This story was originally published in the first edition of The Lion’s Tale (October 7th, 2021).

With an influx of upperclassmen taking off-campus virtual or dual enrollment classes this school year, students are entering and leaving Oviedo High School (OHS) all day. However, having students coming in and out of campus throughout the day poses a new security issue.

The solution: assigned parking lot spots designated by schedule. Students who are on campus from first through seventh period park in the former senior lot, and students with one or more off-campus virtual periods park in the former junior lot, now known as the ‘Flex lot’.

“The road that runs through [the front lot], King Street, is actually a public road. If you go left out of campus, there are houses all down that road, as well as churches,” said SGA advisor Heather Delong. “Because of that, we cannot lock the front, what was the junior lot, but we can lock the back, what was the senior lot.”

Separating students by schedule allows for one way entry during the school day, helping reduce the risk of intruders from entering the school. Security on campus has always been a concern, and in the past few years, OHS has added several extra measures to ensure the safety of students and staff.

“For many years now, quite honestly since the Parkland shooting, there has been a huge push for security. One of those big things is locking the parking lots,” said Delong.

However, this solution has caused an upset among students and parents. Many students, mainly juniors, were unable to purchase a parking spot, as parking lots sold out before juniors and some seniors even had the chance to purchase one. With the amount of students needing parking, the American Legions lot and the church lot sold out as well, leaving some students without a parking spot.

Senior Alivia Parsons was unable to purchase a parking spot in any of the four lots, so she parks at Publix down the road from OHS.

“I have to walk to get to school, I obviously can’t take the bus because I have four classes,” said Parsons. “I have work at 12:30, so it’s a hassle to get there on time each day now. I get there like five minutes late usually.”

Parsons, along with many juniors and seniors, were frustrated that this change meant accommodating their daily routines in order to get to school on time.

“I shouldn’t have to worry about how I’m going to get to school, especially when I have to legally be here,” said Parsons.

Similarly, the spots at OHS had sold out before junior Grace Matthews* had the chance to buy one, so she parks at the American Legions lot.

“I have to get to school earlier than I would normally due to the longer walk, which I don’t mind, but for example the other day it was pouring when I got to school so having to walk with no overhang was not much fun,“ said Matthews.

Despite these daily inconveniences, Matthews feels that this outcome was inevitable with the change in parking lots.

“It was impossible to prevent the selling out of parking passes as it happens every year,” Matthews said. “However, I think that they should have offered spots in the front lot to both juniors and seniors at the same time knowing that many seniors don’t have full schedules, they would obviously sell out before juniors even got the option.”

Unfortunately, campus parking continues to be an issue at OHS, and at other schools in the county as well.

“Parking is so hard, there are so many students with cars and they have great reasons for needing to drive… but as far as SCPS high schools are concerned, we have the most parking spots out of most of, if not out of all the high schools,” said Delong.

Regardless of the issues the parking lot switch has caused, locking one parking lot will ultimately improve security as a whole at OHS.

“I feel that just like with any big change, there’s a lot of obstacles and transition that needs to happen,” Delong said. “But as soon as this is our new normal, the drawbacks will just be accepted, and we will have the benefit of a more secure campus where we’re able to see who’s coming in and out of campus.”