Traffic patterns will be changing around Central Middle School when classes begin Wednesday, Aug. 21. The conversion of Central from a high school for 9th and 10th graders to a middle school will bring a different type of traffic, but school officials say the adjustment should be fairly easy.

Central Principal Nathan Freeman said the middle school will have nearly 500 students, which is much less than the 1,100 students when the Central building was a high school.

“That will help in itself,” he said of potential traffic hassles. “The other thing that’s different also is our kids don’t drive, so a lot of the parking that was taken up by students on streets and side roads, hopefully, will be a little more open.”

Freeman said the middle school’s smaller staff should not require the overflow parking in the lot to the northeast of the Central building. The intention is to keep that northeast lot open for parents for pick-ups.

Class dismissal for each of the three grades – sixth through eighth – will be staggered a few minutes apart to ease congestion within the school and allow for more efficient pick-ups, Freeman said.

He recommends parents or others providing pick-ups consider designating a meeting area a half block to a block from the school. It not only distances the pick-ups from a congested area, but it is a comfortable walking distance for students, who can be assured of finding their rides in a similar spot each day, he said.

Freeman also said streets along the west front of the building and along the south side will facilitate drop-offs.

Students transported by Minot City Transit will continue to be dropped off on the northeast corner of the school. Buses taking special needs students to Central will park on the building’s southside, said Barry Brooks, director of purchasing and transportation for the Minot district.

The district also will be bussing students from the former McKinley Elementary to Roosevelt Elementary this year and will add two additional routes throughout the city to transport students in the English as a Second Language program, Brooks said.

City Transit has no route changes planned that could impact schools. The city already has a bus route that runs by the new Minot North High School.

Bus Superintendent Brian Horinka said the only changes will be minor ones associated with the move to the new transit center downtown in a couple of weeks.