With construction on the new high school expedited from next spring to this summer, students at Wayland High will be losing parking privileges on campus a year earlier than expected. Because current student parking lots will be turned into a construction zone, there will not be an option to purchase a parking space on campus next school year. It is not yet clear if there will be a satellite lot so that students can drive to school.

“There will be a fence going right through the middle of campus, very close to a couple of buildings. Everything that right now constitutes the two big parking lots out here [at the high school] will be turned over to the construction companies,” said Dr. Gary Burton, Superintendent of Wayland Public Schools. “You’ll have a Berlin Wall down the middle of the campus, and they’ll build a whole new school for us, and we’re hoping they can do it in 2 years.”

Parking on campus will be severely limited because of construction. “The long and the short of it is that there will be no student parking on campus next year,” said Burton. “We’re even going to have trouble finding parking for the faculty.”

“I’m all for stealing a tennis court,” said junior Sabrina Yurkofsky.

Said Principal Patrick Tutwiler, “As badly as I feel about this, it seems like the students will be losing their parking privileges for next year and until the construction is over.”

UPDATE: Read Tutwiler’s e-mail to the Class of 2011

These tentative plans for student parking were revealed at a School Committee meeting on December 7th, but students still say they’re waiting for more details from the administration.

“They haven’t announced [to us] that there’s a problem with parking yet,” said junior Calvin Williams.

“No one’s said anything about this to us,” said junior Valerie Eisenson. “The administration needs to talk to the school, I feel like they’re trying to keep us out of what’s going on. I would have rather heard it from them.”

“There had been some talk about turning the softball field into temporary parking, but that is so expensive, it’s pouring a lot of money into something that you don’t get anything for in the end,” said Lea Anderson, chair of the High School Building Committee. “We will be looking at the site to figure out where there might be as many spaces as we can find, but it’s very likely that student parking is going to be severely limited or eliminated.”

According Anderson, the choice to build the new school on current parking lots was made for timing reasons. “The main issue in regards to students was: Can school go on while there’s construction happening?,” she said. “That was the major reason that we did the building on the parking lots,  so that the current buildings can stay in use 100%.”

The placement of new buildings will also be environmentally beneficial, according to Anderson, who says parking lots, as they are currently placed, are not “a friendly neighbor” to the wells and wetlands surrounding the campus.

Students aren’t thrilled at the prospect of losing parking on campus, which also will indirectly cause the loss of open campus, a traditional senior privilege.

“Senior privileges means being able to go out and use your free time as you want to. Being able to be more responsible. I understand that it’s not a right, it’s a privilege we get from the school, but it feels like freedoms are being taken away from the school. It’s something we’ve looked forward to since we were freshmen,” said junior Danny Meindl.

“Seniors go out to lunch almost every day, and it helps you learn to manage your money better for college,” he continued. ‘What you should be spending money on and what you shouldn’t be. It helps you find where you should be financially.”

“I know that I would depend on my mom for a ride again instead of being able to drive myself,” said junior Samantha Spielman. ” I feel like I’ve always relied on her. Now, I’m not breaking away from that, I’m relying on her again, I’m stuck in that and I feel like college will be a culture shock for me.”

Junior Christa Villari says that parking gives students more freedom to come and go. “It’s nice to come late and leave early,” she said. “It’s more relaxing, especially when there’s a lot of tension. When I have a bad day, I just want to go home when I have that last period free.”

A number of students think the absence of parking will have a noticeable effect on campus life, too, listing overcrowding among their concerns.

“Wellesley High School is going through the same thing,” said junior Samantha Spielman. “There’s a lot of overcrowding there. This year, seniors have two tables [in the Commons], so I think that the Commons will be overcrowded. I think that everyone’s very frustrated about having to pay for the bus now. They can’t park next year, and they’re going to be charged for the bus, too.”

Others are worried about the effects on campus culture, since limited parking will not only affect day-to-day life at Wayland High, but also evening events with high attendance, such as football games or town meetings.

“I feel like we already have a little bit of an issue with school pride,” said junior David Villari. “If we’re not going to be able to go to events at the school because we can’t park, then how are we supposed to support our sports teams, support our clubs, the orchestra, the plays?”

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Burton emphasized his desire to make sure students are on board with the construction process. “I think it will give us the opportunity to treat students with more independence,” said Burton. “I think we’re going to need their cooperation to make this work.”

Tutwiler, too, called for student involvement. “I am looking into this as much as I can. I have some ideas, but they are not complete enough to present. But if you have some [ideas], present them. What we need right now is some creative thinking,” he said.

For now, Wayland students will continue to drive until the construction starts next fall. “This summer there will be pre-construction work done on those parking lots,” said Lea Anderson. “You’ll see trucks and work going on this summer with construction starting in the fall.”

“It’s an integral part of senior year,” said Yurkofsky. “I don’t like the fact that it’s not going to be there. It’s not going to feel any different than freshman year.”

Correction: A quote by Valerie Eisenson was previously published incorrectly as a quote by Valerie Eisensen. It is in-fact Eisenson. The typo has since been corrected.