By Jesse Walker-McGraw

For more than eight years, STA girls parking in the student lot have been required to have a parking sticker on their car’s window. This year, the rule has been modified to include all student cars, including those rarely driven to school, opposed to only those parked in the student lots. This is because most students will park on campus at some point, even if it is for a special event instead of for school, according to the principle of student affairs Mary Ann Hoecker.

According to administrative assistant Julia Berardi, the consequences of not having a sticker include the student being fined 10 dollars and the student receiving an SBR. Their car may also be towed. Anytime, but specifically during the first two weeks of school, students must visit Berardi in the M&A Building main office to get a parking sticker and register their car. They are required to fill out a form asking for their name, their school year, the make of their car and their license plate number.

“It takes about two minutes to get a sticker and takes about 10 seconds to put it on your car,” Hoecker said.

Each parking sticker has a specific number which is matched to the owner of the car. This rule enables the administration to notify students during the day if there is an issue involving their car such as a flat tire or the car being parked illegally, according to Berardi.

“If you’re parked illegally, you have to move your car,” Hoecker said.

Before this rule, the administration would announce a description of the car and the problem to the entire school. Now, the owner of the car can be paged in a less intrusive manner, since ownership can be identified more easily. This rule also allows the administration to verify all cars in the parking lots are the student cars.

“We have to know whose car it is,” Hoecker said.

This rule affects seniors and juniors who park in the parking lot behind Windmoor and sophomores who park on side streets, Hoecker said. Checks for the stickers are conducted randomly, Berardi said.

According to junior Katie Hanson, many students do not like the parking sticker rule. However, she appreciates the stickers and thinks they help the administration make sure no non-students park in the parking lot.

“[The parking lot is] meant for the students,” Hanson said.