What is the deal with parking permits?

GJHS student parking and its possible consequences

Rhys Martinez, Reporter • August 28, 2025

The GJHS parking lot, full of students’ vehicles with and without parking permits, which are available in the front office. All students parked in the lot without a permit after August may be faced with a fee of $10.

Parking at Grand Junction High School may come with a price, but the price for not paying is even more.

Students may go to the front office at any time to purchase a permit for $15. They are valid for the entire school year.

So far 172 permits have been sold, according to GJHS Student Body Accounts secretary Lori Jacobsen. All money from the permits goes toward maintaining the school golf carts, radios for the staff, and classroom supplies.

If caught parking without a permit, students may face numerous consequences. Those include denial of a parking permit, being ticketed, or their vehicle being towed. According to the GJHS Student Handbook, if a student were to lose their permit there is a $25 replacement fee.

GJHS Liaison Larry Lefebre is not in charge of deciding who will receive a parking ticket, but he will be checking for permits and distributing the tickets. GJHS Dean of Students Tom Lefebre is in charge of sending out anyone, including Larry and Jacobsen to distribute the parking tickets, which he keeps track of.

Other instances that would warrant a ticket include parking in a reserved non-student parking space or parking in a “no parking” area. If the student can’t pay the ticket, they will face the same consequences as parking without a permit.

Under normal circumstances, the student lot has roughly 600 parking spaces, which is 102 more than the old campus.

“I’m not going to park at the school. It’s too crazy,” said GJHS junior Noah Sanchez.

Many students have parked in the lot without a permit, bringing up the question if the admin will be harsher with their enforcement in the coming years.

“Basically, after the first two weeks of school, every now and then they’ll just send us out to check parking tickets. Not really on a daily basis, just whenever they report a ticket or if they just call stuff out,” said Lefebre.

Some students refuse to park in the crowded lot. This is currently due in part to the fact that 120 spaces have been roped off for GJHS marching band practice. More about that can be found here.

Editor’s Note: Orange and Black reporter Ayden Guzman contributed to this article

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About the Contributor

Rhys Martinez, Reporter

Rhys Martinez is a junior at GJHS. He is a reporter for the Orange and Black newspaper. He likes building project cars, writing, playing basketball, working on cars, and playing video games. He joined in the second semester of the 2023-24 school year.