On March 13, 1979, Arlington voters passed a bond to build a new middle
school in Arlington called Arlington Middle School. In the summer of 1985, it was named Post Middle School after Richard Post, a former Arlington superintendent.
The first three buildings of the single-story campus-style middle school building were completed in 1981. The Main (100) Building houses the administrative offices, classrooms, library, multi-purpose room, stage and warming kitchen. The Gymnasium Building (200) consists of the main gym, an auxiliary gym, locker/shower facilities and storage space. The 300 Building houses a technology shop, Home Economics classroom, Art classroom, office space and storage.
In 1993 a classroom addition (400) was constructed at the southeast corner
of the campus, with a covered walkway connecting it to the rest of the campus. There are currently 6 portable classrooms serving this school.
The current square footage of Post Middle School is 76,256.
Reflections on the construction of Post Middle School
A former board member, Gene Chase, who served on the Arlington School
Board when Post Middle School was constructed was interviewed to capture his recollections of Post Middle School.
How did you join the Arlington School Board?
Many of my relatives are public school teachers. I liked to join things and be involved. The person who represented my area on the school board moved and I was appointed to the school board in the late 70s. I was part of the school board until 1992.
How did you know Richard Post and why was the school named after him?
One of my best friends was Dick Post. He was superintendent from 1972-1985. He came in when the district was upside down financially and he helped put things back together. The school was named after him in 1985. Previously, it was named Arlington Middle School.
Tell me about the construction of Post Middle School
The bond was passed before I was appointed to the board. When I came to my first board meeting, they had hired the architect and they were doing drawings and sketches.
Tell me about the 24 separate heat pumps at Post Middle School
Regarding the heating systems at Post Middle School, they were state-of-the-art systems in the early 80s. They came from a company in Europe but unfortunately the company went out of business. They were good heating systems but once you needed parts, they were very difficult to find.
Why was Post Middle School made with an open-air design?
Things were different then. No one was happy that the state legislature and Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction forced us to make Post Middle School as an open-air design. This only went on for a couple of years but there are many schools in Washington state that were forced to make their schools this way during this time period.
You couldn’t use your hallways as part of your school’s square footage. The state paid for 80 percent of a school’s construction with 20 percent coming from local funding. As a result, the state had a lot more control of what was built.
It was also much easier to pass a bond back then because there wasn’t such a local impact. There was also a lot less building going on during that time period. A lot of that state money came from the Department of Natural Resources timber sale program that was distributed statewide to schools.
What are some stories you remember about the construction?
The state suggested that the middle should be run like an elementary school so that students would have one teacher for the whole day so they wouldn’t have to walk outside to change classes. Another suggestion was to just give the students coats for when they walked outside.
When we were building the middle school, there was talk about putting microwaves in the Home Economics classroom. One of the staff didn’t want to do that because she thought microwaves were just a fad and wouldn’t last.
What are your thoughts about a replacement for Post Middle School?
Schools are just like roads and bridges. After a certain amount of time, they deteriorate and you have to replace them. I’m nervous that if we don’t pass a measure to replace Post Middle School, what are we going to do? If you have go to double shifting with Haller Middle School, that’s expensive because you almost have to double your bus budget to make this work.