Friday, April 19, 2019
The Campanile
OPINION
A6
Student parking permit application system should be reformed By Adora Zheng
S
Staff Writer
enior Ashutosh Bhown circles the parking lot, eyes scanning for a strip of open space — but there are no open spots in sight. The bright pink glare of guest parking permits sitting on the dashes of dozens of cars momentarily catches his eye as he shifts to searching for street parking, only to see that it is full. The time is 12:09 p.m., and his stomach sinks as he realizes he will have to walk into fifth period late. Bhown is one of the dozens of students with parking permits, which cost $100 for the entire year, who are sometimes hardpressed to find parking on campus. According to a poll conducted this year, when The Campanile surveyed 70 juniors and seniors through a Google Form distributed on social media, 72 % of student permit holders have been unable to find parking on campus at least once.
Students illegally park unpermitted vehicles on campus, as it is easy to avoid being ticketed. With no choice but to find parking off campus, students must turn to El Camino Real or nearby residential streets for a parking spot — additionally, students are not allowed to park in the Southgate neighborhood by Churchill Avenue, which limits options even further. These students spend valuable time looking for a place to park, which can result in them coming to class late — according to the same poll, nearly 60 % of the upperclassmen with parking permits are late to class at least once a week because they cannot find parking. Of those students, nearly
18 % are late three to four times a week. According to Main Office Secretary Jennifer Gardiner, students come into the office with parking issues at least once every two or three weeks. Being habitually late to classes interferes with teaching and disrupts the entire class’s learning — finding parking clearly contributes greatly to this problem, and there are many simple solutions that would help alleviate these issues. If the enforcement schedule were randomized, the staff parked in staff-only spots, and the guest parking permit system were modified, the number of tardy students would decrease and those who bought permits would be able to consistently find parking. Paly’s parking is currently enforced by the Palo Alto Police Department (PAPD). According to Gardiner, each lot is checked one to two times per day, and any vehicles without valid permits in plain view are ticketed and fined a minimum of $46. However, the PAPD never does checks after their daily lunchtime check — many students without permits take advantage of this by moving their cars out of the lot at the beginning of lunch, then re-parking after lunch. To help combat students working around PAPD’s enforcement, PAPD ought to randomize the times each lot is checked — a main reason that students without permits decide to park on campus is that they know they will not be ticketed during certain times, and creating an internal rotation or randomization of enforcement times eliminates that guarantee, thus decreasing the number of spots taken up by students without permits. According to senior Alex Daw, who drives to school every day, another issue that makes finding parking even more difficult for students is that staff members occasionally park in student spots.
Staff are permitted to park in any spot — however, according to Daw, some staff members park in student sections when staff-only spots are still available. Daw said some mornings he spends around 10 minutes trying to find spots in the on-campus lots and occasionally has to park outside his friends’ houses or along nearby streets. The guest permit system also perpetuates parking difficulties on campus. According to Gardiner, 25 to 100 one-day guest permits are typically issued every day — on rainy days or during campus events, that number, along with the number of students who come to Gardiner with parking issues, tends to increase. These permits can be obtained relatively easily — guests sign in at the front office, and Gardiner
hand-writes them a permit. However, there is no limit to how many guest permits can be given, and every time Gardiner writes a permit, a spot could be taken away from a student or staff member with a permit. There is a limited number of parking spots on campus, and even fewer are available to students — if guest permits are issued with no regulation, there is nothing to stop spots from simply being “oversold.” The way to fix this issue and prevent student spots from being taken is to regulate the number of guest permits issued on any given day. The number of student permits, staff permits and possible guest permit ought to add up to the total number of spots — that way, the possibility of giving too many guest permits and taking away student spots is eliminated.
