Palmetto Senior High School officials say student gripes about receiving parking tickets on the last day of school are without merit.

Students and parents complained to the Pinecrest Tribune that the youngsters were forced to park their cars on the streets around the school because the usual student parking lots were padlocked and there was no adequate parking available. As a result, Pinecrest police ticketed the vehicles for illegal parking.

School officials admitted closing two student parking lots on the final day of school in order to hold the expected pranks and mischief to a minimum. But, they say they opened up two other lots for the students to use.

"We did close two student parking lots, but we did have enough parking available," said assistant principal Carl Manzelli. "We opened up the driver's ed range -- which is bigger than any of the other lots - as well as the parking lot across the street and the main parking lot, so we had three lots open."

Manzelli explained that the school normally experiences pranks and mischief on the last day of school and the administration simply wanted to control the situation as much as possible.