Your first car. It describes you. It gets you where you need to go. You blare music in it, eat in it, and do homework in it. It makes you independent. It’s a huge part of your life. But at school, there are so many restrictions on when you can and cannot go to your car, it almost makes you want to ride the bus.

According to the administration, students cannot sit in their cars before school because of safety and supervision issues.

“During the school day, there are police that come in and the gates are locked,” principal Paul Norton said. “But, in morning we don’t have control of who’s coming on campus because people are coming in and dropping kids off.”

However old the parking lot policies might be, they have just begun to catch the attention of students.

“We began last year or the year before making students exit their vehicles because of some issues we were having,” associate principal Brad Bailey said. “Students have been made aware of the policy through announcements, handbook and administrative communication in the parking lot.”

There are penalties if students do not act in accordance with the rules.

“Consequences for not complying will be aligned with our campus code of conduct which includes ISS and/or parking privileges revoked,” Bailey said.

Some students have a different take on the rules.

“I think it’s ridiculous,” senior Jacob Latham said. “I don’t do anything against the rules. It’s my car.”

Others feel that they are being punished for a crime they didn’t commit.

“I think it’s silly,” junior Laney Davis said. “Especially when you have students that never do anything wrong. If I ever want to go early to get a good parking spot for my truck and finish homework, I can’t because I have to go to the cafeteria.”

Whether students agree with the policies or not, the administration has them in place for a reason.

“The rules are 100 percent for safety reasons,” Norton said. “It’s to make sure that the students are safe because we don’t have secured areas in the parking lot in the morning. No school does. The emphasis is in on the safety component.”