In the mornings, finding a parking spot next to a friend was usually routine and enjoyable.  But that’s not the case any longer. Lafayette decided to assign spots to student drivers for the 2011-2012 school year.

Principal John Shaughnessy said the change to assigned spots was for two reasons.

“Number one is due to reduction in my staffing, so my staff that used to help organize and manage the parking lot was reduced significantly,” he said.

Last year, the parking lot was often chaotic in the mornings and afternoons even with two attendants.  Students this year have already seen the results of only having one.

Shaughnessy said “The second reason [for the assigned sports] is the cost went up to $180 for students, so I wanted to guarantee that they got a place to park.”

The idea of creating assigned spots for students was to decrease traffic and confusion.

Going from paying $100 last year, to $180 this year, some wondered if the same number of students would even apply for parking spot, yet almost every spot was assigned to students that drive themselves to school.

Senior Bobby Finley said “I think it was a waste of time and money to repave the parking lot.  It was unnecessary to raise the prices.”

Senior Maddie VanHouse shares the same opinion as Finley.   “I feel it increased confusion and created more traffic in the morning.”

On the other hand, some students tend to approve of the decisions made by the school.

Senior Kyle Glennon said “I love it.  I love having a spot in the very corner of the lot and the workout I get walking half a mile to the building.”