Have you ever felt like you were scammed by the Elder Parking Lottery?

You may have gotten a bad spot or did not even get a spot at all. Numerous students have to move their cars from a certain location despite having to stay at Elder for a practice or a repeating event. Many believe the Parking Lottery has a number of flaws, and it may be time for a change.

The Lottery dates back to 1998, before the Shaper Center was built. At the time, there was a Super X and an Autobox, two stores that took up the space of what is now known as the Shaper Center lot. When Elder bought the land, they immediately used the parking lot for student parking.

The lot was split into halves by a long white line. One side was for Elder students, the other for Seton. This was when the lottery was born. Mr. Ruffing was in charge of the lottery only one year after becoming Elder’s assistant principal and dean of students.

The lottery has gone through several changes. Instead of Mr. Ruffing, Mr. Flaherty (Elder’s assistant principal and dean of students) and Mr. Horvath (Elder’s database administrator) run the lottery now. Also, the way to sign up for the lottery is different.

Instead of the digital submissions on “On Campus,” you used to have to write your name on a piece of paper and turn it into the main office with your $25 cash. Mr. Flaherty would then take all the names and manually type them into an Excel spreadsheet that would randomize the selections, with seniors getting the guaranteed spot. Then, once the spots were selected, Mr. Flaherty said that he had to go to Fifth Third Bank and deposit all of the money, and take out twenties and fives for refunds of those who did not get a spot.

The process was long and tedious. Now, the digital submissions make the process take “about 5 to 10 minutes,” according to Mr. Flaherty.

There have been some changes to the lottery, but the overall concept has remained constant. Students submit their names into a raffle, and a random drawing will determine who will get a spot and where that spot will be located. The complete randomization of selection makes the lottery as fair as possible, giving each student a fair chance to win a spot. However, many students think otherwise.

Many juniors and seniors did not obtain a convenient spot or even a spot at all, and they are outraged. Brandon Lusby (a junior at Elder) said, “It was pretty frustrating that I had to get to school earlier.” Although it is frustrating, somebody has to face the dark side of the lottery.

On Elder’s campus, there are only 250 spots available for students (219 in the Shaper Center lot), thus making it challenging for juniors to receive a spot. It seems that the lottery is as fair as possible to students, but there might be a few flaws to it. Lusby adds, “I think the lottery is a little flawed in a way. I don’t think leaving it up to chance is the best way, but it does make it fair.”

Maybe there could be another way. One option is that students could submit short responses on “On Campus” describing why they need a spot, and for the seniors, why they need a spot in a certain location. Many athletes need to stay after school for practice, but need to move their cars so the band can practice in the Shaper Center lot.

However, many practices and events start almost immediately after school. This leaves a minuscule amount of time for students to deal with the end-of-school traffic to move their cars. Currently, students can trade spots through communication with Mr. Flaherty, but rarely will someone find another who is willing to trade a spot in the Gilsey lot. From the get-go, students who need a spot in a certain location should be able to get it right away, and that should be accomplished with the responses.

Also, submitting responses will require work to be put into be awarded a response. This will automatically weed out the lazy students who are not willing to work for a spot; thus, make it more likely for kids who need a spot to get one. Almost everyone enters their names into the raffle because it is too easy. It has always cost students $25 to enter the lottery; this is a cheap price that almost anyone will be willing to pay for a spot, so kids will enter their name with no motive behind it. The randomization of the lottery hurts those who need a spot.

This whole response option can be successful, but it will be more time-consuming. It only takes Mr. Fhlarity about 10 minutes to give each student their spot, and it is done within the first two weeks of school. It will take more than one or two people to make this happen.

This is where student council or a new program can contribute. A select, non-biased group of seniors will make the selections in the month of August and finalize the spots in the first week of school. It will sacrifice a good amount of time to the group of seniors, so once they have completed reviewing the submissions, they will be awarded a substantial amount of service hours.

This idea could be the future of the Parking Lottery and will affect almost every upperclassman.