Parking permits unfair to students

Dear Harbinger Editors,

I strongly believe that parking permits are becoming a problem for our school. Algonquin is one of the only schools compared to our surrounding towns, that charge students to drive to school. For a variety of students, driving is their only option. Those students don’t have the access of a bus due to their address. Some students play sports and need to bring their equipment in their car and use their car to get to practice on  time, as parents usually work while students are at school. Some students have after school commitments such as a job in which having their car at school is a great benefit for them and their schedule and life outside of school. The administration insists that the money we pay for parking goes to plowing the parking lot for us students. It is hard to believe that they need two hundred dollars from each child who drives a vehicle in order to do so. What about the people that can barely afford a car but now have to figure it out in order to help out their family, and/or continue their schedule once school is dismissed. I once heard that someone say “if you can afford a car than you can afford a parking pass”. That to me is bizarre. In a lot of cases, paid off cars are handed down to some students by family member, while other kids pay for themselves on their own. The students ultimately don’t have enough time in the day to work the hours to afford things, let alone worrying about finding the money to cover a parking pass because god forbid they drive without them, the whole world will end. I do understand the intention to have students help pay for plowing. Although that is not our job, the least they can do is lower the pricing or make it more clear to students what this money is really going towards. It always seems as if the schools values our money more than understanding certain circumstances that affect the students within the school. Administration should care to the needs and circumstances of the students who are unable to afford all they ask of us. Taking the bus should not be the only alternative to something so common as not being able to afford everything in the world which is out of students control. A change is needed right away. Please take the time to think this over and put yourself in the position of the fellow students of Algonquin.

 

Thank you,

Morghan Dion

Class of 2019