By Natalie Adams

On Friday, February 1st, a parking meeting was held to inform students of changes being made to the dismissal protocol.

Students with parking permits were required to attend the meeting whether they just received their permit for second semester or have had it all year. They were dismissed from their first-period class at 8:40 a.m. and sent to the auditorium for the meeting, which started at 8:45 a.m. The meeting was led by Ms. Cooper, an assistant principal, who announced the school was making some changes. Before she explained what exactly the changes were, Cooper reminded students of the importance of driving safely.

“There’s about 20 of you that are driving very, very dangerously,” Cooper stated. She said that she did not know exactly which students were causing problems, but explained there had been several complaints.

After her gentle reprimand, Cooper explained the changes to the dismissal protocol. Students who park in the middle school lot must now only exit through the middle school. She warned students to be careful, particularly in the traffic circle, and stated most of the complaints the school had received were about students who park at the middle school.

“You guys are the ones that are most dangerous,” Cooper said.

There are also changes for students who park in the G-lot. Buses used to line up along the school’s driveway, but now several buses will line up around the perimeter of G-lot starting on Monday, February, 4th. This will also affect where parents can line up to pick up students at dismissal.

Cooper explained that buses should be dismissed at 2:25 p.m., three minutes earlier than the previous dismissal time of 2:28 p.m., since students will not have to walk as far to their bus. However, this means that it will be more difficult for students to exit G-lot after fourth period.

Also, students will only be allowed to exit through the middle school if they leave before the buses. If students wait until after the buses are dismissed, they can exit either through the middle school or Annapolis Road.

One student asked how the changes would affect students with partial schedules. Cooper explained, “nothing in the morning has changed,” and “if you have a partial it’s not going to bother you one tiny bit.”

Cooper asked if anyone had questions or concerns, but no students spoke up. Students were then told to wait for the bell at 9:00 a.m. that would dismiss them to second period.

Cooper closed the meeting by imploring students to drive carefully and “be safe, be safe, be safe.”