High school students may have more options for parking at their schools after the Wake County Public School System reviews parking guidelines this summer.

Although it will be too late for this year’s Cary area seniors, many students may benefit from a review by schools security and several principals that will take into account both economic and environmental concerns.

Russ Smith, senior director of security for the Wake schools, said the rules for each campus are “site-based.” While the school system makes a list of guidelines, each high school may make the determination to use or change any of them. “Right now, the guidelines include not sharing a space,” said Smith. “But I have had some conversations with board members, and I think this is a good time to revisit the guidelines.”

Parent Susan Ciccarelli is ready for change. This year, her son Nick has been carpooling, something the family believes in. But after two warnings, the high school senior’s car was booted at Green Hope High School, requiring $40 to remove.

Nick had split the $170 parking fee with the friend, then alternated driving responsibilities and rearview mirror tag depending upon who had after-school activities that day. Because Green Hope’s parking guidelines state that only one person can purchase and park in a space, the rearview mirror tag and license plate must match. Nick’s did not.

“Security is always an issue,” said Green Hope Principal James Hedrick. “We need to know who is on our campus.” Hedrick said being able to match a student to a space helps, for instance, when someone leaves their lights on.

Smith said he plans to convene a group of high school principals over the summer to make recommendations for the 2009-10 school year.

“We need to be able to quickly and properly identify vehicles,” said Smith. “But our economy has changed, and there are environmental issues. [When we make changes] we may have to limit the number of cars that can be used to continue to uphold the level of security, but we will balance that with the economics of saving fuel and saving on the cost of parking.”

Ciccarelli and fellow parent Lora Blaser question the amount of patrolling a high school parking lot requires.

“I don’t know why they’re going around checking; don’t they have better things to be doing?” said Ciccarelli.

Blaser understands that patrolling the lot is part of school policy. “But I do wonder how much money they spend making sure students are in the right spots,” she said.

Blaser, whose son Nick is also a senior, is glad that her other son, Troy, a junior, may benefit from amended guidelines next year.

“Ecologically and crowd-control-wise, they should be allowed to share a spot,” Blaser said. “We should be encouraging everyone, everywhere, to carpool.”