Our Man in Arlington

Arlington School Superintendent Dr. Robert Smith was the keynote speaker at the annual meeting of the Arlington Learning in Retirement Institute last Friday.

Smith discussed with two sets of statistics, or "databases" as we graduate students refer to them, that had been discussed at the Arlington School Board meeting the night before. The first were the results of the school system's Customer Satisfaction Surveys for Parents, Teachers, Students, and Arlington Residents (those with no children currently in the school system) administered earlier this year. The second was the system's six-year capital improvement program. Together, they provide a remarkable picture of a healthy and successful school system.

The surveys showed a high degree of satisfaction with the school system among parents of kids in the system. Forty-five percent of the parents gave the system an "A" and 45.6% gave the system a "B" for a combined total of a remarkable 91.6%. This compares to a nationwide result of 55% in similar surveys. Fifty- seven percent of the parents gave the specific schools in which their children were enrolled an "A". Interestingly, the students themselves ranked their own schools consistently lower than their parents, a phenomenon that apparently is consistent nation-wide.

The results from survey of Arlington citizens were noticeably different, largely because 49.3% said they did not know enough about the system to rank it. (Only slightly more than 13% of the respondents in this group had ever had children in the system, which probably accounted for those who did indicate some knowledge about the system and who gave it high rankings, too.)

This, apparently, is a higher number than those in similar surveys nationwide. Smith said that this reflects the remarkable nature of the highly educated and career motivated population of Arlington, one of the most highly educated in the nation. Only a small percentage of Arlingtonians have children in the system, and those who don't pay little attention to it.

Smith viewed this as a challenge, however, since the system relies heavily on its citizens for a high level of funding for both the ongoing program and capital improvements. He intends a more aggressive program of community outreach to familiarize all citizens with the crucial importance of a good school system for everyone.

The capital improvement program was an eye opener, particularly for an old former school board member like me. Smith told us that $297 million has already been spent on capital improvements and new buildings since 1997. The school board plans to spend another $250 million in the next six years. All of this building activity is obvious to anyone who spends any time at all driving around the county. Without going into huge detail, this means that over a ten or fifteen-year period virtually every school building in Arlington will undergo major reconstruction or expansion and several completely new schools will have been built.

When I was on the school board in the late seventies and early eighties, we were closing schools left and right. We actually had to close a school that had only been open for a year or two. There was no disaster. Demographics had caught up with us, and the school age population was declining significantly in Arlington, as well as many other population centers around the country. This has now turned around in spades. The school population is growing dynamically, so the system has to grow, too.

Smith told us his goal was to become the best school system in the nation. "What is the use of striving to be the best in the region?" he said somewhat cockily. "We are already there."