On January 30, Kelly Gourde, an administrative assistant at Camas High School (CHS), sent out a notice on ParentSquare stating that “security has started monitoring the parking lots and have found that there were many cars parked without passes. Tickets will be issued starting [January 31].” 

Admin announced that the week of February 1-7 was the last week to buy parking passes. Since then, however, admin has announced that five parking passes remain and sales will continue until all passes have been purchased.

Some students feel that the changes to parking came from nowhere, and many are left wondering what counts as a parking violation according to the new regulations.

Simply put, not having a parking pass in a student vehicle leads to a parking violation, which now is properly being enforced for the rest of the school year.

“A student will receive a violation if the student does not have a 2022/23 parking pass, [or is] parking in a visitor lot or flex lot without a flex pass. There are few other instances, like taking up more than one spot or parking in a staff spot and no parking areas, such as along a curb,” said Julie Bailey, a security officer at CHS. 

Many students don’t feel like they actually know what to do when they get a parking violation. 

“[Last year, after getting a parking violation] I went to the office. I said ‘this needs to be resolved in 24 hours,’ and they said ‘the person who’s in charge of that is not here today.’ So I came in again the next morning, and they said ‘this is your first time? You’re fine.’ It was kinda useless,” said senior Anna Berner.

Similarly, senior Lauren Gliane said, “I got a parking violation, and it was raining. I didn’t think to lift up my wipers to take it so it ripped it. ‘Oh no,’ I thought. It got shredded up on my wipers. I ended up never reporting it.” 

Since then, there are now officially noted steps a student should take if they receive a parking violation. 

“[Students] should either see security or Mrs.Gourde in the main office. [Students] should not ignore [a parking violation],” said Bailey.

However, some students find there is an issue with getting violations even if they have a parking pass displayed in their car. 

“My parking pass was actually out on the center console and you could see it if you looked in the window, but I still got the ticket because it wasn’t [on the rearview mirror],” said Berner.

Logging license plates is a process that the administration has claimed is the best for efficiency and reliability, however, there can sometimes be problems with this system.

“…Students often drive different cars. Most students do not give us the plates of different vehicles,” said Bailey.

“[We log license plates because] we can know who belongs to what car. Many different reasons. We use the license plates all the time. We can pinpoint what student is driving the car if their lights are on, if they get hit. Any variety of reasons,” said Gourde.

“[License plates are logged] in case we need to identify a car. We try to notify students if they leave their lights on. We’ve even had students that have left their car running. Also, we have fender benders now and then. We are here to help and keep our students safe,” said Bailey. 

Logging license plates also help increase safety in the parking lot. Many students are concerned about being hit. 

“There are some very dangerous drivers in there. And why do some people park so badly?” said senior Campbell Workman.

Following the adjustments to the parking lot regulations, students should always make sure to put out their parking passes and park in the correct lot in order to not get a parking violation.