Walking your dog on Westport school campuses? No more with new regulations
WESTPORT — Residents will no longer be able to use school properties during certain hours of the day. Though this upset some residents who garden or walk their dogs on the properties, many officials said the change was needed for security reasons.
“There isn’t a school in Fairfield County, and we can go wider, that allows people on school grounds during school hours. Most schools, you can’t get past the sidewalk,” Police Chief Foti Koskinas said.
The Board of Selectwomen voted April 10 to approve the new guidelines, which had previously been approved by Parks and Recreation. The Board of Education, police department and parks and recreation worked together to determine the exact boundaries of each school campus and the hours in which non-school members would be allowed on them.
With the approval, Parks and Recreation rules now state that the campuses are not accessible to people who are not students, staff or invited guests between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. on school days.
The Board of Education already has a policy prohibiting people from being on school grounds during school hours, but there is some confusion in the community surrounding where that entails, said Parks and Recreation Director Jennifer Fava. For safety and security purposes, school grounds include the entire campus for each school and recreational facilities adjacent to each school.
This modification also includes the community gardens at Long Lots Elementary School. Community gardens members could previously garden during school hours, but can’t anymore under the new guidelines.
Koskinas said police department has looked at schools across Connecticut to determine best practices for security.
The department realizes not everybody is a threat, but they want to minimize the amount of people on a campus at a given time because of school and parent concerns, Koskinas said. Police want a uniform policy to determine who exactly can be on school grounds during the day, he said.
Superintendent of Schools Thomas Scarice said it is odd to have public access to a school campus during school hours in 2024. He said it should be reserved for personnel, students, faculty and people who are invited.
Scarice said his main concern is for the Staples High School and Bedford Middle School campus. It is a popular area for people to walk their dogs during the day, and during the fall, a physical education teacher was bit by a dog
while class was outside.
“Those borders need to be maintained,” he said.
The school security officers are able to enforce the borders, rather than faculty who should be attending to classes, Scarice said.
Education will be the way of enforcing this policy, such as with signs and verbal communication, Koskinas said.
There was a conversation surrounding why this topic did not come up at a public Board of Education meeting. Koskinas said this was discussed multiple times in executive session, and Scarice said the facility use is in the hands of Parks and Recreation, who made a recommendation on this topic before it went before the selectwomen.
Some residents expressed disdain about not being able to walk their dogs on the grounds anymore and use the community gardens during the day.
Stephen Parnes, speaking on behalf of some dog walkers in town, said they were not aware of these changes. Some use Wakeman Park near Bedford Middle School as the only one near that side of town, which wouldn’t be allowed with the new boundaries.
Parnes said the dog walkers there would notice someone suspicious, as there is a typical group who uses that park.
Fava said the community gardens are independently run. However, the gardens would send Parks and Recreation a list of members, and then the department would run those names through a sex offender registry to ensure they are allowed on the grounds.
Then, if they wanted to be on the grounds during the school day, they needed a hand pass to access it. Now, gardens members won’t be able to access it during school hours.
Parent Sandra Rose said parents don’t take pleasure in telling people they can’t walk strollers, walk their dogs or go running near the properties, while they also don’t like that students must practice active shooter drills, but this is the state of the world.
Resident and community gardens member Toni Simonetti said gardens members could be considered “invited guests” and would be happy to report suspicious activities, too.
Before determining the times, the board and police weighed allowing people on each campus at different times, depending on when the schools open, but they decided on a set schedule instead, Koskinas said. Staples and Bedford start at different times, though the schools are located next to each other.
After hearing people request the field in Wakeman be accessible, Koskinas said he would be able to review that at a later date with Scarice to see if they can remove it from the borders, but wanted the regulations to pass that day.
The Board of Selectwomen approved the agenda item, and added one to have the town review Wakeman. After that Simonetti requested that Wakeman be removed from the language to review other non-schoolowned properties in the area.
First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker said she was not willing to change the motion, as this is an example of why making an exception on this property opens the door for people requesting even more exceptions. Koskinas said similarly, and requested to remove the motion.
“This is why it’s hard not to be consistent in this policy,” she said.
The board voted in favor of the motion to review Wakeman at a later date.