School board leaders urge Arlington voters to approve $75 million levy to replace Post Middle School

Mary Levesque, identified in the meeting as school board president, appealed to Arlington residents during the council’s public-comment period to support a six-year capital levy on the Feb. 11 ballot intended to replace Post Middle School.

“We're asking members of the community, our taxpayers, to help us raise $75,000,000,” Levesque said, adding that the levy would cost a homeowner about $54 per month on a house valued at $500,000. She said the district expects to set the levy proceeds in a restricted capital project fund and to qualify for roughly $25,000,000 in state construction-assistance program contributions.

Nicole Watts, identified as school board director for District 3, spoke in support of the levy and described Post Middle School as “beyond its useful life,” citing aging infrastructure and student welfare concerns. “The building is not a place for kids to survive. It's dark,” Watts said, recounting personal experience with her children and saying new facilities would better support learning. Watts also urged improved outdoor facilities and parking to ease traffic at both Post and Eagle Creek.

Levesque invited the public to a district forum on Jan. 23 at the Burns Performing Arts Center to discuss the project, explain differences between the district’s two middle schools, and answer questions about the levy’s impact. The district framed the measure as a locally funded construction project supplemented by state construction assistance; Levesque emphasized that the state does not routinely provide regular construction funds to school districts and that local taxpayers typically fund new school construction.

Next steps: the levy will appear on the Feb. 11 ballot; the school district will hold the Jan. 23 public forum to present details and take questions.