Parking Passes

Jenna Marlow

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School is back in session here at PHS, which also means all students that drive will have to buy their yearly parking passes. Every parking pass sold to a student cost forty-five dollars in the back parking lot, and sixty-five dollars for “premium parking” in the front of the school. Forty-five dollars is quite a bit of money for teenagers to come up with, especially for something as simple as a parking pass. Along with the parking pass being costly, it is also not optional, every student with a car must pay, or else your car may be booted. So, what happens to students whose parents do not pay for any of their fees? The student must come up with a total of ninety dollars, assuming they drive junior and senior year, on top of covering additional school fees and paying for the car itself. That is a lot of stress added to a kid's mind when our school is supposed to be government funded. When the principal, Dr. Chad Smith, was emailed about the issue his first response was “Who is your child, and what grade are they in?” After the question was responded to by the parent, their email was never gotten to. To get an answer the Knox County Schools superintendent, Dr. Rysewyk, was emailed and his response was, “All Knox County Schools pay the same fee to cover parking lot maintenance”. This means that forty-five dollars given by over a hundred driving students to PHS administration is used for parking lot maintenance. So why are there still huge cracks in the cement, faded guidelines, and littered spots? Are those not included in their definition of maintenance?