Williston’s new parking lot policy has streamlined the process for day-student drivers.
The new policy at Williston has put a wrinkle into the commute for teachers arriving at school and has shifted their daily routines. Students, however, now have a much emptier lot to park safely in. The new policy states students must always park in the day student lot, but it is now off-limit to those teachers who live on campus.
Last academic school year, teachers could drive to Williston’s day student lot. Now, with the school’s new policy, teachers and staff must walk to classes or commute from home to the smaller lot behind the library. This has been the first year the policy has been in place.
Haas, an English teacher living in Logan, has mixed feelings about not being about to drive to the day student lot.
“The school comes first, and the students come first, right? So as adults, we can pivot and be flexible,” said Haas.
Haas has changed his daily routine due to the new policy.
“It kind of depends on the day,” Haas said. “I will sometimes park by the library. Sometimes I’ll drive to Dunkin’, go home, park, and then walk. And sometimes I’ll just park on the street.”
Ava Richardson, a day-student driver from Easthampton, is relieved about the new policy.
“It is so much better not to have to worry about not having a place to park if I don’t get there 30 minutes early,” Ava said.
A day student driver who wished to remain anonymous is interested in the number of reclassifications and postgrads earning their licenses, and what impact that has on student lot congestion.
“I feel like there are more day students than the previous year, so there are more cars in the parking lot,” the student said. “It’s hard that there are reclasses that are now able to drive to school. So that adds more [cars to the] parking [lot].”
This year we have 160 day students in the upper school,” according to Kate Garrity, Associate Dean of Students. “We don’t keep track of a specific day-student-driver number, as it’s changing daily, but around 50 by the end of the year. There’s always an increase in the spring as more juniors get their license and have access to a car.”
Another anonymous day student driver is thrilled about how much safety the new policy is bringing to the school.
“I’ve been worried when I had to park on the grass because I was scared my car was going to get hit, but now I don’t worry,” they said.
According to the page 51 in the Williston Handbook 25-26, student drivers must follow a series of policies: “Day student drivers must register their cars with Campus Safety and park only in the Day Student Lot, unless directed to park elsewhere due to a campus event.”
