Insufficient plowing of the streets and parking lots around FHS left students in a tight spot upon returning from Christmas break, with narrow streets resulting in accidents, tardies and fire hazards.
"I'm always late because I can't find a spot," said senior Keegan Rumsey. "I roam around for hours and hours, then end up parking practically in Lakeside."
On the first morning back in school after Christmas break, students were called out of class to move their cars.
"The students are hindering the evacuation of the building," said traffic investigator Carol Warnes. "It would be a disaster if there was an injury or a fire."
Students, too, said snowy streets cramped their daily routines.
"It interfered with my study of organic chemistry," said senior Jonathan Fix, who was also asked to move his car. "I got all my homework problems wrong the next day."
A city crew was out at 2 a.m. on Jan. 7 trying to widen the streets.
"We're plowing in the middle of the night because there are too many cars there in the daytime," said Warnes. "We really worked hard to get a city crew over there."
"I thought that the city responded as quickly as they could have," said vice-principal Gene Boyle. "I really appreciated it."
While the streets around FHS are the city's responsibility, the parking lots are the responsibility of School District 5, according to transportation director Gary Rose.
"We have equipment to push snow, but not to remove it," said Rose. "It is extremely expensive to haul snow. We may have to set up an emergency budget."
Not only is the havoc in the parking lots and on the streets a fire hazard, but it also is the cause of many fender-benders.
"There are a lot of cars that have been damaged," said Warnes. "Many kids aren't reporting the accidents."
"I slid into some kid's car and scraped the paint off it," said junior Ryan Moore. "I wouldn't have reported it, but the kid locked his keys in the car and we had to call the traffic lady. Now I have to pay."
"My car was hit twice," said senior Adam Shearer. "First Mr. Boyle brought me a note saying that a school bus hit it. Then a kid brought me pieces of my car in seventh period after he ran into it with his truck."
The accidents and illegally parked cars caused attendance problems for students, too.
"I got my eleventh absence because they made me go move my truck off a snow bank," said Moore. "I was parked there due to lack of parking spaces, due to lack of plowing."
"I was bogusly given Saturday school for being late," said Shearer. "I was late because I was calling the police to tell them that a school bus hit my car."
"I think the parking situation is heinous," said senior Ryan Skybak. "I tried to park in one spot, but my car almost got hit, so I had to move about two miles away."