The Arlington School Committee met on Dec. 19 to receive budget requests from the Arlington Education Association (AEA), to hear school-improvement presentations from the principals of Dallin Elementary and Arlington High School and to meet the new community-outreach dog.
All members attended in person, as did Superintendent Elizabeth Homan, AEA President Juli Keyes, and two AHS student representatives.
Of the $2.8 million requested by the AEA for the 2025-26 school year, $1.85 million was requested to fund additional special-education staff, by far the most urgent need identified by Arlington teachers and staff. The union requested additional special-education staff for every school in the district, adding up to a requested addition of 22 full-time-equivalent positions, plus two specialized support paraprofessionals.
Overwhelming workloads cited
According to Keyes, who presented the requests to the committee, special-education staff continues to struggle with overwhelming workloads exacerbated by unfilled positions, a postpandemic increase in student needs and recent state curriculum changes, which have drastically increased the clerical burden on special-education staff. 
The AEA also requested increased support for counselors/social workers and paraprofessionals, such as teaching assistants, librarians, substitutes and specialized support paraprofessionals; as well as further investments in technology and professional development, facilities repairs and accessibility improvements to buildings.
Read the AEA proposals here >>
Homan’s turn on the budget
Homan spoke about the budget requests her office has received for the 2025-26 school year, from the AEA as well as the school administration. Arlington is projected to have $2.4 million for proposed budget additions for 2026, and has received about $6.5 million worth of budget requests.
The committee praised the work Homan, Keyes and others had done to collate budget requests from all across the district to identify duplicate requests — places where multiple parties requested the same thing. “I appreciate when this happens,” said Homan, “because it shows where our leaders are in alignment with one another.”
Homan reported alignment among administrators and staff around the need for more special-education resources, specialist resources, speclialized support, counseling and library resources. There was also alignment around eliminating directed study at Ottoson Middle School by adding more electives.
The 2025-26 public-school budget is expected to be completed in March.
The current operating budget is $96,521,248, according to the 2024 report to Town Meeting.
New community-outreach dog
Officer Bryan White with Roger. / APD photoThe committee was delighted to meet Roger, an 11-week-old Labradoodle and the Arlington Police Department’s new community-outreach dog. In a letter to the committee, Flaherty described the dog program as a way to “strengthen our connecton with the community while providing emotional support during challenging times.”
School Resource Officer Bryan White, who is Roger’s handler, shared that Roger has already made visits to a number of the schools and has been welcomed by students. Roger will not be fully integrated into the schools until he completes his puppy training, and is expected to be certified as a therapy dog this spring.
White, Chief of Police Juliann Flaherty and the committee discussed the logistics of having Roger around kids who are afraid of dogs and other animals in the schools. White and Flaherty said they will remain careful and communicative as they integrate Roger into the schools. White also noted that Roger is hypoallergenic.
After Roger’s introduction concluded, White walked him around the table so that members of the School Committee could pet him. Said Chair Paul Schlichtman, “Feel free to bring Roger back any time.”
Dallin, AHS plans, custodians
In his presentation, AHS Principal Matthew Janger described substantial improvements in school climate since the pandemic and a general upward trend of student mental health, as well as continued high MCAS scores. However, he noted gaps in student sense of belonging with black, transgender and special-education students.
He also spoke to the challenges of increasing enrollment and continued instruction, and emphasizes that the school has only about half as many custodians as a building of the high school’s size requires.
AHS student representative Leo Fritch spoke to echo Janger’s call to hire more custodial staff. “It’s not just about cleanliness,” said Fritch. “The school is deteriorating a little bit . . . if you were someone who was unfamiliar, you’d be surprised the school was 2 years old.” Fritch described broken light fixtures, broken bathroom sensors, and occasional sharpie on the walls — issues that, while not as bad as they were at the old high school, are still worth addressing.
“There’s only so much you can do to control high school kids,” said Fritch. Having more custodial staff, he argued, would go a long way to mitigate the inherent rowdiness of some high schoolers.
In his presentation, Dallin Principal Thad Dingman shared that at Dallin, students with individualized education plans exceeded state English-language arts targets and that students overall were 80th to 99th percentile nationally in self-perception.
Watch ACMi video:
On the other hand, Dallin saw a downtrend among all groups in science scores and a widening performance gap in math for students with individual education plans. Dallin also reported no increase in its students’ sense of belonging despite efforts to improve belonging, which Dingman described as “one of our most persistent concerns.”
Cyrus the Mastodon
Dr. Janger also gave a brief update about Cyrus the Mastodon, AHS’s brand-new mascot. “Unfortunately . . . just as we’ve launched Cyrus the Mastodon, the Russell House has discovered that he’s a mammoth,” said Janger. “So he’s having a little bit of an identity issue right now. We’re waiting for some enzyme testing before we roll out completely with Cyrus’s rebranding.”
“I just taught everyone what a mastodon was,” Janger lamented.
Dec. 11, 2024: Superintendent evaluated ‘proficient’; 2 Ottoson language teachers get awards
This news summary by YourArlington freelancer writer Sabrina Blasik was published Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024.
