The news that administration was allowing seniors to paint their parking spots was exciting. But just as students began to daydream designs, announcements regarding limitations surfaced and drove many seniors to opt out, including me.

Although the entire event is cancelled, senior class sponsor, Ashley Bennett, realizes the anger students were expressing. She claims that only seven or eight people signed up and for good reason; unfair limitations were made and not explained.

The rules stated that the students were responsible for their own brushes, containers, tape or whatever else they might’ve needed, except the paint. Only four colors, the school colors, were acceptable: blue, black, silver and white. The four colors are not even enough to paint flowers, let alone bigger and more intricate designs that represent the personalities of each senior with a parking spot. The design I was planning on doing required at least six colors, including primary colors such as yellow, green and red.

Furthermore, a good portion of the senior class did not have the opportunity to enjoy the privilege because they park in the OJT parking lot, which is restricted to students who have to leave campus during the day for things like dual enrollment and virtual school classes. This might seem like a given because they are not guaranteed the same spot every day, but some students lied when asked if they had a full 7-class schedule on campus, allowing them to have a regular parking spot. Why should the people who were honest be punished?

To make it even worse, the entire spot couldn’t be painted, only a small section of the spot. Also, if a senior who was going to paint their spot didn’t not come at the end of the year to paint over the spot, they would not have walked at graduation. Why should I pay $20 to paint a small section of my parking spot with a design that requires me to use only the colors the school provides?

Perhaps the entire spot could not be painted because administration was afraid that people would accidently paint over the spot number. However, anybody who attended second grade knows how to color in the lines. The numbers are obviously not supposed to be painted over.

Unlike other classes, the class of 2017 has never had privileges revoked for misconduct. The fact that seniors couldn’t be trusted to express themselves and have what other high schools have is unfair. West Orange High School allows their seniors to paint their spots every year and even Bennett recalls how her senior class got to have “cool parking spots.”

Unfortunately, a compromise could not be made so that everybody was happy. Hopefully, more events will be planned in the future that don’t include strict, unfair rules and threats of not walking at graduation.