THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 Page 13 SCHOOL | FROM PAGE 3 Academy when she only lives six minutes away. “With the middle school/high school school day ending and then the Belmonte traffic [ending just a few minutes later], it’s awful,” Stoddard said, adding that adjusting to a bigger school may be tough for everyone. Describing the traffic as annoying, she hoped it would improve over time. Stoddard said the traffic was worse in the afternoon than in the morning as long as she dropped off her sons, Michael and Colton, at Belmonte early enough. Parent Vagner Noberto said it took him approximately an hour to get home from dropping off his son, Enzo, at Belmonte. “It was very backed up,” Noberto said. Parent Ellen Schena, who took time off from her Town Clerk’s job to drop off her freshman, Danica, at the high school complex, shared some observations about that first day challenge. Schena said it wasn’t busy leaving her house at 7:20 a.m., but the traffic on Main Street heading home at 7:30 a.m. was tough. “I think the new start times affect it, and the charter school [traffic] on Main Street doesn’t help,” Schena said. —Tara Vocino may be reached at printjournalist1@gmail.com. Proud father Vagner sends off his son, Enzo Norberto, to second grade. Second grader Ifaoluwakishi Animashaun, 9, said she is excited to transition from the Veterans Memorial School into Belmonte STEAM Academy. Fourth grader Michael, 10, and second grader Colton Stoddard, 7 Beside his teacher’s sign: third-grader Cole Gosselin, 8, with his grandmother Barbara Powers. A classic sign of school: The bus arrives. Parents walk their children into the new building. Sixth grade students queue up on the stairs for their orientation. Students enter as the school bell rings. (Advocate photos by Tara Vocino)
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