at hand. The parking lot has seen a massive influx of cars, causing traffic, poor decision making by drivers, and disorder amongst the hundreds of students and teachers that use it every day.
The issue often pointed out by the student body is that the number of spots available is quickly diminishing. The KO administration has been forced to reckon with this issue after numerous community members have claimed that they found the entire parking lot to be full. However, this issue was not an oversight when designing the size of the parking lot; it is a failure of some members of the community to register their car in KO’s database, causing an inadequate number of spots to be allocated to fit the needs of the school. To fix this issue, the school must enforce this registration, making sure that all cars in the parking lot comply with these requirements.
Many students and teachers have expressed their own opinions on the issue of parking lot space. Staff and faculty have long advocated for a zone specific to them, and without street parking now, the demand for parking lot zoning is assuredly something to be considered. Adding to this idea, some students have suggested parking lot zones for grade level (seniors, juniors, and sophomores) to create more order within the lot.
Beyond this issue of spacing though, the problem with the parking lot truly comes down to etiquette. While everyone understands that before and after school can be a hectic time for drivers, rushing off to class or other obligations, this is no excuse for poor behavior or decision making. Many complaints have been lodged against drivers speeding through a busy lot, cars ignoring stop signs and traffic rules, and parents taking up multiple spots when parking their cars horizontally. These actions can pose a legitimate challenge to new drivers, timid on the roads and looking for an easy experience in the parking lot.
In order to foster a community of safety, care, and responsibility, there must be a shift in how students and teachers of KO treat the parking lot. Patience, etiquette, and vigilance is necessary to fix issues and make this space a convenient and reliable spot on campus.
