A long and winding road leads up, around, through, and back down past the Boothbay Region High and Elementary schools and school officials and the BRES PTO would like to remind those who traverse it that it is one way, and that parking is at a premium. To this end, a list of changes and clarifications will go into effect when school reopens after Martin Luther King Day on Monday, Jan. 16. 

The recommendations, listed in a correspondence dated Jan. 9 from BRES Principal Mark Tess to BRES PTO President Mary Baudo, resulted from a number of discussions with the PTO, school administrators and the superintendent's office. A memo dated Nov. 16, 2016, contained a number of suggestions from the PTO, including having all students park in the Route 27 lot, assigning spaces to teachers and staff, issuing parking stickers, and painting numbers on designated spaces, with physically challenged staff being given spaces closest to the school.

Safety has also been an ongoing issue. “Several near misses have occurred when vehicles went out the one-way between the high school and the snack shack by the football field,” Tess said.

BRHS Principal Dan Welch supports the recommendations. “We want to make it as safe as we can for everyone,” he said.

The list of recommendations is as follows:

1. Parking on the hill will be visitor parking only, along with the already identified visitor parking.
2. The traffic pattern will be one-way at all times on campus. All traffic will enter the complex and continue straight past BRHS. When leaving the campus, all traffic will proceed up the hill, between the schools, pass in front of BRHS and exit from there. The driveway between BRHS and the Snack Shack will no longer be two-way.
3. At no time should any car enter the campus and turn right in front of the high school to get to BRES.
4. BRHS staff will park directly behind the high school and in the lower parking lot.
5. BRES staff will park in the lower lot.
6. All students will park in the lot on Route 27. Some students will be permitted to park in the lower lot if there is no space available in the lot on Route 27.
7. Administrators and secretaries will be permitted to park close to the buildings, on the circle at BRHS, and on the side of the driveway at BRES.
8. Busses will continue to enter and exit the campus as usual.

Enforcement may be a challenge, but Welch said, “We're going to try our best. Larry Brown, our resource officer, does a great job.”

The changes will go into effect following the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. Tess acknowledged the need for flexibility. “While we think the changes will work, we won't know until they have been implemented. There could be adjustments as we move forward.”