Ayla Johnson (‘26) received not one, but two parking tickets one day. That day, Ayla lost $105. She ran late that morning, and arrived at school at 8:00 a.m.. Only two hour parking spots were left, so she settled for one of them. But by the time milk break rolled around, boom, she had a ticket. Ayla forgot to move her car again later that day, resulting in another ticket waiting for her on her windshield. This year, tickets have cost her $225 total. 

Ayla’s classmate Audrey Donnelly (‘26) has received about eight tickets just this year, totaling approximately $420. She, too, was ticketed twice in one day after parking her car in the two hour spots located behind the Science Center. Her sister, Emma Donnelly (‘25), was ticketed three times this year, resulting in $120 in total fees. Pedro Tristão Carvalho de Mendonça (‘25) was even described as a “ticket magnet” by one of his friends. Parking fines have cost him upwards of $500.

Students are struggling with parking woes. With only 246 spots in the Bishop’s parking garage shared amongst over 300 teachers, students, administrators, and visitors, those who don’t have a parking spot are left fending for themselves against the onslaught of tickets in the La Jolla streets. As a result, this has caused a large disruption to student routines.

According to Assistant to the Dean of Students Ms. Becky Young, 95 seniors and 62 juniors entered last year’s lottery for a semester-long parking spot in the garage this year. All seniors and 15 randomly-picked juniors received a space for either the fall or spring semester. Sophomores were not eligible to enter the lottery. 

“My experience with parking at Bishop’s has been an absolute nightmare,” Ayla said. Ayla was one of 15 juniors this year to receive a spot in either the fall or spring semester (priority goes to seniors). This semester, however, like many others, she’s struggled with adjusting to not having a garage spot.

Despite alternative transportation options like Bishop’s busing services (provided for an additional fee), or carpooling, the ability for students to drive themselves is often more convenient. Science Teacher Kaitlin Ritsema acknowledged that, “For many students and their families, driving is a huge relief because families are trying to coordinate multiple schedules that involve going all around town, traffic, parents’ jobs.” Margo Leong (‘27) has enjoyed the freedom of having a license. Because her parents are both busy, having a license allows her the flexibility to stay late for evening sports practices and lessens the burden on her family.

Students with a spot for a semester, teachers who are able to obtain parking in their designated area, and those who won one of the six coveted auction spots don’t have to worry about these tickets. As a senior, Thomas Michael (‘25) received a spring parking spot. “It’s nice not having to worry about moving my car or getting a ticket,” he said. 

Others scour the streets for all-day parking.

Some streets that have all-day parking include Draper Avenue (65 spots), La Jolla Boulevard/Prospect (35 spots), and Cuvier (25 spots). But when Audrey arrives at school around 7:30 a.m., the streets are almost always filled with cars. 

“And I was thinking to myself, ‘who is here this early?… it made me reaffirm my choice to not drive to school because I’m not dealing with that,” she said. The lack of parking and the amount of tickets she receives discourages her from driving to school. “My dad gets so mad at me, but I tell him what would you rather have me sacrifice? Getting to school on time or the parking ticket?” she said. Audrey lives in La Jolla so, due to the limited parking availability, driving herself would defeat the benefit of living close. Now, Audrey hitches a ride with a parent.

For people that live farther away from Bishop’s, finding a spot in the morning is especially difficult without a garage permit; students must leave home earlier to find street parking. 

Having a garage space made a world of difference for Ayla. “It was amazing,” she said, “I could leave my house as late as 7:35 a.m. sometimes. This gave me a chance to sleep in an [extra] 45 minutes, and not have to stress about facing the wrath of my parents when coming home with a ticket.” Now, she has, like many others, to leave her house in Rancho Santa Fe (approximately 45 minutes away from Bishop’s) at 7:00 a.m. to try to find all-day parking on the public streets around Bishop’s, which is “extremely rare,” according to Ayla. 

Sophomores who are not permitted to have a garage spot must also try their luck on the La Jolla streets. As someone who lives in Encinitas (around 30-50 minutes away from Bishop’s depending on traffic), Margo often has to leave at 7:00 a.m. or earlier, and still struggles to find a spot. And when the all-day parking in La Jolla is claimed, many are left scrambling over the less-than-ideal two hour parking spaces. This means students must leave campus to move their car every two hours. 

