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Parents press RSU 22 board for coordinated fixes to McGraw and Wetherby pickup and drop-off
Summary
Parents told the RSU 22 school board that persistent parking, bus staging and pickup patterns at McGraw and Wetherby schools create safety risks and urged an ad hoc committee to coordinate solutions; the board urged building-level collaboration with principals and PTOs and said administration will assess traffic flow.
Sahara Jaffner, a parent of a McGraw School student, told the RSU 22 school board the district’s pickup and drop-off patterns at McGraw and Wetherby schools have created persistent safety and parking problems that individual parents’ efforts have not resolved. “When parents began connecting with one another, the goal was not to bypass anyone or ignore procedures,” Jaffner said, adding that 75 parents had signed a petition raising the concern.
Jessica Madden, another parent, said the pickup area is “very messy” and said she came to support Jaffner’s request for a collaborative approach. Sarah Perry read an email sent to the superintendent on June 12 detailing examples of cars blocked in by buses, reduced parking during field day and a prior formal complaint to the bus company, and asked who owns the parking lot and whether buses could be relocated for large events.
Board Chair (name withheld in the transcript) and district administration acknowledged the concerns and described the board’s role as setting and monitoring policy while principals handle day-to-day campus operations. The chair encouraged parents to work directly with building principals and the PTO to develop site-specific solutions — for example, staggered pickup times or volunteer traffic committees — and said the administration is actively reviewing traffic flow at the affected campuses.
The board did not take formal action at the meeting but committed to continued attention and invited parents to collaborate with school leaders. The superintendent said day-to-day operational changes are best handled at the building level and that the district will support principals as they assess patterns and propose practical interventions.
The next procedural step noted at the meeting was that administration and building principals would continue evaluating traffic patterns and consider options that involve parent volunteers and PTO coordination; no formal timeline was given for an ad hoc committee or board-directed study.
