Staff members at Ansonia Middle School have been parking on a ball field since the beginning of the school year, while the school district sorts out parking woes at the building.
Plans to fix the problem — which involve opening the dead-end parking lot out onto Howard Avenue — have been reviewed by the Police Commission and will go before the Planning and Zoning Commission soon.
The car-conundrum at the Middle School comes as a result of Ansonia’s redistricting this school year. The sixth graders who used to attend Ansonia Middle School are now placed in the city’s two elementary schools. And about 90 students from the city’s two pre-school programs have been relocated to the former 6th grade wing of the middle school.
With higher teacher-to-student ratios and about 90 parents dropping off their 3- and 4‑year-olds each morning, the change means a traffic back-up in the cul-de-sac-like parking lot on Day Street each morning. There are now 63 staff members trying to park in roughly 40 spots, and dozens of parents driving their children to the school each morning.
School officials have devised a plan to extend the dead-end parking lot through to Howard Avenue, creating a one-way drop-off zone.
Ansonia School Facility Director Robert Evans presented the draft plan to the Police Commission this month for its review as the city’s traffic authority.
The Police Commission discussed in detail the plans to improve the flow of traffic to accommodate the increase of buses and parents dropping off their children. They questioned whether the parking lot was too steep to allow for the through-way, and if the proposal would be able to meet the demands of parents looking to park and walk their children into the building.
“We have 63 staff members and 43 spots,” said Police Chief Kevin Hale. “Staff come in to park and then the parents. However, we don’t expect parents to drop off preschoolers without supervision.”
Since the start of school, staff members have been parking on an adjacent playing field to create more room in the main lot.
At the Police Commission meeting, Evans said he had no problem going to the engineer and having the plans redone, if needed.
Evans noted that there are now over 50 children coming in between 7 and 9 a.m. Evans said there are also 14 buses that come to the school but Hale noted that they do not all come at once. Hale also questioned which direction the traffic would flow onto Howard Avenue if the parking lot was made one-way.
Hale noted that when school is in session and buses are coming, the crossing guards do not allow traffic to go down Howard Avenue both ways, therefore temporarily turning into a one-way.
The Commission voted for Evans to take the issue to Planning and Zoning. After any decision is made at Planning and Zoning, Evans should then go back to meet with Hale to give him a copy of the plans, the commission said.