The new updated security system makes this more difficult. Students can only get back in via a keycard (which only seniors and teachers have access to) and cameras are located on all gates surrounding campus. Underclassmen who need to move their cars are now required to obtain an off-campus pass from Ms. Young (located in the student center), move their car, and then return the pass. Ms. Young feels this system is working well, but noted that “it’s going to be a learning curve for students to remember to get the pass.”

“Sometimes it’s such a hassle that I’ll just take the parking ticket,” Audrey said. But other times, students leave in the middle of class to avoid a ticket, and, when classes are located far away from the student center, moving one’s car often takes away from valuable class time. 

“There have been so many times when I have had to make the choice between going to class on time or facing a $52.20 ticket, and a lot of times, the ticket wins, and I get tardy, and miss out on part of the lesson plan,” Ayla said. Even when students aren’t actively moving their cars, ticket-anxiety still disrupts student focus in class. “I definitely have been more preoccupied in class and [had] to do the math in my head when I have to leave… and obviously whether I’m gonna get a ticket, which I don’t want,” Margo said.

Teachers, too, acknowledge the disruption to their classrooms. “I know it is stressful for students to find time to do this, and, as a teacher, I of course don’t like that students are late to class or miss class because they are re-parking,” Ms. Ritsema said. “I also empathize with students because there aren’t a lot of options.” 

This has left some students working around the pass system to avoid a ticket. Margo said that, most of the time, she doesn’t grab a pass. Instead, she asks her friends to hold open the gate. “I would not like to disobey the rules, but that is what it has come to,” she said. Some students have even been seen jumping over gates on security cameras, according to Head of Security Mr. Danny Newsom in an interview with The Tower’s Two-Knights Show.

Some have even observed that the people (both students and teachers) who have spots in the parking garage do not always use them. Ellie Devoe (‘25) has noticed that there are often spaces available both in faculty and student parking. “I think it would be useful to look into setting up a system for students to temporarily use those spots that are not in use,” she said. She acknowledged that this may be a hassle, but could benefit many students — especially those who lived further away.

Some students, like Ellie, have heard that some teachers prefer to park on the all-day street parking “since their offices are closer.” Because teachers arrive at school earlier, oftentimes, there are often still spaces available. However, faculty that prefer to park in the garage, also struggle with their designated spaces in the garage filling up. “I’ve gone in and there have been no parking spaces,” Ms. Young said, “I’m in the same situation you guys are in.”

The issue of parking at Bishop’s is one of the issues that all three Associated Student Body (ASB) presidential candidates, Sophie Arrowsmith (‘26), Charlie Ahn (‘26), and Austin Hill (‘26) campaigned on. This year, Sophie got six parking tickets. “I think it’s ridiculous that [200] students drive to school every day, and we can’t find parking… It’s a necessary aspect of going to school, and I think it is really important that we are not sacrificing a lot of time to parking,” she said. Sophie proposed a solution: to convince La Jolla and Bishop’s families to sign a petition that would increase the amount of all-day parking spots surrounding campus. According to Article 6 of the San Diego Municipal Code, “The City Manager is authorized to determine the parking time limit on any designated street or portion thereof.”

But how are garage spaces allocated? Every year, Mr. Newsom divides up the 246 available parking spaces between faculty, administrators, auction winners, visitors, and students. Originally, 48 spaces were reserved for seniors (maroon), 56 for juniors (gold), 20 for visitors (white), nine front-lot spots, six for handicap (blue), and 116 for faculty and staff (green). 

As students’ demands for spots change from year-to-year, Ms. Young and Mr. Newsom work together to coordinate the number of spots for students. Thus, this year, because seniors are prioritized and more requested spots, juniors got less. Additionally, this year, 37 junior spots were allocated to faculty and staff. “I was advised by my supervisors at the time that the primary goal was to ensure parking for all those who teach, coach, and interact with our students on a regular basis,” Mr. Newsom said. “Truthfully, if teachers were leaving in the middle of class, it would be a lot more disruptive for their schedules,” Ms. Young added. 

The current garage space is not enough to accommodate all students or teachers. According to Mr. Newsom, the parking garage was constructed around 2005. Now, Ms. Young observed that the senior classes have continued to increase in size. “Most schools that are older weren’t built for the current parking needs,” Ms. Young said. 

For now, community members cope with the lack of the parking, whether that be by discreetly brushing off the chalk mark from their tires, sullenly paying the parking ticket, or parking further away from school. However, a question remains: is there a solution?