Since the beginning of the school year, there has been an underlying concern about where students will park after the east student parking lot is closed off for construction in March. When students return from spring break on March 20, 2017 the largest parking lot belonging to PVHS will be closed off to students until the end of the school year. Construction for the new science building and gym, which are planned to be built on the east side of the school, will call for many different construction materials and machines, taking up the entirety of the lot.
Available parking will include the new east student lot directly next to the tennis courts and the west upper lot and lower lot, along with the original “A” Scott lot and a new gravel extension that is connected. There will be the same amount of spots available now, just relocated. At the moment, parking will only be available for juniors and seniors; exceptions will be made for sophomores in sports if there are extras spots open.
Upon hearing this news, Skylar Yutesler, senior, expressed, “Being a senior and not coming till third period is already bad knowing I have to park so far away from the school. I am not looking forward to possibly having to park at Scott and walking all the way to the main office in potentially bad weather conditions.”
Students parking in the new lot and Scott lot will have to walk through the stadium entrance to the band/dungeon doors, which are located directly behind the guest side bleachers. There will be no access to the lifting doors. This will be required because of the construction of the 16ft hole that will be made into a brand new stadium-style gym. Principal, Mike Zimmer, called this “The Big Dig”. Zimmer has planned for the vehicles to not make any deliveries between 7:45am and 8:15am in order to eliminate any mishaps with student vehicles arriving at school.
During summer remodeling, there will be a new parking lot added onto the new lot, creating 273 additional parking spaces for students. This will be available in August of 2017.