New one-way traffic pattern, and a board split over a second school entrance

What happened

From mid-August 2026 drivers enter the middle and high school car park from Maple Street and must leave by Stockton Avenue; driving back toward Maple Street is no longer allowed and right turns into the front lot from Stockton Avenue are banned. The front of the high school is reserved for buses, and 'Do Not Enter' signs mark the route. Student drop-off stays on the left side of the high school. On the first day of school the district also opened the B-wing doors as a student entrance and added a Griswold Street drop-off at Townsend Elementary with an aide meeting children. At the 8 September meeting two board members objected that opening a second entrance conflicts with the single-point-of-entry advice the district's own safety consultant gave the year before; the safety committee had approved it, and the question went back to that committee.

Why it matters to families

Every family that drives to the Stockton Avenue campus has to learn the new route, and board members reported the new signs were too small to work - three cars came the wrong way as they arrived. The disagreement is about a genuine trade-off: parents did not want to drop children where they would have to walk all the way round the building, and the safety consultant wanted one controlled door. A locked, secure entrance vestibule is part of the capital project on the 13 October ballot.

The evidence

The district's safety announcement of 5 August 2026 lists each change. The 8 September 2026 board meeting recording carries the superintendent's description of the first day, the B-wing and Griswold Street changes, and the board members' objection and the referral back to the safety committee.

The source