By Anna Caudill, Editor-in-Chief

Some automated calls from school can automatically brighten my day. Early Career Center dismissal for a Thanksgiving assembly? I’d give that a six out of 10 on the day-brightening scale. Snow day tomorrow? Instant 12.  New parking policy nullifying assigned spots?

That one was around a negative four.

As a senior at Reynolds High School, I’ve come to know and respect the social hierarchy existent in the parking lot.  Sophomores get the leftovers of the faculty lot, juniors either love or hate their lot with its variant spots, and seniors vie for the glorified front-row spots at the bottom of the stairs. Thanks to my stellar timing in buying my sticker this summer, I was blessed with one of those front-row spots.

Now, I’ve seen that magnificent spot stripped from my wheels, and I’ve shared with my fellow students the struggles of this new parking policy that calls for no reserved spaces for anyone but teachers.

The new parking policy came about as a way to avoid having to ticket cars parked in the wrong spots. While I understand that having your spot taken is quite a frustration, it’s often a minor setback that occurs just a few times a year. Making parking sticker numbers irrelevant was the wrong solution to this problem.

Sure, going around the lot checking every single car for the correct spot number is tedious and arguably unnecessary, but the concept of a spot number can still be respected without calling for punishment if parked in the wrong spot.

You overslept and were going to be late if you parked in your far, far away spot, you might say. That doesn’t give you the right to take a spot that isn’t yours. Take the punishment of a tardy over a ticket and park in your respective spot.

This new parking policy not only shoves aside a decades-long parking lot hierarchy, but also has shown to encourage students to play a daily game of create-a-spot. Twice now, I have been subject to squeezing out of the lot hoping not to scratch the three cars whose drivers decided to park in nonexistent parking spaces, creating an uncomfortably tight bottleneck exit.

To the drivers of these cars: Yes, someone took my spot too (well, technically now it isn’t my spot anymore, but I still consider it to be), but you don’t see me blocking the exit for everyone else; just pick a spot in the boonies and deal with it.

I realize this new policy was created out of good intention, but it is simply untraditional and unnecessary. Plenty of schools hold no value in the numbers printed on the parking stickers they sell. Reynolds does. That makes us unique and is something to value.

As a sophomore driver I knew my place at the fringes of the faculty lot. As a junior I embraced my inconvenient spot that straddled a speed bump, and as a senior I had planned to rest assured that I’d have my front-row spot all to myself. Now, I drive into the parking lot from my morning Career Center commute blind and not knowing what spot I’ll claim for the day. It’s a cold and lonely feeling knowing that I’ve worked my way through Reynolds and don’t even have a parking spot to my name as a senior.

The solution to this problem is simple, fellow students: For the sake of Reynolds tradition and parking lot legacy, ignore the new policy, embrace your Miss Kelly-given spot and respect the hierarchy established over the years.