To pay for a pass to park? Why should students have to pay to park at their own school?

Grace LaubenthaL COPY EDITOR

Second hour had ended like any other day, with students chatting in the halls and some heading out to their cars to travel between campuses.

The North Campus students thought it was a normal day until they walked out to the parking lot, only to make an alarming discovery. Tickets had been left on each car that did not have a parking pass.

Parking passes have been a requirement for student drivers at Holt High School for years. This year, announcements have been made since the first week of school, encouraging students to fill out a permission slip, get a parent signature, and pay for their parking pass.

This felt like one more item in a long list of things to do, so many students didn’t buy their passes.

During passing times and in classes, I used to hear people complaining about not wanting to buy a pass for this very reason. Even though I bought a pass myself, I couldn’t help but find myself agreeing with them.

I couldn’t blame them for not buying a pass.

Students continued complaining for weeks, and were warned that they would be ticketed, but no such action took place until October 27.

Despite all of the warnings, students were shocked to find tickets on their cars. Angry complaints were voiced across third hour classrooms. Students didn’t think it was fair that they had to pay a fee to park at their school.

Five dollars may not seem like much, but for teenagers, that amount of money can be used towards much more beneficial things than a parking pass.

For me, snacks, accessories, or a football game are all things I would rather spend that money on. Not all students have money to spend in the first place.

While I have a job, it doesn’t pay the best, which is common for high school students. This can make five dollars feel like a lot to me and other students in the same situation. Not only must students pay five dollars for a pass, but if they get a ticket, they must pay ten dollars. This means that if a student wants to get a pass after getting a ticket, they’ll be paying fifteen dollars in total, which seems unnecessary. This high price to pay is not where the consequences end. If students don’t pay their tickets, they won’t be able to get tickets to prom or get their diploma.

This seems an extremely harsh punishment to receive for not paying to park.

Even so, these are not the only negatives when it comes to parking at this school. It can be risky to drive in the parking lots. Students can be reckless drivers. There have already been multiple collisions this year in the parking lots. People have parked sideways, taking up three spaces, and knocked cars completely out of their spaces.

I, along with many other students, am not confident that my car is safe in the school’s parking lots. Students are inexperienced drivers and can be irresponsible. I don’t like leaving my car there in the first place, so having to pay for it especially doesn’t seem right.

Normally when you pay to park somewhere, it’s a place you feel your car will be safe. I don’t think we should have to pay to park in a place where safety can’t be guaranteed for our vehicles.

I bought a parking pass when they were first offered this year, but that doesn’t mean I agree with the fact that the school requires them. The way I see it, if we pay to park, we should know what our money is going towards.

The school parking lots are, a fact that is known by nearly everyone who’s driven in them, not the greatest. The main campus recently had its lots repaved and parking lines repainted, but the North Campus lot is riddled with potholes.

According to silive.com, one in ten drivers in the U.S. suffered vehicle damage that required repair work after hitting a pothole in 2021.

This statistic shows just how costly potholes can be, and in the school parking lots, students have to deal with them every day.

Furthermore, a storm knocked over a stop sign on the West side of the main campus. This hasn’t been replaced for weeks.

People who normally don’t come to the school have no way of knowing that they’re supposed to stop. This is a danger for anyone driving in the parking lot.

If we are required to buy a parking pass, we should see that our money is going towards making our parking lots better.

Replace the stop sign.

Fix the potholes. Instead, the student body is seeing no change happening with the money they’re giving up.

An overwhelming majority of the student body agrees that we shouldn’t have to pay for parking passes.

I believe, as long as we have to pay, something should come of it. That’s why I hope that in the future, we will see a change, whether it be no longer having to pay for parking passes in future years or seeing improvements in the parking lots.

Managing Editor:

Copy Editors:

Social Media Editor:

Photo Editor:

Staff Writers:

Adviser:

Julia Toomey

Grace Laubenthal and Corinne Johnson

Kayla Fogarty

Jada Price-Williams

Abraham Alvarez, Evie Cook, Taylor Crosslan, Marianha Hatfield, Jacob Mcmillen, Isaiah Thorpe, and Eleanor Westmoreland

Sarah Ashman

Editorial Policy: Ramparts is published by the Journalism class of Holt High School. The newspaper serves the students and staff of Holt High School and as a connection to the Holt-Dimondale community.

The objective of Ramparts is to publish a factual, informative and entertaining newspaper, and to provide a forum for the expression of diverse viewpoints.

The opinions and views expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the administration, the adviser, or all Ramparts staff members.

The editors reserve the right to reject any material that is libelous, obscene, or poses an immediate and material disruption to the educational environment. Ramparts prints letters to the editor and guest editorials as space allows. Letters must be typed, less than 200 words in length and signed. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit for length. Ramparts will not print letters that are obscene, libelous or that target an individual.

