Monday was the first day of classes at the Northampton Area School District Secondary Campus. According to district Superintendent Joseph Kovalchik, it went well.

Kovalchik should know. He was there helping to direct traffic, wearing a bright orange and green safety vest.

"Overall, I think it went very well," Kovalchik said at the Aug. 26 school board meeting.

Some 2,800 students, 300 staff members and 50 buses are accommodated during the morning school opening and afternoon closing hours for Northampton Area High School and Northampton Area Middle School.

"There was some concern with congestion on Laubach [Avenue] and [Route] 329," Kovalchik said.

"We will monitor and tweak the flow of traffic," he added.

After Monday night's board meeting, Kovalchik told The Press that most of the traffic congestion occurs from 2:15 to 2:45 p.m., at the end of the school day.

"The issue is you have traffic backing up from Laubach onto Route 329," said Kovalchik.

To alleviate this, Kovalchik said the pattern and times are expected to be changed for athletic bus pickup, ARA food service deliveries and pickup and maintenance staff arrival.

The traffic light at Laubach Avenue and Route 329 is activated manually by a police officer.