Students for Parking Lot Privileges

On Friday, September 18, 2009, Steele Canyon High School implemented a new policy regarding students' rights in the student parking lot without communicating the policy change to staff, students, or parents. Prior to this date, students were allowed to park, remain, and assemble in the student parking lot from time of arrival to the ringing of the first bell at 7:25am.

The student parking lot was used by students for communicating, relaxing, and studying in the time preceding the commencement of the school day. However, beginning September 18, school administrators and campus supervisors began forcing students to leave the parking lot and enter the gated campus immediately upon arrival at school. The rule change was prompted by numerous incidents of student-inflicted damage on vehicles parked in the student parking lot. This new policy has frustrated many students for a host of reasons. First, students are urged to arrive at school at least 30 minutes prior to class in order to avoid traffic and truancy.

Now those students are being punished for complying with the aforementioned request. Second, more than one hundred students paid from $50-$280 for parking spaces near their friends. Now, rather than socializing with those friends, those students are only allowed to be in their purchased space for a matter of seconds each day. Third, Steele Canyon High School has a pre-existing policy banning students from re-visiting their vehicles during school hours. Now, students who would have done homework or studied in their vehicles are forced to carry several textbooks into campus to study, and they are forced to carry those textbooks all day because they are not allowed to return to their vehicles.

Many other grievances exist in addition to the three examples noted. Students believe the new school rule violates their rights both as students of Steele Canyon High School and as citizens of the United States of America. The Steele Canyon High School Parent/Student Handbook and Student Driving Policy outline what a student driver can and cannot do on campus. The policy does not, in any way, limit or prohibit a student from remaining in his/her vehicle prior to school.

Also, the policy clearly states "Steele Canyon High School is not liable or financially responsible for any theft of items from vehicles or for any damages resulting from traffic accidents on campus" (26). The handbook relieves the school of liability for damage to vehicles in the student parking lot; thus, damage to vehicles in the student parking lot is not a valid reason for this dramatic rule change. Additionally, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects "the right of the people to peaceably assemble." With the new policy, this constitutional right is directly violated.

Furthermore, the Fourth Amendment protects citizens against "unreasonable searches and seizures." Student drivers recognize their vehicles are immediately subject to search upon entering campus, and would be happy to allow staff to search their vehicles at any time. The new policy, however, is neither a search nor a seizure; it is merely a command to abandon property. Thus, for a second time, students' constitutional rights are violated by the new parking lot policy. Ergo, the parking lot policy established September 18. 2009, is in direct violation of students' rights and should be immediately repealed.