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Some material courtesy of American Society of Newspaper Editors/MCT Campus High School Newspaper Service.

Should teachers have a deadline? Would having a grading deadline be beneficial?

One hundred percent of students have deadlines for assignments that they are expected to meet.

However, most teachers are not held to the same standard when it comes to their grading, but 80% of Holt students think they should be.

Teachers assign work to students with deadlines, and if they don’t reach them, they face repercussions for it. Sometimes, turning in an assignment even just a few days late, can mean losing up to half credit. If students have to meet specific deadlines multiple times a month, yet teachers can grade the same assignment months later, there is a clear unfairness of expectations.

When grading takes an extended period of time, it can be harmful to the student. A student’s grades in PowerSchool should reflect their true grade, but when assignments take months to be entered, the grade that the students see isn’t always the most accurate.

For instance, a student may see that they have an A in a class, but not realize that they have missing assignments or didn’t do well on an essay. However, they don’t work to retake or finish these missing assignments because they aren’t aware of them.

Then, weeks later, the grades get put in and the student’s overall grade in the class plummets. For many classes, it would be too late at that point to turn in the work and receive credit for it.

This harm that can come to a student’s GPA and grade in a class that results from late grading from teachers is not acceptable, especially when it can affect a student’s future.

Colleges look closely at class grades and GPA in regards to acceptance. Late grading by teachers shouldn’t be able to impact something so important.

Obviously, there are some exceptions for deadlines for students or teachers. Students can receive accommodations for late work depending on the situation.

Events occurring in student’s and teacher’s personal lives should allow them to be exempt from a hard deadline, though they still need to submit the assignment or put the grade in by a certain point. This should be universal. Teachers should receive the same privilege.

However, having a malleable deadline allows for flexibility, but also provides stability when it comes to the process of turning in work or receiving feedback and a grade.

If this were the case, deadlines would appear differently. We understand that teachers have a heavier workload when dealing with several classrooms of students.

They have clusters of grading due, like a certain group of assignments for every class due at one time. Having specifc timelines for different types of assignments could make this manageable. Tests could have longer grading due dates, just like a student assigned an essay would have a longer deadline.

The repercussions of late grading could work in the favor of the student, or result in a punishment. It would just have to be something to follow through with in the case that a teacher would be late with their grading.

Just like students lose credit when they turn in an assignment late, they could receive points back or an extra credit point for a missed grading deadline by a teacher. At the very least, the assignments need not be graded as critically as it normally would be.

Teacher discipline for being late on grading wouldn’t be something for us students to decide, but it is an idea of something that could happen. Whatever the consequence would be is something that would be determined by the administration or the school board.

The intention of the grading deadline isn’t to punish a teacher, or reap in the rewards of missed grading, but it’s to make the situation more fair.

If students and teachers both have a deadline of some sorts, it allows for steady and reliablegrading and work coming in. It develops a sense of trust and structure that is vital for any learning environment.

This sort of relationship puts both parties on a similar level and, when held to the same standard, generates more respect between them.

Establishing this common expectation for students and teachers may make both more willing to work when they know there is fairness.

Speak Up

Should teachers having a grading submission deadline?

“I think it makes it fair because, how come they can grade it any time, but [we can’t] turn it in at any time?”

Senior Alaina Balgrove

“I am stressed out. If they expect me to do it within a certain time, it only feels fair for it to be graded in a certain time.”

Senior Claudia Hernandez

“I think they’re too stubborn sometimes. We’re just kids, and we’re trying our best.”

Sophomore Mace Betts

“I think all teachers should have a grading deadline, it helps kids keep grounded on what they have to get done. and I know when teachers set them for themselves, they follow it.”

Freshman Deacon Thompkins

Corrections

Ramparts is committed to printing news that is both informative and accurate. If we get it wrong, we want to put it right. If you are aware of any errors of fact in our reporting, please contact us in room E221 or send an e-mail to rampartsnewspaper@gmail.com

Julia Toomey MANAGING EDITOR

Equality. Diversity. Inclusivity. Justice.

Everyone has heard the buzz of these words in meetings, countless emails, and in announcements. But these aren’t just words. They are a movement.

At Holt, the push for this movement was in part influenced by the establishment of Holt’s equityoriented strategic plan (EOSP). The EOSP consists of 22 initiatives that serve as an outline as equity teams move forward and work with other schools throughout the districts to ensure they are operating with the same end goal and vision.

The Holt Equity and Access Team, also known as HEAT, gained momentum in the wake of the death of George Floyd in June 2020 and the push from the EOSP. The group has done work in schools across the district to create inclusive spaces and promote change. Students have seen the change, but many aren’t familiar with the