The traffic of the Skyline High School student parking lot makes entering and leaving a slow process causing students to be late for class and always feeling the need to leave school early.

Students, parents, and staff would prefer to be able to avoid the traffic but the logistics of the parking lot make it difficult. Skyline High School has 2,194 students attending but only 381 spots available leading to students feeling frustrated with the daily congestion.

Skyline senior, Ben Weissman, said he has to wait up to 35 minutes to leave school most days because the lines are so long.

One contributing factor is the sheer number of students that attend the school. Nonetheless, the number of students is only a small piece of the problem.

The shape and design of the parking lot plays a major role in the congestion that students, parents, and teachers face in the parking lot. Campus Security Officer Ryan Thorsen is the main figure when it comes to managing and regulating safety and traffic in the parking lot. Even he feels that flaws are evident.

“It is what it is,” Thorsen said. “One entrance and one exit are not good for any parking lot.”

This design element causes backups to occur and increases waiting times to get in and out of the lot.

“[The parking lot] involves a lot of cars going the same direction and cars trying to go the other direction,” Thorsen said. “When you have that, you create bottlenecks in the parking lot which is a problem.”

Furthermore, courtesy and communication are lacking when students are trying to leave.

“It’s always a hassle,” Weissman said. “Everyone is trying to go and no one is letting anyone in [line].”

Another obstacle that students face when entering and leaving the parking lot is parents who are dropping off and picking up their kids in the student lot. At Skyline, there is a loop in the front of the school designated for parents to do this. Despite this, most days students will find their lot being used as a drop-off zone.

According to Weissman, getting to school in the morning “isn’t that bad”, but he has to weave around parents dropping off their kids in the morning.

A common belief is that there is a rule prohibiting parents from picking up and dropping off their kids in the student lot, but this is not the case.

“There are no rules, regulations, or anything like that to say hey, parents, you are absolutely not allowed to drop off in the student lot,” said Thorsen.

Thorsen said that he knows it is not ideal for students that parents use the student parking lot to drop off their kids because there is a place and location for them to be dropped off.

“In reality, it comes down to an inconvenience,” said Thorsen. 

These issues won’t be going away any time soon as the structure of the parking lot can’t be changed and parents will continue to use the student lot as a drop-off zone since there are no rules in place. Because there are more students than parking spaces available, it is up to the students to get creative to solve some of the problems.

Due to the current method of releasing students from school, not much can be done in terms of the after-school traffic. However, carpooling with friends and walking to school are options for students to help cut down on the number of cars in the parking lot in the morning. Not all students can do this though, so Thorsen’s advice to students is not exactly what they want to hear yet very simple.

“Leave 10 minutes earlier.”