In the 1960s I walked across the street from my house on High Point Road, up a hill, and onto the back fields at Staples High School.
My friends and I strolled through, on our way to Burr Farms Elementary. It was our time to be free, and talk about life through our 11-year-0ld eyes.
After school, we raced back up to play touch football and baseball on the Staples field.
When I became a high school student, it was my route to school. After soccer practice, it took me 2 minutes to walk home. That proximity was one of the joys of my childhood.
Generations of kids followed me — literally — to and from Staples.
At some point, a chain link fence was erected. Two gate doors — one at the corner of Jinny Parker Field, the other near left field of the baseball diamond — kept access open.
Suddenly — right after spring break last month — those gates were padlocked.
Padlock at the edge of Jinny Parker Field.
There was no warning. No explanation.
And definitely, no entrance.
For nearly 20 years, Dave Briggs has lived a few yards behind Jinny Parker Field. His daughter — now in college — walked to Staples that way. His son, a junior, did too.
Now he — and many other High Point and nearby students — drive.
Others throw their backpacks over, and hop the fence. One may have rolled his ankle doing so.
Dave is furious. He says that neighbors — many of whom bought homes in part because it was so close to Staples (and Bedford Middle School, where High Point kids walked also) — are too.
High Point Road path, with fence at right. Brush and rocks on both sides shows the difficulty and danger of hopping the fence. (Photos/Dave Briggs)
Homeowners whose properties abut Staples have always allowed walkers to cut through their property. It’s a decades-old High Point Road tradition.
“Kids today don’t do enough independently,” Briggs says. “We should celebrate that they walk to school. And environmentally, we’re adding all these cars to the road.”
(Many students have after-school activities, so buses are impractical. Like I did decades ago, athletes who could walk 2 minutes home after practice now must drive, or be picked up.)
This aerial photo from 1965 shows the several buildings that comprised Staples High School; the athletic fields in back, and High Point Road behind it. The arrow marks where I grew up.
People are also angry that they were not warned about the padlocks. And their requests for explanation, Briggs says, have not been answered.
No one knows who made and approved the decision, or why. Staples administrators? The superintendent of schools?
“06880” asked superintendent Thomas Scarice: “Can you provide any info on who made the decision, and why they’ve been put in place?”
He replied quickly on Wednesday: “Not at this time. I am trying to learn about the purpose of these gates, the fence itself, who’s responsible for the land behind the fence, the history, etc. I walked the area today with facilities and our school security office from the Westport Police Department, also I’m meeting with the Conservation Dept as one area is specifically monitored by their department. Working on it.”
In the meantime, the padlocks remain in place.
And — for the first time since Staples High School was built on North Avenue, in 1958 — students living nearby are fenced out.
Just cut the damned chain…if it’s replaced, cut it again. I have the easy to buy tool if anyone wished to borrow.
Rock on‼️💣
Glad that Dave Briggs and other neighbors pursued an explanation – definitely need to find out what’s going on there.
Our son used to ride his bike to school. Is that no longer a viable alternative to driving?
This is interesting to me for entirely different reasons.
I appreciate the ability for kids to “cut through” a woodsy path to get to school. I had a similar secret path where I went to school in Michigan. It was fun to emerge from the back of the school each day, and making the return trip home. It was wholesome most of the time 🤪 and memorable.
But my interest lies in what assessment may be going on today. If it is school-security related, you are not likely to get any info.
This brings to mind my effort last year to stop the town from banning gardeners during the school day. We were labeled a risk to the children by the town and school administrations, BOE, and “activated” parents.
After 20+ years of no security issues whatsoever, the police department was ordered to close off access to both school grounds and school adjacent grounds such as the community garden and Wakemen field from 7:30 am to 4:15 pm when school is in session.
I filed a petition to overturn some of the more draconian new rules on the adjacent properties, gave a presentation to RTM committees, and a speech before the full RTM. I was heckled, hated and unsuccessful in this effort.
But in that process, I visited several school sites and found what I would call greater risks to the school population versus the community gardens. The most egregious was the large hidden opening behind Long Lots, an access road that led to the play area behind the school. There were others.
My argument at the time was that gardeners and Wakemen field dog walkers were not on school grounds, and were in plain sight. Further, the town had a record and background check on every gardener. And then some.
No matter. We got the boot. I suspect your High Point walkers face the same fate.
That is really sad that kids can’t walk that way to staples. I hope you can find out who authorized this, and change it
I’m all for keeping kids safe and have 3 questions.
Does anyone think a fence kids can climb over is going to prevent anything? Does the fence pose more of a risk of hurting yourself going over it? Is the fence even tall enough to keep the deer and their ticks out?
I have more questions but the real question is who decide these things without public discourse ….. an autocracy?
