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FRAMINGHAM – The Framingham Public Schools has decided not to move ahead with a new drop-off and pick-up plan for parents at Brophy Elementary School, which would have had cars drive through a walking and bicycle path into the Berkeley Road neighborhood.
“After much discussion regarding the new arrival and dismissal plan to use use our back driveway that leads to Berkeley Road, we have decided to steer away from that plan. I will be sending a new map that reflects the drop off process from last year that only utilizes Pleasant Street as an entry and exit. As always, we appreciate your feedback and look forward to creating a plan that works for everyone. In Collaboration,” wrote new interim Principal Jessica Mandes to families this morning, August 29.
Parents were notified of the change last week. SOURCE wrote about it on Thursday night.
Some residents in the neighborhood were not notified of the change until Friday afternoon via a reverse 9-1-1 call from Framingham Police, after the decision was made.
School Committee member Jenn Moshe said she started hearing from parents and residents almost immediately after the proposal was announced.
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On Friday, August 26, the interim Principal, District 3 School Committee member Jenn Moshe, at-large City Councilor Janet Leombruno, District 3 City Councilor Adam Steiner, and school officials walked the proposed parent drop-off and pick-up route.
Yesterday, August 28 Mayor Charlie Sisitsky walked the area with District 3 School Committee member Moshe. Neither were supportive of the plan.
“Traffic around schools during drop off and pick up times has been a challenge for administrators for a long time. For a number of years, traffic around the Brophy School area has been a growing concern. This year given the fact that there will be fewer buses available and thus more parents will be driving their students, administrators were concerned that the traffic problems would be exacerbated. As a result, a decision was made to try and mitigate the anticipated increase in traffic by diverting vehicles exiting from the school grounds through a pedestrian pathway at the rear of the school,” explained Mayor Sisitsky.
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“I was first notified of this proposal by City Councilor at-large Janet Leombruno and again by District 3 School Committee member Jenn Moshe, who asked me to look into this decision. Jenn requested that I meet with her along with some neighbors at 10 a.m. on Sunday morning at the back parking lot of the Brophy School,” said Mayor Sisitsky. “We spent about an hour discussing the situation and I quickly came to the conclusion that the proposed mitigation plan was not a viable alternative. I indicated that I would reach out to Superintendent Tremblay to discuss the plan and attempt to find out more about the reasoning behind it.”
“There was a major safety concerns with parents and residents whom all reside in in District 3. I made sure their concerns were heard by the appropriate people. I’m glad the decision was made to rescind the proposed traffic for the safety of our students and neighbors. I want to thank many key people that took the time to walk Brophy as well as Mayor Sisitsky for taking time out of his Sunday morning to meet with me and some concerned community members, we feel like we have been heard,” said Moshe.
Mayor Sisitsky said he “had several conversations with the Superintendent that afternoon, and he (Bob Tremblay) indicated to me that he thought the traffic issues at the school needed further study and that he would rescind the plan to use the footpath for exiting vehicles.”
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“It was clear from the meeting on Friday that this was going to have a major a significant impact on the neighborhood, parents and kids. I had multiple conversations with the Mayor, and we had all received angry emails from concerned parents and neighbors. I know Jen Moshe was also in contact with the mayor and superintendent and relayed what she had been hearing,” said Councilor Leombruno. “I understand this was only an attempt to alleviate an unsafe situation, but I am glad they came together and decided to rescind the plan after realizing it was going to cause more problems than fix.”
“We (Mayor & Superintendent) further agreed to convene a meeting in my office on Monday morning with Chief of Police Lester Baker, Lt. Harry Wareham, Lincoln Lynch, and Mike Tusino, to discuss the traffic situation,”said Mayor Sisitsky on Monday evening. “The decision to rescind the proposed plan was confirmed and it was decided that no changes would be made at this time. Instead, the drop off and pick up procedures that were in place in previous years will be used while we study alternative solutions to the traffic problem.”
“We agreed to meet on site at a future date to observe the situation. I am grateful to the parents and officials who reached out to me. I wish to thank the school administration and the police for their cooperation and willingness to work collaboratively to deal with this issue,” said Mayor Sisitsky
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