Katherine Connell

Arlington (Massachusetts) Public Schools

COMMUNITY PROFILE Arlington is a community with a rich history. Once known as Menotomy, it was the site of the bloodiest fighting on the first day of the American Revolution, April 19, 1775. The town was incorporated as West Cambridge in 1807, when it was set aside from Cambridge and a portion of the former town of Charlestown. The town was renamed Arlington in 1867, to honor those buried in Arlington National Cemetery. In the nineteenth century, Arlington was primarily an agricultural community, with a thriving ice industry centered around Spy Pond and mills located along Mill Brook. Arlington grew into a streetcar suburb in the 1920s, and the last farms were replaced by suburban homes in the years after World War II. Arlington's location, six miles from downtown Boston and three miles from Harvard Square, makes it a desirable residential community. It is home to approximately 45,000 residents, and 94.5% of its tax base is residential. Arlington is readily accessible to the extensive social, cultural and recreational venues of New England. It has a highly engaged network of socially conscious, politically astute, and enthusiastic parents and community members, making this a highly desirable district. The town is currently building a new $291 million high school, having secured 77% of the vote in a 2019 special election to cover the local share of construction. Arlington has also approved a series of fiscal stability plans to finance town and school operations, tied to four separate Proposition 2½ override votes to maintain adequate funding for schools and town services. The most recent operating override, for $5.5 million, was approved with 68% of the vote during the same 2019 special election that approved the high school building project. 6,047 students (FY20), a 24.5% increase over FY12 • School Budget: $82,537,634 (FY21). Schools: 1 pre-school; 7 elementary (K-5) schools; 1 grade 6 school; 1 middle school (7-8); 1 high school.