Parking Passes get the Green Light

By Katie Wasierski, Staff Writer

  Parking passes were introduced to the BHS student body on the first day of school and have been a debated topic ever since.

Students around the junior-senior cafeteria shared what they thought about the new parking passes.

Kyle Jones, a senior, labeled the passes as “stupid” and further claimed that the passes were created “definitely so they can just so they can have more car searches and drug busts.”

Senior Sarah Anderson claimed they were to “stop all the hit and runs;” and Junior Emma Rufo interpreted them as “pointless” claiming they were “annoying, and just another inconvenience to worry about when going to school.”

Hope Taylor, the housemaster of House D, explained the logic behind the parking passes. Taylor said that the main priority was safety, and she elaborated on how unauthorized persons were becoming an issue.

Taylor said that, “Barnstable High School encourages people, no matter whom, to use our parking lots and our facilities before or after school hours.”

Taylor then moved on to discuss the other reason for the passes: hit and runs. She admitted that there were quite a few problems with hit and runs last year, and that, “these passes will make my life, as well as Officer Hall’s life, much easier. When trying to seek out this person, instead of having to run their plates first and go through the whole process of actually finding that person, we can just look up the number and tell right away who it is.”

Taylor further explained that the parking system is easier because many cars can be registered in a parent’s name, and that name might not be the same name as their child.

When asked about the punishments for not having the passes, she replied that, “for now, just warnings, but eventually for enough offenses, probably Saturday Schools or something like that.”

Cory Eno, BHS history teacher,  said that while he fully understood that the passes are important and meant for safety, he also understood how kids could see them as just another violation of privacy. “Kids can’t even go to the bathroom without permission and a pass, now this is just something else to make them feel like they are being watched.”