Debate

For Government class we are mock senators in the senate debating a hypothetical situation regarding parking in high school. We made our own amendments to the original bill, and the study conducted is our own.

The Proposal

Providing, for the consideration of a school policy that would provide reasonable parking accommodations for Seniors.

Resolved, that the student parking policy shall be instituted as follows:

a.) Students must have a valid driver's license

b.) Seniors have the ability to receive permits exclusively for the first two weeks of August. After that period expires, juniors will then be able to receive their south lot permits if any are available to them.

c.) Parking permits for the nearby churches will be given out on a first come first serve basis for a nominal fee. Oakland will be $60 per spot, Gospel Tabernacle will be $80, and Lovely Lane will be $90.

d.) Campus lots will not be open to freshmen or sophomores.

e.) Students who have year-long unusual schedules such as those with Kirkwood classes or who are in building traits are allowed to reapply for North lot privileges before other students.

f.) In an effort to enforce amendment “d”, the fine for breaking said amendment will come in the form of a $25 parking ticket.

Committee Name: Student Union

Below is a survey conducted and created by half of our committee while the other half attended to their jobs respectively.

Government Survey

1:_____.) What grade are you in (10th, 11th or 12th)?

2:_____.) Do you drive yourself to school?

3:_____.) Do you drive to school with more than one person in the car? If yes, how many?

4:______________.) If you do drive to school, where do you park?

5:_____.) In the lot that your sticker allows you to park in, do you have a hard time finding parking spaces?

6:_____.) Would you be willing to pay $30 per south lot sticker in order to expand the north lot next year to increase the amount of parking available?

Results:

96 surveys were given out to Mr. Cory's 0, 2,3,4, and 5 hour classes, students were asked to answer 6 questions in an effort to collect data on the students experience with parking at Kennedy.

• Out of the 96 surveys, 49 were filled out by juniors, and 47 by seniors.
• 83 of those surveyed drive to school, and 18 of those drivers carpool with 1 to 3 people in the car.
• Out of those 83 drivers, 62.65% of students said they parked in the south lot, leaving the remaining 31.74% of students to park in the surrounding churches.   5.6% of students surveyed do not park on school grounds at all. They stated that they had a later class, and by the time they had to be at school there were no spots available in the south lot.
• Students who are able to find parking spots in their designated area often stated a reason for them finding parking, which was their zero hour class, and whenever they skipped zero hour and arrived around first hour then they were unable to find parking.
• Each age group had a polarizing effect on the data for question 6, perhaps this is due to students not knowing that it is a purely hypothetical question. The most common response for seniors was no, and many gave the reasoning of “I am a senior so this has no effect on me”. On the opposite side of the spectrum, juniors answered yes over 80% of the time. If this question were more clear, the data would have have most likely shifted to more answers of yes than no.