For Arlington High School students and faculty, the transition from the old buildings to the new one was a matter of quality of life and learning.
“It felt a lot more welcoming,” said Asra Nourollahi, an Arlington High junior. “I was just more excited to go to school.”
The old buildings were falling apart, said Ed Foley, a longtime language teacher at Arlington High. Plaster was coming off the walls, floors looked dirty, and at times it was an uncomfortable learning environment, he said.
“The shades didn’t really work, so in the spring the sun would come pouring in in the afternoon, turning the class into a furnace,” Foley said. New air conditioning units in the old building would regularly blow fuses, shutting down power in classrooms, he said.
Arlington’s new $290 million school and athletic fields officially opened in October after more than five years of phased construction. Students could remain in class while new portions were built and the old school, built in 1914, was gradually demolished.
State funding covered $84.7 million of the cost, and Arlington voters approved a tax increase in 2019 to help pay for the rest.
“One year, before December 1, the heating didn’t work,” said Liza Basso, who has been teaching English at Arlington High for seven years. “And after they got it to work the room was constantly 85 degrees. You couldn’t even wear a sweater.”
The technology in the old building was rapidly becoming outdated, and teachers struggled to incorporate new online learning practices into the classroom.
“We had to use a yardstick to reach the projector in the ceiling,” Basso said. “Half the time it didn’t even work which got very frustrating,” she said.
“I had an old projector on a rolling cart which was always overheating,” Foley said. “There were always a hundred cables coming out of it and they were all over the floor getting in your way,” he said.
The new building features modern technology like electronic boards, making learning more engaging and efficient, said Indigo Blankespoor, a senior and student council president.
“The ViewBoard is great. I’ve got no cables besides the one to connect to my computer,” Foley said. “There are lots of new ways I can teach lessons, so that is a nice change, and now I don’t have to worry about the technology causing issues.”
When students returned to school after the pandemic shutdown, the construction of the new building introduced a new set of challenges to teachers and students.
“One day I had students presenting and they were doing construction right outside the window which was causing the whole room to literally shake,” Basso said. “It made getting through the presentations really difficult.”
An overcrowded narrow hallway that students called the connector funneled students between the old and new sections during construction. Nourollahi said this would often make her late to class.
Now that the full building is open, Nourollahi said the positives far outweigh the early challenges.
As the class vice president since freshman year, Nourollahi noticed that the larger and more flexible spaces made it easier for student government to function.
The class council now holds its meeting in the open library, intentionally positioning themselves where students naturally pass through.
“People can overhear us, and that’s kind of our intention,” Nourollahi said. Even if students don’t have time to join the meeting, they still hear what’s being discussed, she said.
Nourollahi participates in orchestra, and for her, the biggest improvement was the larger rehearsal space, more practice rooms and expanded storage space. “If you enjoy something, now there’s space to do it,” she said.
“I noticed more people were coming to different clubs,” Nourollahi said. She has seen a surge in participation and enthusiasm.
For senior Anthony Sciaraffa, a new high school didn’t just improve the facilities, it helped him rekindle his love for drawing and painting. The new art studios are equipped with adequate materials and setup providing students with everything they need, Sciaraffa said.
But something important was lost, Sciaraffa said. “The art in the new building could never compare to the art that was in the old one,” he said.
The original high school was filled with student murals and creative pieces over the decades. Now, most of the walls are clean, bright white, with academic wings marked by simple blocks of color — reds and oranges in the humanities wing, blues and purples in the STEAM.
“I’m surprised when I talk to students about the old building, a lot of them feel sentimental about it. They think it had character,” Foley said.
“It’s lacking some of the life that the old building had. But I think with time and many more classes, it’ll gain that old building charm again,” Sciaraffa said.
Despite the modern building lacking in nostalgia, it makes up for it in performance, Foley said. “I’m much happier in this room. It’s clean, I’ve got heat, I’ve got light, the shades work, and I have a great view.”