Having a car and your license as a high schooler provide the freedom that teenagers long for. However, having a car doesn’t mean you’ll get a parking spot at Southern Lehigh High School.
As a high school student, having a parking spot at school is very beneficial. This allows students with after-school activities to drive themselves home independently instead of having to wait for the bus or a parent. It can be difficult for a student to get a ride home if they have working parents, live farther out of town, or their friends are not willing to drive them.
Some people argue that students should utilize the bus transportation that is made available to students. Yet, these buses are unable to drive students home after after-school activities, and students have to wake up extra early to get on the bus.
Additionally, parking spots allow students to take part in opportunities such as senior privilege, diversified career options (DCO), and off-campus dual enrollment. The apparent lack of parking spots at Southern Lehigh High School prevents students from taking advantage of these benefits, thus limiting their experiences.
To get a parking spot, students first have to apply after they have earned their license. This is irritating to students who have later birthdays and are unable to apply for a spot until much later, when most of the spots have already been claimed. As a student with a birthday in May, I won't be able to apply for a spot until I get my license during the 2026-27 school year, meaning I might not be able to get a spot my junior year. This could prevent me from driving myself home after sports practice and school, which is a frustrating inconvenience.
Junior Leidon Cela ran into a similar situation.
“I applied for a spot in November but since the lot was full, I couldn’t get a spot in time,” he said.
Students who are denied a spot will be put on a waitlist. Once the school year starts, there are only a few ways a spot will open up: if a student disenrolls from the school, obtains parking violations and gets their spot taken away, or voluntarily gives up their spot. If any of these situations happen, a student could be taken off the waitlist and get a spot.
Some SLHS students who weren't able to get a spot, but still needed to drive themselves to school, started to find other solutions.
“Prior to getting a spot I would park at the Upper Saucon park,” Cela said.
Students are allowed to park at the Upper Saucon Township Community Park off of Preston Lane, since it is a public park. Students who park here either ask friends to pick them up at the park and drive them to school, or they walk to school straight from the park, which takes up a lot of time and is an annoyance during inclement weather.
Students sometimes even park at other nearby businesses or restaurants as a convenience. However, this is not allowed, and the high school received warnings about this behavior.
“We did get notifications from them that students were parking there, which are [spots] clearly marked for their patrons,” Principal Joshua Miller said.
Southern Lehigh School District sent out emails that notified students that they were at risk of getting towed if they continued to park illegally at these places of business.
Due to a lack of progress on this issue, students and parents complained about the lack of parking spots available to students.
“The school board heard from the community and they asked for us to look into other options because we are at capacity here [at SLHS],” Principal Miller said.
There were open spots available across the street at Southern Lehigh Middle School, and the school board decided to make these available to SLHS students. The 27 students on the waitlist for a spot in the beginning of January were notified and asked if they would want a spot at the middle school. These new parking spots make it more possible for kids who get their license later, such as myself, to get a parking spot.
This is a new territory for Southern Lehigh, raising questions over how this new parking situation will affect the already-existing traffic on Preston Lane. The school district is doing their best to make sure that these spots won’t affect the flow of traffic with buses, parent drop off and pick up, or staff parking at the middle school.
“I recently got a spot at the middle school and am so happy I no longer have to bug friends for rides,” Cela said.
Recently there has been talk about creating new parking spots at SLHS to make more available for students. However, some community members disagree and think expanding the parking lots would be more than the school can afford.
However, the current parking lots are in need of repaving, since there are some cracks and potholes. Expanding the parking lots and repaving would be a convenience to many students and staff.
The school board hopes that these new 27 spots and the spots already available at SLHS will be enough for the coming years. There are no current plans to build new spots at SLHS; however, an increase in parking spots would be beneficial as the class numbers begin to grow.