OPHS student parking still a problem

MICHAEL COONS/The Acorn OVERBOOKED-Oak Park High School sold more student parking passes than spaces in the parking lot.Students claim they aren't getting what they paid for and feel their vehicles aren't safe.

Oak Park High School (OPHS) students have criticized the campus parking situation and a student representative to the Oak Park Unified School District Board of Education wants to help.

OPHS senior Alex Connor serves the OPUSD board as a spokesman for students. His top priority, he said, is solving problems.

Student and vehicle safety were brought up more than once earlier this year, according to Connor. And now sales of student parking permits have exceeded the amount of parking spaces.

Connor spoke to the board of education this month about concerns regarding parking permits. Students who wish to drive to school and park on campus must pay $50 for the year. This money, officials said, is applied to student safety in the parking lot.

But already this year, several vehicle break-ins have occurred and a friend of Connor’s had his car stolen, later to be found in the San Fernando Valley. Are the parking lots really safe, Connor asked, and if they’re not, why are students paying a $50 fee for parking lot safety?

"At first," Connor said, "I think (the $50 fee) was a deterrent to try to get the number of student parking down—because we’re running out of parking spots. But in Oak Park, everyone has the $50, so that didn’t work that well," he said.

During associated student body (ASB) meetings, Connor learned that more and more students couldn’t find parking spaces. Connor investigated the problem and learned that about 300 permits were sold, but only 278 parking spots exist for students to use.

Additional parking is on the way, according to assistant superintendent of business and administration Martin Klauss. The current tennis court site could be a temporary lot until completion of the Activity Center (construction to start soon), Klauss said. The space adjacent the sand volleyball courts might serve as a permanent lot in the future, according to Connor.

No date has been set for parking construction and students are unhappy, Connor said. "A lot of students complain about (the $50 parking fees). They say, ‘I’m going to pay $50 and I want my car to be secure.’"

Not only are vehicles at risk, Connor said, but the parking isn’t guaranteed.

To solve parking lot vandalism, Connor said ASB is looking into security cameras. But some people oppose them, Connor said, on grounds that public safety should come first. They’d rather see the money go elsewhere, but according to Connor, no alternatives were given.

Principal Cliff Moore and school security advisor and police officer Rich Randolph have agreed to sit down with Connor and ASB to discuss security cameras, Connor said. A solution could be reached very soon, Connor speculated.