O'Donnell Middle School Traffic Restriction Creates Unintended Problems

STOUGHTON, MA — With school back in full swing, traffic has once again become a concern around the schools.

David Guglia, an assistant principal at O’Donnell Middle School, told the School Committee Tuesday that the new traffic pattern that restricts a left turn into the school has brought upon some unintended and unexpected consequences.

“The upper lot near the skate park has become very busy. What I’m proposing is, I think in the morning if we could allow parents to take a left into the driveway, we are not pushing them into that upper parking lot or in the direction of the bottlenecks,” Guglia told the committee.

He added that if he can get parents to pull into the driveway, it gives the school more control over where the parents go.

Superintendent Marguerite Rizzi said school and police officials would continue to work on solutions for the traffic crunch, with Guglia advising parents to drop off their kids closer to 7 a.m. than 7:15 a.m.

The afternoon pickup is expected to get some relief. Extracurricular activities are set to start soon and should lead to a decrease in the amount of students leaving right after school.

Image: Patch file photo