Imagine this: after arriving early to school for the first time in weeks, you turn off your car, sit back in your chair, and let out a sigh. Your only goal is to give your mind a break for a few minutes before heading to class. Or at least that was your plan. 

“Three sharp knocks at my window,” is how Zach Novo describes the disruption to his peace. “I was just trying to enjoy my time off before school,” Novo states. This is the reality for students that choose to spend time in the student parking lot rather than in the school building while waiting for school to begin. There are claims that although students have been on school property on time, they still arrive late to class. It’s obvious that the school is cracking down on tardiness, it’s repeated on the speaker every day. 

The enforcement of this “parking lot” rule has brought significant complaints from the student body. The backlash comes from the disruption to a student’s “break time” or “me-time”.  Usually, students arrive early with the incentive of being able to relax in their car. For some, arriving early to school isn’t a choice, it’s a necessity. Talia Assin says, “I live the kind of far from the school. I need to leave earlier because I don’t want to deal with traffic.” Traffic, which has been the true time theft of many late students.

Why has this new rule come into play? The fact of the matter is that “this has been a rule since the beginning,” says Coach Corley. The administrators are just enforcing the rule more now than in previous years. “Do I think the students should be yelled at for sitting in their car? No, everybody deserves a little break. But, a student could take a break by leaving five minutes later or by getting breakfast.”

Is it even worth it? The argument uttered by many students is that if a student was late before, they will most likely still be late. To that Coach Corley responds, “My three senior students who are traditionally late were on time today.” What these results say for the rest of the school year has yet to be determined, but what is known is that the student body has strong feelings towards this new enforcement.