Currently at East Campus, students are left stranded trying to find a way to get home and to work since they are no longer allowed to keep their cars in the Walmart parking lot. The school recently announced that anyone parking in the Walmart parking lot that is a student at Lockport will be towed. This is an inconvenience to students because most of the students have jobs after school, so taking the bus or finding other rides is an aggravation. How are students supposed to keep their jobs and travel back and forth from school and home? 

Since the parking lot at East is taken up by the majority of staff and seniors, students have no other option but to park at Walmart. Many students are fortunate enough to be able to have a parent or guardian to pick them up, but there are still a vast amount of students unable to carpool. Plus, the bus making multiple stops has already shortened the time for one to get to work on time. Multiple lowerclassmen are still taking the risk of parking in Walmart for the fact they have no other options. 

Another option students have been using is parking multiple blocks away from the school, in a no tow zone area. This is even more of a difficulty and annoyance for the fact that now by following the rules one still has to walk back and forth a great distance to school in the cold weather, so that one is able to make it to work at the end of the school day. 

Instead of finding new options for students, schools tell them “It is what it is.” Schools other than Lockport can find ways to help students by offering vanpool or carpooling services. This is where faculty, staff, volunteers, etc help by carpooling students to nearby places that school buses do not go to like a student’s work. They can also offer this as a job for students to be like an Uber driver, and drive the passenger to their destination.

There needs to be a better system put in place so issues like these do not become a bigger problem in the future. Hopefully the school and students could come together and come up with a solution for alternative transportation or parking.