Although certain parking spots in the student parking lot are designated for certain grade levels, some students have chosen to not follow these guidelines. Recently, there has been controversy about parking spots after seniors noticed more juniors parking in senior parking spots rather than their own junior parking spots.

In Wayland High School’s main parking lot, parking spots are painted different colors to signify where each grade level should park. White spots are allocated for juniors, blue spots are allocated for seniors and red spots are allocated for WHS staff. Senior spots tend to be closer to the school building and have the protection of the solar panels. There is also a second parking lot located near the fields, where spots are designated for junior parking spots.

On Monday, Feb. 27, Assistant Principal Sean Gass sent an email to WHS students and families about parking lot rules, reminding students about the designated parking spots.

“There are spots designated for 12th graders,” Gass wrote. “11th graders and others should respect those designations when they park.”

Since they might have to park farther away to find a new spot, some seniors have complained that they have been late to class. Recently, some seniors, including senior Madeline O’Leary, publicly voiced their complaints in the “WHS Fan Section 2023” Facebook group, which is open to all high school students.

“Juniors have been parking in senior spots since I was a freshman,” O’Leary said. “I think it probably happens every year. I think it’s just more of an annoyance than anything because the seniors have to park really far back when juniors are in the senior spots.”

Some juniors explained that some mornings they aren’t able to find a junior parking spot, and because of this, they will then choose to park in a senior spot.

“I feel like even though it’s a ‘senior lot,’ juniors don’t have enough spots to park in for the two junior-designated rows,” junior Delcie Peter said. “We kind of have to park in senior spots, especially with more people getting their licenses.”

According to Peter, when she spoke with the WHS administration about the issue, they told her that they do not have a serious problem with juniors parking in senior spots. However, they did warn Peter about the possibility of upsetting or angering seniors by parking in a designated senior spot.

“We’re not enforcing designated junior and senior parking spots because there’s still enough spots in the parking lot,” WHS Assistant Principal Laura Cole said. “If I do catch a junior parking in a senior spot, I make them move their car to the parking lot near the fields.”

However, some seniors, juniors and members of WHS administration believe that the issue is just a slight inconvenience, and it should not warrant conflict between grade levels.

“It’s an issue because kids are breaking the rules and not following the rules, but kids here break rules every day,” Cole said. “I think there’s bigger life problems than junior and senior parking spots.”