By Stephen Twentyman (March 16, 2004)

Beginning after spring break, juniors and sophomores will no longer be allowed to park on campus once construction on the new middle school begins in the near future on the approximate site of the tennis courts.
 

Assistant principal Tim Guy addressed the upcoming situation in an interview with Lasso Online, adding that underclassmen may never again be allowed to park at school. Guy also pointed out that a gate to control access through the school property will be erected to prevent drivers from reaching the cafeteria area parking lot from the Route 7 entrance.  Scores of parking spots in the back of the school will be taken over by construction vehicles and crews. These spots’ occupants, mostly faculty, will move to the Haycock Road lot; the seniors will stay in place, and so underclassmen commuters will be almost entirely squeezed out. The faculty take priority over students because, as Guy said, "the first expectation of any employee is a place to park." Furthermore, students generally come from the same two-mile area close to school, while the faculty come from diverse places as far away as Maryland and West Virginia. Two exceptions are to be granted: tuition students may still drive to school and students who rely on their cars for transportation to the Arlington Career Center will also retain and pay for parking privileges. No such leniency is to be taken with late-arrival students: Guy said that "it is not a core requirement" and that these students had made their own, non-academic, scheduling choice.

“Qu’est-ce que c’est?” Matt Meyer exclaims in  disgust as he surveys the lot for an elusive parking  space.  The search is hard enough now, but it will be  even tougher come April, once construction on the  Middle School begins and underclassmen are  squeezed out of the parking picture.  (Photo by Stephen Twentyman)

Guy went on to say that underclassmen may never be allowed to park at George Mason ever again. After the middle school construction is complete and the new school opens, upwards of 50 new faculty members will come to staff that school and will accordingly need parking spots. "It would not surprise me," Guy concluded, "to see underclassman parking become a very rare privilege."

While the school suggests that these underclassmen use the bus system to get to school and back, a few students complained that the buses are standing-room-only as it is and that forcing dozens of more students onto each bus would only compound the problem. Guy admitted that he had not known that there was a crowding problem on the buses and that he would check into it. Transportation director Nancy Hendrickson encourages anyone to report overcrowding concerns to her office.