Westport park to remain off limits during school day

WESTPORT — Local residents will continue to have one less place to stretch their legs during the day.

On April 10, the Board of Selectwomen voted to prohibit the public from entering certain school properties from 7:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. on school days, and determined where exactly those boundaries are.

One of the restricted areas is the Staples High School and Bedford Middle School campus. Wakeman Park, a popular place for people to walk their dogs, is included under the new restrictions because it is close to the campus and abuts the schools’ athletic fields.

Some dog walkers requested for the park to be exempt from the regulations at the April meeting, and police agreed to review the policy.

However, at a recent meeting, officials said these boundaries are set to stay as previously determined.

“From our perspective, the way the lines — be as they may — are drawn supports what we would consider to be our campus and the space that we would need,” Superintendent

Thomas Scarice said at the May 8 Board of Selectwomen meeting. “We support the (police) chief ’s recommendation in line with where we were for the last meeting.”

The boundaries were established after some security issues on the campuses, including one earlier this school year in which a dog bit a physical education teacher.

The Staples/Bedford boundary was determined to be within Wakeman Park and close to Wakeman Town Farm because some Staples High School students park in that area, Police Chief Foti Koskinas said.

Koskinas said the police and Board of Education listened to all the feedback given at the April BOS meeting and provided after that.

He toured the athletic fields and park alongside former Parks and Recreation Director Jennifer Fava and Deputy Chief Ryan Paulson to find a way to split up the athletic fields, and worked with the Board of Education to determine when the fields are used.

Instructional spaces for physical education classes are driven by weather, Scarice said. When it’s dry outside, the grass fields are often used by the the school; when it’s wet, the grass fields are swamped and the turf is used instead, Koskinas said.

“Due to the layout, lack of fencing, the way the sidewalks are currently prepared, we were not able to find a way of how we would split the fields,” Koskinas said.

They also visited the dirt parking lot near Wakeman Town Farm and determined it would stay open during school days, though, since it is used by the farm patrons.

Some gardeners also previously complained about the prohibitions, though this was not reviewed by any departments after the initial vote. With the new regulations, members of the Westport Community Gardens at Long Lots Elementary School will not be able to garden during the day, when previously, they could receive hand passes from Parks and Recreation to do so.

The public was not allowed to comment during this agenda item, since it was only a discussion. There was not a vote, since it was already voted on in April and the caveat within that motion was for there to be a discussion about Wakeman Park and school security.