Students rushed from their houses on Jan. 24 to make their first period final. They pulled into the senior lot, expecting to quickly park their cars and walk to class. After two years of waking up too early and paralleling on Valmar, they felt they deserved—because they paid for—a spot in the senior lot. Little did they know, not a single spot remained vacant due to illegally-parked juniors and sophomores.

“During finals week, I counted 47 cars in the lot that didn’t have passes,” said senior Alison “Frenchy” Tcheguini. “I don’t have a third period, and when I came to school for my fourth period, there was not a single spot available.”

According to CHS faculty, the senior lot holds between 320 and 330 spots. This year, 327 verified senior lot passes were purchased by seniors and junior lottery winners under the assumption that on any given day, not all of the 327 pass owners will come to school. The Calabasas Courier counted exactly 328 spots, meaning that the senior lot should never be at full capacity. However, this is not the case.

“I missed Mr. Novak’s class because there were no available spots in the senior lot,” said senior Anoosha Tolouei.

CHS Administration is aware of the parking lot dilemma and is working toward combating it. Members of CHS faculty have called Calabasas authorities to ticket illegally-parked cars, alleviating the problem to some extent. In addition, a supposed “blacklist” of students with fraudulent passes has been drafted by Administration, disqualifying the students from obtaining real senior lot passes in future years. Some students are calling for Administration to do more to prevent violators.

“They should put someone in the front of the senior lot to turn away people without passes and parents trying to drop off their kids in the senior lot,” said Tamara Antypas.

In fact, CHS has implemented this idea in previous years, stationing a campus aide on Valmar, guarding the entrance of the parking lot and checking for passes. But while this system seems viable, it requires additional funding for CHS to hire another campus supervisor. The school has made progress in confiscating fake passes and punishing those parked without them; however, the problem has not yet been eradicated.

On Jan. 31, The Calabasas Courier counted 22 cars stationed in the senior lot without official passes. The Courier counted 23 on Feb. 1 and 36 on Feb. 6. On the dashboards of these unauthorized vehicles were forged notes written by “parents,” outdated lot passes and stickers and other assorted passes claiming access to parking lots far from CHS. On Feb. 6, five cars sported “CHS Faculty” parking passes. According to the Main Office, only two of those passes were legitimate.

Ultimately, Administration can only do so much to enforce the rules of the senior lot. So, when frustrated seniors complain about the lack of available parking spots and the brutal traffic after school, they should not channel their anger toward the Main Office, but rather toward the juniors and sophomores causing the problem. •