Class of 2018 Senior Parking at Westwood HS

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Dear Mr. Acosta,

Many of us parents and students are confused as to the logic behind the sudden removal of the hierarchy system that has been in place for the parking lots at Westwood.  The class of 2018 has suffered through many parking woes ever since they started driving and we were looking forward to finally having senior priority and guaranteed parking in the main lot.  Many of us have had student drivers (children and siblings) at Westwood, and while the permits and rules have changed for sophomores and juniors throughout the years, one thing that always remained was that seniors had priority in the main lot.

Seniors are the only ones allowed to leave campus for lunch.  Seniors and juniors are the only ones allowed to have off-blocks.  Many seniors have off-blocks first period and arrive at school after 10am for their second block.  With first-come-first-served parking they will be forced to park in the third lot.  If the lot looks underutilized, it's because seniors are coming late or leaving for lunch, but they still need the parking when they are in class.

Senior athletes are on Varsity teams.  Many Varsity teams practice after school and have games late at night.  The swim team practices before school off-site and they return after the main lot fills up as well.  Therefore, the Senior Varsity athletes who arrive later to school on their off-block days (or from swim practice) will be forced to park in the third lot all day until their bus returns from their volleyball game, or basketball game, or soccer game, and they will be walking out to their cars in the third lot in the dark.

Many of us are also upset about taking the very best 12 student parking spots for kids privileged enough to buy year-long guaranteed close-in parking -- to benefit the freshman class.  
 
We understand that you have discussed several ideas to expand parking availability this year during his morning coffees, and we know that you have genuinely been trying to find a fix to this very tough issue for some time.  But to our knowledge, there was no wide discussion of the freshman class auction taking prime spots or eliminating the senior class privilege of field house lot parking.  We just fear you just don't understand how this senior class has continually gotten a worse deal on parking than all previous classes every single year. 
 
Seniors of all backgrounds and interests are very active in the school and deserve better than this.  We don't understand why we can't issue two stickers again - that worked last year and with the improved signage and the Lake Creek tennis lot, juniors (and school neighbors), it should be better off than last year.  If field house parking is greater than the senior class need, some further-out spots could be allocated to juniors with permits.
 
We thank you for your time and reconsideration of this decision and hope you can please come up with a better solution.
 
Class of 2018 Parents and Students