By Michael Oliveira
As part of the project to replace or rehabilitate the town’s high school, a new way to enter and leave the campus is being reviewed.
One of the plans discussed at the School Building Committee meeting on Aug. 14 was to close down one of the three softball fields at the middle and high school campus and use the space for the new entrance. The field to be closed down is not currently in use.
“We are 95% sure at this stage that this wouldn’t have any adverse impact on the youth sports program in town,” said Superintendent John Antonucci. “I have talked to parks and rec, and a couple of people who are very active in youth softball. I am waiting on one more phone call to make that connection but it looks like we are going to be fine.”
The high school and middle school campuses has two softball fields and a third which was described as “the freshman field has not been used in quite some time.”
Other youth leagues not affiliated with the school, such as the travel softball team, use areas such as Petti Field.
Antonucci noted that there are signs pointing towards this third field getting taken down not having any significant impact on the youth sports programs.
“We have talked to our athletic director Dr. Schlariff, he says we are fine, long-term and short-term with two fields,” he said.
This new road would allow for vehicles to drop off high school students in a more circulated fashion, along with the middle school getting its own road as well.
According to Ron Lamarre of Dore and Whittier, the architectural firm working with the district, this would delegate space for the high school and middle school traffic, which would result in less stoppages with more queuing space for vehicles.
“There is still a lot to work out in terms of who parks where, and what the bus and traffic patterns are, but I think the working group wanted to share with you, this is what they think is the best approach for the site strategy,” said Lamarre.
With questions regarding the connection points for the two schools, there was a lot of different ideas on how to approach these issues.
“We believe that the Fire Department, safety and police are going to want to have a secondary connection between these two, so one of the things we discussed is having a sign that says North Attleborough Middle School, and another sign that represents the high school” he said.
