This year, parking passes made their re-debut at CHS. This introduction raised many questions for students who drive to school. Why are they being brought back? Why do they cost $10? What will happen if you don’t get one? KTR spoke with Ms. Betsy Scott, our transportation secretary, and Ms. Garland, one of our assistant principals, to answer your questions about parking passes.
These parking passes are not a new thing. Last year was the only year in recent memory CHS has not had them, due to the administration’s focus on other issues, says Ms. Garland: “I believe that, with the rapid changes in leadership that the school as a whole had experienced over the last couple of years, parking passes and the management of that fell by the wayside,” she says. “And so that is something that is a part of our safety plan. It’s something that we – not only as a school administration, but even at the district level – it’s just a practice and protocol that we needed to bring back.”
Ms. Betsy confirms this: “We’ve always had parking passes,” she says. “Last year was just a transitional year because it was Dr. Malone’s first year.” There were parking passes during the 2023-24 school year, with the same form to fill out and $10 fee. This $10 was a big step down from other prices the administration and school board had been considering, Ms. Betsy explains. “We wanted to be equitable. Other schools have way more expensive parking passes,” she says.
“Ours are basically free,” Ms. Garland laughs. “You’re basically paying for the cost of the sticker. We don’t make money off of that.” She also further explains the consideration of raising the fee: “With rising costs of things, even as basic as the stickers that we print the passes on, we did discuss increasing the parking pass price. However, there is a process in which we must go through with the school board to get approval. And so that is why the parking pass fee remained $10 this year, even though there was discussion about increasing it.”
Why do we have to have them now? “There are certain Virginia Department of Education policies and Virginia State Codes that exist around managing and monitoring teenage drivers,” explains Ms. Garland. “There’s also a huge safety connection with being able to manage the vehicles that park on our campus, and how we monitor that.” According to a 2021 Virginia state law, § 22.1-205.1, “the Department shall develop, and each public high school shall utilize, a standard application form for students to use to obtain a pass to park a vehicle on school property.”
Parking passes don’t exist as simply a tax for students who park at school, she continues: “Overall, just for safety reasons, we want to know and we need to know who’s driving, who’s parking on campus and that sort of thing. We want to make sure that students are driving lawfully and responsibly, because it’s a huge privilege to drive. We don’t want anyone driving at risk.”
Finally, what would happen if a student didn’t get a parking pass? Ms. Garland says the administration is taking multiple steps: “So, because we’re in the beginning of the school year, we are using parking pass reminders and putting those on windshields. But overall, you could lose your parking privilege, which means that you would be banned from parking on campus.” She also addresses a common worry: “I think you hear the threat of towing cars. That has happened in the past. That is something that we can do because this is, you know, private property. But I don’t think that those are things we want to do to families.”
In conclusion, parking passes are more than just an unnecessary fee for students. They are required by law and exist to help keep our school safer. Stop by the main office for a form – towing isn’t out of the question!
