Over the last few months, we have tried to point out the numerous issues related to placing a combined middle school capable of accommodating 700 students in the Williams athletic field. This section of Longmeadow already suffers from traffic and pedestrian safety issues (a woman was tragically killed crossing Williams Street near the high school) and bringing another 350 students here will only add to the congestion. The town has the opportunity with this project to solve some of the traffic issues that it currently faces.
If you are in the area of the high school at about 7:30 a.m. on a school day you know that despite all the planning and mitigation strategies that went into our new high school, we still have a traffic mess every morning. There is no clear reason to assume that the new middle school will not be a repeat of this. The location for the new middle school should not adversely affect the safety of students and pedestrians and should not create additional traffic chaos every morning and afternoon.
Unfortunately, the Williams athletic field site is simply not large enough to accomplish this.
If anyone doubts that the current situation at the Williams middle school does not present a safety issue, then I would suggest going to Facebook and watching some of the afternoon dismissal videos that have been taken from the Williams Street side of the school. From a school bus going down the road on the wrong side of the street, to impatient drivers blocking the crosswalk, and cars driving on people’s lawns to get around backed up traffic, it is clear that bringing an additional 350 students, teachers, and staff to this site will only make things worse. We have to accept the fact that drivers are inherently impatient and inevitably do stupid things that will put students, pedestrians, and other drivers at risk.
There is an organization in town that has formed to oppose the combined middle school project at this location. They are called EARS, Educational Advocates for Responsible Spending, and they can be found on Facebook. This organization supports keeping two neighborhood schools and renovating or replacing them, and supports a new combined middle school on a different site that is sufficient for the scope of this project.
Clearly none of this reasoning got through to the new middle school building committee as they have submitted the Williams site for a combined school to the MSBA for review and approval. But, as residents of Longmeadow you do have a voice, and this is too big of a decision to just go along with whatever the middle school building committee throws at us.
Bill & Terry DeGiulio
Longmeadow
