One problem student drivers seem to face at Cal High every year is having their assigned parking spots taken by others.
To help address this ongoing problem, Principal Demetrius Ball said during a press conference with The Californian that parking spot checks would be conducted randomly this year.
“It just depends,” Ball said. “If everyone’s parked where they’re supposed to park, there are probably not going to be as many tickets.”
Students paid $175 this year to park in the school’s back lot. Those who wanted to park in the smaller lot near the tennis courts in front of the school paid $225.
Money generated from permits is used to pay overtime hours for custodians and campus monitors, who are responsible for issuing parking tickets.
The Californian conducted a spot check of 108 cars in the back parking lot on Sept. 10 and found that 23 of those vehicles did not have a parking permit. A month later on Oct. 8, 130 cars in the back lot were checked and all but 10 had permits.
Ball said parking tickets issued by the school are $35 and are generally given when students park in other student’s spots. Students are advised to inform the school office manager, who will send a campus monitor out to ticket offenders.
If a parking spot gets taken, students are told to park in visitor parking in front of the school until the parking spot frees up.
Senior Meghan Cheung said she hasn’t had her parking spot taken this year, but she experienced that frustration last year.
One of the times when her parking was taken, Cheung asked the student to move. The second time it happened, she parked in the other student’s spot instead.
“I knew that the person who was in my spot, their spot was the spot over,” Cheung said. “So I just parked in their spot.”
Assistant principal Rhonda Taft said the back parking lot and one by the tennis courts are monitored before and after school, and during brunch and lunch. She said campus monitors usually issue tickets to offenders a couple of times a week. Every parking lot near campus is monitored, including the pool lot, where students are not allowed to park.
Taft, who has been an administrator at Cal for four years, said parking regulations have remained mostly the same from previous years.
“I feel like it’s been the same since I’ve been here,” she said.
The fine for parking tickets is mostly unchanged, but there is a higher penalty for parking in handicapped spaces. Money from parking tickets issued by the school goes to the San Ramon police department, Taft said.
This year, 360 people were on the list to receive a parking permit, but only some had completed the required SMART Start Program, which is conducted by the CHP. Having library fees or too many detentions can also prevent students from getting a parking permit, Taft said.
Parking in residential areas isn’t monitored by school staff, but it is possible to get ticketed by the city. Vehicles can also get towed if parked in a residential area.
“It’s not related to the school,” Taft said. “[The] City of San Ramon can ticket them, and they can get towed.”
Getting banned from using Cal’s parking spaces is also possible if students drives recklessly or repeatedly park in the wrong spot. There is typically a warning given before a student is prevented from using the lot.
Office manager Silvia Paniagua-Loney said there were around 75 parking tickets issued last year. During the first month or so of the school year, there have been only two parking tickets issued.
Most of the time, tickets are issued because of parking in the wrong spot or parking by the pool. Although many students reported having their parking spots taken, there are some who haven’t experienced that issue.
Junior Disha Chhabra said her parking spot has never been taken. She said also has never received a parking ticket. Chhabra said she didn’t think there is anything the school needs to do to improve the situation.
“I think it’s fine how it is,” Chhabra said.
Senior Kassy Jew got a parking spot for the first time this year and has yet to have her parking spot taken. But senior Kylie Freeman said her parking spot has been taken. She said she asked the student who took her parking spot to move and was able to get it back.
Freeman said she has received two parking tickets, one for parking in the wrong spot and one for parking in the pool lot.
