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.