*The names of these interviewees are pseudonyms to protect their confidentiality.
Each year, M-A distributes 200 parking permits to licensed students who wish to drive themselves to school. A permit is required to park in the student lot—cars parked in the student lot without permit stickers are fined $65, then $75 if the fine is not satisfied within three days. With around 1,050 upperclassmen and numerous freshly licensed sophomores, M-A’s parking permits sell out quickly, leaving many students who need permits without them.
Some, lacking a valid permit, resort to parking off-campus in the nearby Stanford Research Institute and Nativity Church parking lots, both of which prohibit M-A students from parking there and threaten fines and towing to violators. Others turn to parking in the student lot with no permit, blatantly ignoring school policy.
Parking in unauthorized places, such as the teacher parking lot or Ravenswood Avenue, is also cause for a fine. “We’ve instructed the campus security to ticket it every day,” AVP Secretary Roxana Fuentes said. According to Fuentes, M-A issues tickets to 15-20 students a day.
The lack of parking in the student lot tends to also leave students anxious at the prospect of being late. Junior Connor* and his friend Bryan* were forced to miss their first period as a result of not being able to find parking in the student lot.
“I came to school a bit late, and I was looking for parking, but there was none. Then I had to go outside of school to look for parking, and there was still no parking,” Connor said.
M-A’s parking lot filled to capacity at lunch.
Sophomore Bianca* lives in Portola Valley, a 30-minute drive from M-A, and got her driver’s license after student parking permits sold out. Gomez parks in the student lot without a permit daily.
“My mom and dad could try to drive me, but they have to work,” Bianca said.
Many sophomores find themselves in the same predicament. “Because both their parents work, it’s hard for them to get to school, and they don’t have older siblings who can drive them. My friends have started parking in the athletic parking lot because of all the parking tickets they’ve gotten,” Bianca said about her friends’ experiences parking at M-A.
While this unsanctioned parking may seem reasonable to some, to those who struggle to find parking and have undergone the hassle of obtaining a permit, it can trigger resentment. “I had to pay $75 for my parking pass, and some people get to park for free here, and that really upsets me,” senior Ethan Haun said.
Other students have attempted to replicate the permits of others. At the beginning of the year, junior Ryland Caelius’ parking permit was photographed, printed, and used by a student who lacked one. “I kept getting emails from someone in the office, and it was because there was a copy of my parking permit, and they told me that every day I would get charged $65,” Caelius said. “Eventually, they cleared it up because they checked who the permit was registered to, and it was my car.”
Students who are unable to obtain permits are left to make use of other methods of transport, namely biking or taking public transit, both of which come with their own myriad of difficulties, especially when students are involved in extracurricular activities after school.
When students find it difficult to find parking on campus, they resort to parking off-campus.
Junior Bee Stone was instructed by M-A admin to park off-campus, despite the possible fees and towing.
“I got my license in December, and my parents didn’t want to drive me to school, so I just started driving myself. And since I couldn’t get a parking pass at M-A, I just parked in the SRI parking lot,” Stone said.
Stone used to park in the M-A lot, until that became a challenge. “I don’t park in the M-A lot anymore, because they started giving warnings, and I don’t want a ticket,” Stone said. “It’s really inconvenient for me, because I also have to drive my sister to school. Now I have to park in SRI, which puts me at risk of a real ticket—all because M-A doesn’t have any space for me,” Stone said.
Only recently have tickets been given out on a regular basis. According to Fuentes, this was a misstep because of the precedent it set. “Next year, we will be ticketing early in the year. I think that was one of the big mistakes this year that we didn’t start ticketing right away.”
While parking on a nearby street might sound like a reasonable alternative, the street closest to the M-A student lot, Ringwood Avenue, is illegal to park on. AVP Maria De Seta announced to students via Canvas on March 21st, “We would like to remind all members of our community that parking is strictly prohibited on Ringwood at all times, including afternoons and weekends. The County and Highway Patrol have been actively overseeing the area and will be issuing citations for illegal parking.”
Without legal access to nearby parking lots or street parking, M-A students who need to drive themselves to school are effectively unable to legally unless they are one of the lucky 200 to have a permit.
“We are likely going to sell fewer permits next year, to make room for more staff parking,” Fuentes said. As more students get licenses and demand for parking increases, this issue will only worsen.
