High vehicle insurance costs. Lack of a driver’s license. Below required attendance.
These are just a few of the factors that could prevent a student from obtaining a parking permit enabling them to park on campus. And these are also common reasons why more students are using the “right-of-way” area along Old San Antonio Road as a makeshift parking lot.
The City of Austin recently placed a few “No Parking” signs in this area because student vehicles have often blocked access to utility poles and manhole covers with their vehicles while parking in this area.
According to the Akins Student Handbook, parking permits are required to park in the school parking lot. To acquire a permit, students need to have a driver’s license, proof of vehicle insurance, and pay $25 to purchase the permit.
Before students can obtain a driver’s license, they first need a Verification of Enrollment form from their school that they provide to the Texas Department of Public Safety. This form shows whether a student has maintained a 90% average of daily attendance per semester, which is required for students to receive a driver’s license.
Any one of these unmet requirements and complicating factors can make students ineligible to receive a parking permit, causing problems for students who need a place to park their vehicles while attending school.
The Eagle’s Eye conducted an online survey to ask students about their challenges with parking on campus.
About 57% of the survey respondents said they park in the student parking lot but only 37.5% of them said they have a parking permit.
Getting parking permits can be challenging for many students as they have expressed that it is time-consuming and expensive. Not having automobile insurance was often cited in the survey results as a reason why they do not have a parking permit.
Associate Principal Manuel Garcia said he understands that insurance is typically even more expensive for young drivers.
“It’s an extra $300 so it’s not affordable,” Garcia said.
Not all Austin ISD high schools require students to have permits to park on campus. Crockett Early College High School does not require parking permits and Travis ECHS does not enforce parking permits on their students.
Since the beginning of the spring semester, the Akins administration has ramped up enforcement of parking policies by adding boots to student vehicles that are parked in teacher parking spots.
On Old San Antonio Road there is a “No Parking” sign for the manholes that are on the Right-of-Way area. With cars parking on the ROW, the City of Austin had to place a sign here to make sure no one would park on top of them, but it does not stop many people from parking there. (Ashley Caceres-Sanchez)
Desperate students needing a place to park have resorted to parking in the right-of-way areas along Old San Antonio that runs behind the school. This strip of road between the portables and the soccer fields has become a de facto parking lot for students who avoid the student parking lot because they don’t have a permit.
The large number of vehicles that park along the road and its status as uncontrolled by the school district has made this area dangerous during the school day when every empty area is used as a parking spot. What were once grassy and dirt-covered areas are now full of deep ruts from vehicles that park there in muddy conditions.
Right-of-way is an area owned or controlled by the city that runs along roads, including grassy areas between property lines and road pavement. This area is in a legal gray area because it is not Austin ISD property and the school cannot enforce the same rules and is not responsible for it in terms of security.
Garcia said complaints about this area have to be addressed by city officials and police and they prioritize moving, ticketing, or giving warnings to those who park on the right-of-way area.
“They park there because it’s a public area,” Garcia said.
Even though many students don’t like the parking permit policy it is very important.
It is all about safety, and what is needed to keep the school, students, and staff safe.
In case of an accident, the permits are used as a way to locate the student and make sure nothing harmful can happen by terminating their parking permit.
This may not seem fair to many students.
“Yes this rule is stupid and I hope my brother doesn’t have to go through these types of problems when he gets into high school,” Senior Itzel Mendoza said.
But as Garcia said this is done to maintain safety and order in the student parking lots.
“First of all, we take safety very seriously,”
