February 11, 2025

 

Dear Uxbridge Community:

 

In the past few days I had a couple of questions come up from families regarding safety and the exit at UHS. Obviously, there has been much rhetoric and not much action in terms of the exit and patterns of traffic at UHS.

 

I arrived to UHS in the summer of 2015. I believe the first time I had conversations with various committees in the town regarding the exit and traffic patterns came in 2017, when we discussed the single point of failure in the event of an emergency as part of some high school crisis team deliberations. One of our previous business managers and two previous facility directors would make requests of our leadership team in the fall for capital projects, and I have consistently brought up the secondary exit as a school priority. It has been part of our School Council agendas and many deliberations of our crisis team.

 

The secondary exit became a highlighted recommendation as part of a security audit conducted during the 2021-22 school year, when Dr. Dillon was superintendent. We had, during the pandemic, reviewed and revamped traffic patterns for dropoff and pickup with limited consistency and follow through, which remains an issue, as we specifically moved drop off to the student parking lot. In the course of the recommendations, we partnered with some resources from Mass Highway, which provided us with a report that validated many of our initial recommendations and suggested a secondary egress. The town has also come up with a couple of different iterations of a project.

 

Some options we have investigated include:

 

1. Extending the road “around” the school to exit toward the water department’s road on Quaker Highway. Not an option - behind the building traverses wetlands and the water department access road is not ideal.

2. Secondary egress out the back of the campus to 122. Not really an option unless we build a bridge to go over the water. There is a river back there.

3. Egress built toward Quaker Highway by the tennis courts. Not an option because of visibility on Quaker Highway. This could be an option for emergency vehicle access only in the event of a crisis.

 

We have two options that have been considered for restructuring the front of the building. I am sharing the most recent set of slides that I shared with then-Superintendent Baldassarre for inclusion in a capital committee conversation.

 

The short answer: yes, we have put together a number of recommendations and recognize that the egress to the campus is dangerous and problematic in the event of an emergency. We also realize that vehicles have now compromised our sign, as the main sign to the campus was struck by something several weeks ago. We would like to prioritize its repair, but we only have so many resources at our disposal - both financially and physically - as a school.

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For dropoff, we again remind families that dropoff takes place in the student lot. Pull in, turn left at the press box of the turf field, proceed across to the student lot, turn right, drop off at the bottom of the lot, and then turn right and exit up the ramp.

We do not typically share many details and variables regarding security challenges, particularly in a public space, as those plans can be exploited by individuals with bad intentions. We hope you can understand that perspective.

 

This message is purely informational and in response to the questions that I have been fielding, and certainly does not mean to imply that the concerns have been ignored by the town, the Safety Committee, or any other board of the town. At the same time, I do not want anyone to think that the challenge is either unknown or without much consideration. 

 

If anyone has any additional questions, feel free to reach out.

 

Sincerely,

 

Dr. Rubin