As soon as the clock strikes 2:25 p.m., chaos ensues on and off campus. Crowds of students pour out of each classroom door, athletes rush to practice, some head to office hours, and the rest hurry home. However, in order to reach their final destination, they face a common obstacle: the student parking lot. Those who drive themselves to school have dealt with hindrances on their drives home and walks to class from overcrowdedness of the lot, the recklessness of its drivers, and the difficulty of merely finding a parking spot. For specific details, senior Gianna Braga asserts her personal parking experiences.

   “People are aggressive drivers, and they never let you out. People make left turns out of the parking lot which means that people are stuck waiting,” said Braga.

   Principal Eric Backman recognizes the issues and provides response from the administration.

   “There’s a lack of efficiency in the morning due to drop-offs and the exiting of the parking lot from school. We have a phone call into Petaluma Police to do a traffic study. We also went to the city of Petaluma to see if they’d come in to do a traffic review. Something unique is happening this year making it much worse than it has been in the past, and I can’t tell if it’s more freshman parents dropping their kids off in the back or if more people are coming earlier to pick up their kids. I’m not sure what the issue is but it’s unique to this year,” said Backman.  

   Furthermore, Backman states admin’s insight on the problem.

“The district is making a number of budget cuts. Casa has experienced some of those cuts, one in the form of a campus supervisor, so we are not able to do the same supervision that we were able to last year–part of the reason why admin has run a strict rule on no loitering or hanging out in cars during nutrition break,” said Backman.

   Backman  also offers a response to those who create a  dangerous environment in the parking lot.

   “In regards to reckless driving, it’s very disconcerting to me the way some of our students drive, but it’s a small minority. I want to emphasize that most of our students who are driving are very responsible and take driving seriously. I’m concerned because it puts students’ well-beings at risk and all I can say is that not only is it an offense to school rules, which would be dealt with appropriately, but it’s also illegal. If and when we need to involve Petaluma Police we will and we won’t hesitate for a second because we have to keep our kids safe,” said Backman.

   Lastly, Backman highlights his priorities as principal in terms of resolving the issue.

   “Your readers need to understand that [punishing reckless drivers legally] is not a decision that I get to make. I can’t dictate traffic rules around the school; the city does that. So, I’ll work with the city as quickly as I can to make it happen. Meanwhile, we have more work to do in educating kids about what is safe and what is not safe. The fact that you guys did the survey and received so much feedback pointing these things means is it’s probably a good idea to increase my communication with the parent community about driving expectations and I can certainly do that,” said Backman.

   Both administration and students have to cooperate as a community on campus to protect the safety of everyone utilizing the parking lot. Any suggestions towards improvement should be directed toward administration.