Arlington School Committee Unanimously Approves Two Town Commission Appointments

ARLINGTON -- June 11, 2026, Arlington School Committee unanimously fills two town advisory seats and flags after-school budget gap. The committee voted 6-0 Thursday to appoint Dr. Savonarith Korm, a Mass General Brigham and Harvard Medical School research scientist, to the Arlington Human Rights Commission through October 31, 2027, and Megan Rising, a longtime town meeting member, to the Rainbow Commission through June 11, 2029, both recommended by the Community Relations Subcommittee following June 2 interviews. Assistant Superintendent Matthew Schweitzer presented an after-school program report showing internal enrollment grew from 373 to 567 students over five years, now covering 40 percent of eligible elementary school students, but member Dr. Kirsi Allison Ampey noted the programs are running roughly $750,000 behind annually in expenses versus revenues, a gap Schweitzer committed to explaining at the next meeting. Arlington High School Principal Dr. Andrew Janger told the committee he already has a draft bell-to-bell cell phone policy written in anticipation of state legislation, but warned that extending restrictions beyond the classroom creates "unfunded mandate" enforcement burdens unique to an open-campus school; the committee is watching for final state language before acting. Six first-read policy updates, including a state-required rewrite of the time-out, seclusion, and restraint policy due by August 17, will return for a vote in two weeks.