Many students at Bellefonte High have complained about the student parking lot. Their complaints stem from lengthy departure times that students report occur immediately after school. Senior Megan Marsh voiced her complaints.

“There is a problem with the student lot. All of the buses are let out before student drivers which hold up the line. The line is always wrapped all around the exterior of the lot causing some people’s difficulty to even exit the parking lot,” she said. 

Many ideas on how to fix this problem have floated around. Megan proposed her solution.

“My suggestion would be to let student drivers out even three minutes early. It would make such a huge difference in the after school traffic,” she said. 

While no solution has been put into place yet, the struggles continue to happen at the end of each school day. If a student needs to be somewhere quickly, it is almost impossible unless they get out of school early. For some time last year, seniors were let out at 10 minutes before the last period ended due to COVID-19. Even with early dismissal, there was still built up traffic in the parking lot. Early dismissal for seniors has been changed as they are not allowed to leave early this year. So, every car driver in the school enters the lot at one time, all trying to get into one line to leave. It takes what can feel like hours to students trying to get somewhere soon to leave. 

Junior Ruby Bjalme has a similar idea for a solution with the student parking lot.

“I suggest that we follow the pattern we did last year of letting student drivers out at 3:05 before the buses arrive to move traffic better,” she said. 

The majority of the student drivers want something to be done about the student parking lot. Until then, students will have to wait patiently to leave at the end of the day. They may be right– lengthy departure times and unsafe driving are affecting students’ lives outside school.