Parents have been dropping off their kids in the student parking area, effectively taking over the adjacent roundabout and making it incredibly difficult for the students to park and get to school on time. From last year alone, 5+ minutes of traffic have been added onto the commute to school, and this has increased every single year at Manogue. It is unacceptable for the parents to overwhelm the parking area, as it is not built for drop-off. Multiple times have a row of parents’ cars blocked students from getting into their parking spots and into school, and several times have I and others been late due to this.

The beginning of my grievances with this started sophomore year. It was the first year I could drive myself to school, and I was so happy to get myself to school everyday. Thus begin the problems. The second day I was ever able to drive myself to school, there was a line of parents leaving the student parking after dropping off their kids. It so happened that my parking space was smack dab in the middle of the line, and as a new driver, it is nerve racking to park, especially when none of the parents want to let you in. I was blocking traffic behind me, and I could tell that they were starting to get antsy as well. Since day two of driving to school, there has been zero improvement in this problem. Every single day, I have to make tight squeezes past the already parked cars and the parents who are leaving. Their huge Tahoe’s and GMC’s take up 3/4 of the remaining room on the road, leaving me to squeeze by with inches to spare. It is absolutely unacceptable.

This issue has only gotten worse since sophomore year. Even with a better parking spot Junior and Senior year, rows and rows of cars block me from parking. It isn’t just me that has this issue. Every single year, I consistently hear complaints from fellow students about the crowding in the parking area. Parents have been blocking traffic for students for years now. Parents need to start using the designated drop off point at the center of the school. Every single day they drove me, my parents dropped me off there without a single hitch. It is such a simple fix, but it seems that the parents are either completely oblivious or entirely ignorant. There is a really, really good reason for the student parking area to be called the STUDENT PARKING AREA, not the “drop off your kid and block 5 lanes of traffic area.” These parents have to start dropping off their kin where they are designated to.