Five years ago, Marlborough finished construction of a below-ground parking garage, meant to augment the School’s above-ground parking lot, which did not have enough spaces to meet its needs. Five years later, however, juniors and seniors are still forbidden to park their cars in the underground lot, where every day empty spaces are reserved for visitors.
In the name of economy and common sense, I move to open the underground lot to students.
If a student doesn’t get to the above-ground parking lot by 7:55, she’s a goner. Forget about those cushy spaces that provide a great view of the field and a short commute to class; Arden or Rossmore is your lot (get the pun? Keep up with the wordplay), but not on Tuesdays and never past 4:00 p.m. We the student body are forced to fight tooth-and-nail for those prized ground-level spots. This fighting can take the form of becoming best friends with the awesome security guards, who are always able to find just one extra plot of land, or ramming the Audis of underclassmen.
Speaking of underclassmen, they are a pestilence upon our sacred parking grounds. And when I say underclassmen, I am of course referring to the handful of sophomores who believe it is their God-and-Barbara Wagner-given right to park their vehicles in the junior and senior area. While I can say the classes of 2014 and 2015 are doing our utmost to pry these pests off our land, they are fairly clingy. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, that a tenth grader must arrive to on time that is more important than a junior or a senior’s commitments. I don’t care if they have a math quiz worth 10 points or a project that involves coloring; it is simply not as dire as the classes of the upper grades. Oh, and I forgot the most important part. They aren’t even supposed to be driving to school. Period.
Lastly, and here’s the crucial bit, the needs of the students should take precedence over the needs of adults who aren’t directly employed by the School. I’m very glad these faceless visitors are coming to donate money or host bake sales or throw another PTA event that they were bullied into signing up for. The job of the School, and what your parents are paying in human flesh and laundered drug money for, is your education. And if you can’t get to that education because you’re busy scouring the streets for a place to dump your ride, something is very amiss.
