Concern has grown within the Greeley West administration in regards to student safety when driving to and from school. There has been an increase in student drivers who are parking their vehicles in the school parking lots without a parking pass that proves they are allowed to do so. In response, administrators have made the decision to enforce consequences for students that don’t have a parking pass registered to their vehicles.
Throughout this school year, there have been many traffic accidents in the parking lot among student drivers who are also unlicensed, meaning they also don’t have a parking pass. Not only is the admin concerned, but so is the Greeley Police Department. The GPD is working alongside the school to deal with this problem.
Principal Jeff Cranson stated, “The police department is concerned about the number of unlicensed drivers in our community.”
Junior driver JJ Torres is a licensed driver with a pass on his car. He acknowledged the concern administators have. “I drive to school everyday and I’m not scared of the unlicensed drivers,” Torres explained. But I have heard of the accidents that have happened and my sister was actually involved in one.”
It was common practice for the school (and part of the student handbook) that admin would offer passes to licensed drivers. It was common practice to ticket cars and put stickers on them if they were parked in the lot without a pass,. But because of the many changes over the years such as the new building and new security monitors, it has become less and less of a priority.
Now that the changes have become the new normal, things are getting back under control, and there will now be more regulation on who is coming in and out of the parking lot. The process will start with a ticket/sticker that is a warning and then after that, the car will be towed.
According to Colorado State Law CRS 42-2-102, driving without a license will result in a 15-100 dollar fine and a 12 month delay in applying for a license. The towing fine would be considerably higher.
Cranson said he is not concerned that reinforcing this policy will effect attendance. “Kids are driving – not out of necessity – and can find a better way to get to school,” Cranson stated.
The parking lot is filled with student drivers whose main source of transportation is themselves. So there is no way to tell whether or not student attendance will be affected by this policy. However, one anonymous freshman who drives without a license stated, “I don’t have anyone else that could take me; my parents work.”