SAT, ACT and AP exams. The actions displayed by SCUSD to work towards a more fair and equal-opportunity education system are an example PAUSD should strive to follow, especially since the District is trying to close the achievement gap. Assistant Principal Jerry Berkson attributes the high prices to proctoring and materials costs, as well as to the high volume of students taking exams every year. This year at Paly alone, 913 students are taking 2,154 AP exams, an average of 2.36 tests per person. The number of registered students has increased by 126 % and the number of exams has increased by 139 % in comparison with the 2018 AP exams. Berkson estimates that Paly lost money from AP testing fees last year, and his calculations of AP Language exams this year indicate breaking even. Although Paly offers fee waivers and reductions for students in the free/reduced lunch program,
and tries to provide financial assistance for those who do not qualify, PAUSD ought to reduce prices or cover the cost of at least one AP exam per student. Having such high prices and taking multiples APs can cause students to have to pick and choose between the classes for which they want to broadcast their knowledge and classes for which they want possible college credit. This can be executed by designating a percentage of Paly’s budget solely towards AP testing. However, Berkson has doubts about the prospect of lowering costs and maintains the perspective that Paly is merely a testing center for AP exams as opposed to the producer of exams. “We’re not here to make a profit,” Berkson said. “If we were making money, sure, we can look at those figures. I don’t think we’re going to make money on this, so (reducing prices) would be tough to do. Even if we did, I don’t think it would be a significant amount.”
Berkson said the uncertainty about reducing prices comes from both The College Board’s insufficient contribution to proctoring and organizational costs, and the fact that students are making a pesonal academic and financial decision to take an AP class. “Since it’s a choice to take this test, I’m not sure why (the District) would pay for (a student) more than what they’re paying,” Berkson said. “Students are encouraged (to take the AP exam while in an AP class), not forced.” However, sophomore and AP Seminar student Sabrina Chan believes the competitive academic culture and “college race” at Paly creates pressure to take AP courses and exams during high school. Chan believes the tests are overpriced, especially if a low score is received, and that AP classes should be chosen based on a student’s interest, rather than what looks good on a college application. Some Paly parents also feel as though the price of AP exams are
ART BY KAITLYN LEE AND TIEN NGUYEN
Students who purchase per-
Guest passes given out daily can overshoot the capacity of lots, leaving students with nowhere to park. mits ought to always have a place to park on campus, no matter the weather or what events may be going on. Spreading awareness about staff parking in student spots, as well as randomizing the times that parking enforcement checks the lots and modifying the guest parking permit system, would help diminish issues around parking on campus and lessen the number of students who are routinely tardy.
The costs of AP Exams should be uniform across all districts By Antonia Mou
A
Staff Writer
s Schoology is flooded with bold and colorful posts reminding students to register for Advanced Placement (AP) exams, thoughts about the extensive cost of enrollment remain in various students’ minds. With the click of a button on the Total Registration website, more than $100 is sacrificed just to display the knowledge students have acquired from vigorous collegelevel courses. Every year, hundreds of Paly students enroll in AP courses and pay upwards of $115 to take the College Board’s standardized tests. The costs quickly pile up for students taking more than one AP course, adding on extra stress to their already intense course load. To reduce anxiety for students and parents, the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) and Paly should allocate funds to reduce the price of AP exams for all students. This would decrease the burden on students who feel pressured to only register for select AP exams due to the excessive costs. Currently, PAUSD lists the price range of AP exams as $115 to $145 on the Total Registration website, and The College Board lists its baseline price as $94, citing possible higher fees to cover proctoring and administration costs. However, many other school districts in the Bay Area have lower baseline AP exam costs than PAUSD. For example, Pleasanton Unified School District charges $100 per exam, Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District charges $105, and Santa Clara Unified School District, (SCUSD), provides free AP exams to all students.
Discrepencies in the base cost for AP exam registration between school districts are the basis for controversy regarding the topic Dr. Laurie Stapleton, the SCUSD director of secondary education, said their school board has allocated funds through one of the programs created intended to promote equity and a collegegoing culture in their school district to pay for students to take the
ART BY SHANNON LIN
unreasonably high for what they provide. Chan’s father, Ken Chan, believes AP exams should be free and incorporated into the school’s budget because he already pays property tax for public schools. Chan advocates for free AP exams to be a part of public education because AP classes and tests are now seen by many as almost a basic requirement for college admissions. Additionally, the AP exam represents an opportunity to display mastery of the course material and validate a challenging course load. So, while registering for an AP exam is a personal choice, PAUSD has an obligation to take into account the number of students taking APs and who view it as a standard part of high school academics While the price may be high, an equal chance at a higher education for students with less privilege is a rewarding enough outcome to justify the expenditures.