A tree in front of Westford Academy’s senior parking lot fell across Patten Road around noon on Friday, Dec. 19, dragging down live power lines and compromising two telephone poles in the process.
Another tree fell across Cold Spring Road shortly after, blocking portions of both roads. According to Principal Dan Twomey, the downed trees caused no major damage to school property and the power at WA remained active for the rest of the day.
The trees fell in response to high winds that had been moving across Massachusetts, with the National Weather Service reporting 57 mph winds occurring in certain areas of Middlesex County. Other areas of Westford were affected by the wind as well, such as Groton Road, Tyngsborough Road, and Dunstable Road.
After the first tree fell across Patten Road at approximately 12:30 p.m., Dean Bob Ware notified the student body of a risk to cars that were parked in spots 1-32 of the senior parking lot.
“At first, I was very confused because when they came on the loudspeaker saying our cars had to be moved. It was very vague, and I didn’t know the severity of the situation,” senior Lia Arevalo said.
Students who parked in spots 1-32 were allowed to leave the building during B block to move their cars to the main entrance and visitor parking spots around the school.
Twomey credited the expeditious process of moving the cars to the newly numbered parking spaces in the senior lot.
“[In previous years] we [would have] had to run the [license plate] numbers, look them up, […] find the student, announce all those numbers, [and] students wouldn’t know what their numbers were,” Twomey said. “Today, it was, ‘If you’re parking spot 1-32, you need to move your car,’ and that happened quickly. So, I think that as far as logistics and safety and the number of accidents [go], the parking system has worked well.”
When the second tree fell, School Resource Officer Anthony Bernadin, Ware, and Twomey went out to the site of the fallen trees to determine the damage to the roads. Following their assessment and communication with the Westford Police Department (WPD), the three formed a dismissal plan.
Due to the low power lines dragged down by the fallen trees, the WPD blocked off the intersection between Cold Spring Road and Patten Road, and stationed a police cruiser at the intersection to illuminate the area and prevent any contact with the power lines.
Consequently, drivers could only leave the WA campus by turning right onto Patten Road through the exit between the senior lot and the school building. WA’s administration decided to allow seniors who had parked in the senior parking lot to leave at 2:00 p.m. to reduce congestion at the normal dismissal time of 2:20 p.m.
However, students with siblings in 12th grade could not leave their classes before the normal dismissal time, forcing many seniors to wait until the end of the school day to drive home.
“I think getting dismissed early was a good choice,” Arevalo said. “I just wish that they allowed our siblings to go with us, as I have a younger sister who is dealing with an injury and [who] needs help getting to the car.”
Twomey communicated the news of the fallen trees, blocked roads, and early dismissal through multiple announcements and emails sent to parents and WA faculty. In addition, Friday was the first time Twomey used a text messaging system to notify parents of a developing issue.
“I sent an email out, and told the parents [about the trees], giving them a heads up,” Twomey said. “I think I successfully sent a text message for the first time [using] a new message system. I kept having to get it under 140 characters, so that was a little different [than just emailing].”
A minor accident occurred between two vehicles during dismissal, but neither was severely damaged.
“There was a little accident […] at dismissal,” Twomey said. “But unfortunately, those things happen, and people were patient, and people got out of here safely […] which is no different than a lot of days here.”
The Boys’ Varsity Basketball game and the Black Box Theater production that were set to take place on Friday night continued without interruptions, and the damage to the power lines and fallen trees were cleared by the morning of Saturday, Dec. 20.
“I think the situation was handled in an okay way,” senior Kyle Armstrong said. “I think it could’ve been handled better, especially for those stuck [behind] busses, and those with siblings.”
According to Twomey, throughout the process of changing dismissals and notifying the community, his main priority remained ensuring everyone was safe and informed.
“You’re trying to just anticipate as many things as you can, and that’s when you try to do your best with safety [and] anticipate what issues you might have,” Twomey said. “[Also you try to] communicate the best you can and gather as much information [as you can to] make sure everybody’s on the same page.”
