While there’s been recurring issues for years with Campolindo’s parking lot, especially regarding underclassmen parking in the lot, this year has seemed especially difficult for the senior class of 2026. At the beginning of the year many students spend $75 for a parking pass so that they could park in the small number of spots available in the lot. Currently, some complaints are being made by students who paid and reserved these spots but are now having difficulty finding one before or during the school day.

The passes are offered to mainly the senior class. If there are leftover spots juniors are eligible to buy a parking pass. There are 450 spots in the senior lot, 100 of those are reserved for staff members and 50 more are left for the aquatic center parking. This leaves 300 spots for students. 280 spots were sold this year which left 20 extra spots available for other senior students who have

Recently, an issue arose after sophomore and junior students without a pass were caught parking in the spots. Stephanie Sliwinski “The Parking Tzar,” is Campolindo High School’s attendance technician. Sliwinski said, “juniors and sophomores are taking advantage of the fact that we don’t really have enough man-power.” Sliwinski discussed the lack of availability for teachers patrolling the senior lot and enforcing the “only parking pass people are allowed to park their cars in the lot” rule.

When asked about this issue, Campolindo High school principal, Peter Alvarez said, “it’s hard to guarantee a space if you’re a senior that’s showing up part way through either first or fourth period. So if you’re late for school that becomes challenging.” He also said, “for sophomores and juniors, unless you’ve purchased a parking permit at the start of the year, it’s really not okay to park in the [senior] lot.” While this is good advice for most students to follow, some seniors have first period off, so finding a space for them can still be difficult.

Senior Shira Ayalon said, “There was one time where I came in at 8:40 instead of 8:30 and all of the spots were taken including the Aquatic Center [our community pool parking lot].” Many students have had similar experiences when coming a few minutes late to school. Some students have started parking in the staff parking lot when all of the student parking is filled. This has led to further annoyance from some of the staff members because their reserved spots are being taken.

In the past some seniors have rebelled against the underclassmen on senior prank day by spreading condiments or other materials on the cars, and in some cases, causing damage to the vehicles. This year, students sprayed silly string on cars and used car markers on the students cars that don’t have the senior parking pass. This prank was the students’ way of taking a stand against the underclassmen taking their spots, but it has incited irritation from the students whose cars have been vandalized.

This issue isn’t solely revolved around students and staff. Parents and general community members who park in the Aquatic Center parking lot have also left their cars in the senior lot. Parents and other visitors are allowed to park in the student parking lot until seven in the morning, but some people don’t follow these rules and will even park in staff parking past seven.

Furthermore, swimmers have their own designated passes for Aquatic Center parking during the school day. With very few spaces available for cars, lack of parking in the pool designated spots have caused irritation.

Underclassmen parking in the senior lot without passes has created a domino effect including an influx of seniors parking in the Aquatic Center lot and Aquatic Center members parking in staff slots. This issue could easily be resolved if students followed the rules of the lot.