Jack Boyd
New parking rules were instituted during the 2023-2024 school year that free up parking spaces for students and staff.
The junior class burst into applause over the announcement that there are no longer reserved parking spots for staff and students during the junior class meeting on Aug. 23.
The change was made by the Manitou Springs High School and District Administration over the summer after many issues around parking arose last school year.
Last year, students and staff were issued parking violations for parking in inappropriate parking spots. This led to negative feedback and general distaste from the student body and some teachers.
According to Principal Anna Conrad, the new rules are explained in the student handbook.
“There is no longer reserved parking for students or staff aside from designated spots, such as the nutritional services or the visitor parking,” Conrad said. “Second, all students do still need a parking pass, so please make sure you’re seeing Ms. Anderson about that. And thirdly, sophomores are required to park on the hill.”
Students are excited about the change.
“The old parking rules weren’t fair because if you weren’t at school fast enough to get a spot, then you’d have to park somewhere you weren’t supposed to and then get in trouble for that or you get in trouble for parking in teachers reserved spots,” Cadence McGruder (12) said.
Senior Kai Jacobson also had issues with the old parking rules.
“I never understood the thought process behind reserving staff parking because staff gets to school before students,” Jacobson said. “They have no trouble finding spots, and they obviously did no calculations for how many spots to reserve because there were far too many for our number of staff.”
The lack of parking at MSHS has been an ongoing struggle. Last year, students reverted to parking in any available spot they could find.
“There were times I had to take the risk and park in the teacher spot, and it was rough because there was nowhere else for me to park. Where do I go?” Senior Sierra Dunlap said.
The new parking rules benefit staff members as well.
“I really like it from my little world,” science teacher Andrew Slama said. “I can park behind the bleachers now so I never have to back my car out. And I never have to back my car into a spot.”
However, other staff members will miss reserved parking.
“It was kind of cool having a specific spot for teachers,” social studies teacher Sam Duff said. “It kind of made me feel more credible. The reality is that it’s kind of hard because there’s not a lot of space up on this little mountain.”
Parking will always be difficult at MSHS, but students are celebrating because the challenge of finding a designated parking space is over.
“I appreciate everyone’s partnership in terms of the parking lot. It’s a complicated place with young drivers and old drivers and folks that are doing a lot of different things simultaneously that ultimately we want it to be as safe as it can be,” Conrad said. “And we appreciate everyone prioritizing that with us.”