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PARK CITY — Parking has always been at a premium in Park City, and that’s true even for the high school. Park City High School has doubled its student parking fee for the new school year.
“Our parking lots are completely full,” said Caleb Fine, the school’s assistant principal. “Students have been very frustrated in years past. They have had a pass and they can’t get a parking spot. So, we’re hopeful this (the price increase) is a deterrent and that a few more students would choose a greener form of transportation.”
Those greener forms of transportation include carpooling, taking the bus and biking among others.
School officials also want more hours for their part-time parking coordinator, the staffer who monitors the lots. Fine said that increased presence of an adult could curb bad behavior.
“Hopefully, kids will think twice, slow down in the parking lots, not bring things they shouldn’t bring to school: alcohol, drugs, even weapons,” Fine explained.
To pay the coordinator for an extra five hours a week, the school doubled student parking fees from $50 to $100.
Alex Farnell just paid for her daughter’s parking at Park City High.
“I can certainly understand why they did that,” she told KSL. “I would think not going all the way to $100, maybe $74. Because that’s supply and demand. That’s how it works.”
Melissa Payne said she pays $5 for her son’s parking at Syracuse High School.
“Just because my child can’t afford a $100 parking pass, my child doesn’t deserve to park at their public school?” she asked.
“We’re not a business, no one is getting rich off this,” said Fine.
He said his school will work on a case-by-case basis with students financially squeezed by the increased parking fee.
“We never want a student to feel like they don’t have an opportunity to access their education,” said Fine. “If parking came down to that, we’re going to do whatever we have to do to make sure kids get a chance to go to school and feel safe here.”
Fine pointed out that students at Park City High do not pay any academic fees, like many other students in the state do. All they have to pay for is parking and a yearbook.
