Arlington kids need new middle school; vote for the bond

No one likes taxes, but we also can’t have schools that are not safe. I’ve toured the current Post Middle School and I can certainly understand the conclusion that the cost of bringing it up to safety standards, including seismic codes, would be more or as much as the cost of building a new school. This was the same conclusion that was reached when the time came to do something with Presidents Elementary. It was a good decision then to replace Presidents Elementary and it is a good decision now to replace Post Middle School.

Those of us who remember the big Alaskan earthquake and the schools there that collapsed, know the importance of the seismic code that has been developed since that quake. That’s just one of the safety concerns. Shootings at school have become a major threat. The design of the existing school with classroom doors that open to the outside makes kids an easy target. We need a new school with hallways and the means to screen visitors and to lock the building down if there is a shooting threat.

Please vote “yes” for all three school propositions on the ballot for Arlington Public Schools. I’m writing primarily in support of Proposition 3 because it has failed to get the 60 percent super majority in previous attempts, and because I will have three grandchildren who will be attending that school.

Dave Duskin

Arlington