In the heart of City Heights, San Diego, is Hoover High School. At Hoover, there is a free drivers education course offered each semester for students that are at least 16 years old. By the time these students are juniors or seniors, a majority of them drive themselves to school in their own cars.

There are 120 total parking spots at Hoover. However out of all 120, none are reserved for students. There are eight total visitor parking spots and they are all located right in front of the main office. There are seven total accessible parking spots, four of which are also located in front of the main office, and three are in the lot by the restaurant, Wienerschnitzel, close to Hoover High School. In the same lot, there is also one parking spot for the school police. With these exceptions, that leaves 104 staff parking spots split between the two lots, in front of the office and by Wienerschnitzel.

Due to the lack of student parking space, many resort to parking farther away from Hoover, either by nearby restaurants, establishments, or even at their friends’ houses. A lot of students also try to come to school earlier in order to secure a parking spot closer to the school. Though despite the precautions students take, a lot of them still end up being late to their first period class. Aside from attendance, there have been multiple dangerous instances. For example, near the beginning of the school year, some students ended up parking in unmarked areas in front of the school, making it difficult for ambulances to pull into the school, as well as when leaving.

Whether it be by expanding an existing parking lot or adding one specifically for students, I think a reserved parking space will be highly beneficial for Hoover and City Heights as a whole.