Hurting students, negatively impacting the environment, angering your neighbors, lowering property values all with one inexplicable action…Pretty impressive Staples
The Staples class of 1961 was the third class to graduate behind ‘59 and ’60. I remember walking home to 1 River Oaks Rd after football practice from Staples. My Sophomore year we practiced and played at Bedford Jr High. We relied on the good nature of our fellow upper class men to give us rides back to town.
It is a sad state of affairs that our schools are not embracing the idea of walking. Many people purchasd their homes on this street for walking access to the schools which has gone on for 40+ years. Many of us also worked with the school when they installed lights at staples – I would have expected the school community to afford us the same dialogue and compromise as we did. Seems its a one way street in more ways than one! Staples is NOT a closed campus at all so this baffles me that someone unilaterally decided this – so now you simply have kids hopping over fences – once again we are lacking logic and worst of all a sense of community between the school and residents.
What a shame! Walking to school is so beneficial for all the reasons you mentioned.
I remember walking home from Burr Farms School, cutting across a property to get to North Avenue, then thru Staples to High Point Rd. The legal way to go from Burr Farms Rd. to Long Lots would have added half a mile to that. But the school continuously got complaints from the property owner whose lot we trespassed and asked us not to do it–we did it anyway.
Our property at the end of High Point Road abutted Staples, and we occasionally got trespassers, though unless you lived near the end of High Point, it would have made more sense to trespass on property closer to the beginning of the street. I remember I used to run laps around the track when I was in 8th grade and probably was in the best shape in my life. We also used to ride our bikes on the campus back when it had multiple buildings.
While the fence might have been installed to help property owners prevent trespass, maybe it was installed to prevent non-students from accessing the property, where they might be involved in vandalism or worse.
More “ready! fire! aim!” from the school administration.
Expect preposterous safety claims about extremely remote scenarios, when other schools abut sidewalks and roads with no serious buffer whatsoever.
I am documenting the injuries from the kids jumping the fences. I know the school nurses have documentation as well. Did you know the staples bus for High Pointers picks up at Long Lots Road? As the famous “mile Long Cul-de-Sac” our kids have to walk a mile to catch a bus and sit in traffic. Making school commute start time an hour earlier than the 5min walk to staples through our backyard.
One of the reasons we purchased on High Point Rd was so that our children could walk to school! What an archaic thought now! Imagine a school district or town working to PREVENT kids from walking to school! We help prevent traffic! We help prevent accidents! We help prevent pollutiin! We support excercise! Why on Earth would they do this to kids and families? There are not many streets that are safe to walk to the schools. High Point is a gem for this exact reason! Do better. If we can go back to pre cell phone days we can go back to it being ok for kids to walk to school. Out town picks some strange things to debate!
Hello Dan,
I read your article and agree entirely. I loved walking to school and being able to walk home from High Point Rd. I was on the baseball team and I would volunteer to go find baseballs that were hit over the fence during batting practice. Coach Kelly was more than happy to let me go because I always came back with at least a dozen baseballs. He didn’t realize that on my way to school I would find baseballs and hide them so that I could bring them back at batting practice. This stash allowed me to go home take a swim in the pool, have a sandwich and then get back to baseball practice without being missed. Fond memories. Scott Guthman ‘73
Hilarious, Scott. Those were great days. The Guthmans were an important part of the High Point Road crew. We were so lucky to have grown up when and where we did!
My son is on the track team & walks home down High Point most days after practice…until now. While he has a drivers license, we don’t have a car just for him & both my husband & I work. But I always felt fine knowing he was walking in our neighborhood & could get home quickly. The school obviously knows kids use these paths & it certainly would have been in everyone’s best interest if the school/community could have had a discussion before gate were locked. Open lines of communication is what we are missing here & hopefully, the school will open them up soon…along with the gates.
As Dan knows well, I grew up just a few doors south at 20 High Point Road. Like him, I walked to Staples. I now live in Bridgeport. Here, school funding cuts this past week are so severe that among other truly negative outcomes, school bus transportation is being eliminated for 2,400 students who will now be compelled to walk more than a mile to and from high school. God alone knows how to even out this discrepancy that adds walking requirements for Bridgeport to save thousands of dollars in a public decision by a school board under budgetary duress against the loss of walking ability for Westport for the price of a padlock and Byzantine school decision-making.
This is the sort of fence put up to keep people off the playing fields. Possibly for a pesticide treatment. Possibly to keep the foot traffic away.
What Scarice might have said: “I’ve ordered the locks removed and I’m looking into who ordered them.”
Back in the 90s a neighbor on Wedgewood tried to block an easement onto Staples by putting a mailbox in front of the easement. Subsequently, kids walked along her back yard to get back to the easement. When the School Building Committee built the fence around Stables, they closed off the entry. I found on the land maps at town hall a number of easements from roads around Staples, showed them to Elliott Landon, the superintendent of schools, and they immediately made a door from the easement onto the Staples parking lot near the girls Lacross field. I believe it is still open. I think there is a law that easements need to be kept open.