Introduction

Heading north on Rice Street from the state capitol in the heart of St. Paul, Minnesota, one passes through working-class neighborhoods. Rice Street is lined with vintage family businesses and restaurants, many with Irish and Italian names. A number of Asian, Hispanic, African American, and Russian establishments are interspersed, reflecting the changing demographics of St. Paul's "North End." The multiethnic pattern of small businesses continues along Rice up to Larpenteur Avenue, where St. Paul ends and its suburbs begin. At this city edge, St. Paul Public Schools decided to build its first new high school in 20 years. Student enrollments had grown beyond capacity at St. Paul's six existing high schools.

The student population of Arlington High School reflects the diversity of St. Paul's multiethnic "North End."

A 29-acre land parcel, undeveloped due to poor building conditions but adjacent to established neighborhoods, lay just off Rice Street south of Larpenteur. School district planners decided to meet the site's challenge and, in 1993, began site development and programmatic planning for St. Paul's new Arlington High School. After exploring a variety of models, what stakeholders proposed for Arlington was a comprehensive high school open to students from throughout the city, based on smaller learning communities where relationships between students and the adults at school are equally as important as academic content. Arlington opened in the fall of 1996 at half its student capacity with approximately 1,000 students.