ARLINGTON — The Arlington School District’s first “Know Your Schools” event of the year drew questions from parents about vocational education and recent teacher protests of the state legislature.

Kris McDuffy has been superintendent of the district for seven years, the past six of which she’s conducted “Know Your Schools” events twice a year, in the spring and fall.

Among the parents who attended the April 23 event were Linda Jenkins, who has twins in kindergarten, and Jacob Kukuk, who’s interested in making sure his daughter has the same educational opportunities he enjoyed in Arlington.

Kukuk, who’s a candidate for the Arlington City Council, graduated from Arlington High School in 2007 and was able to get hired in the machine industry right away. When he asked McDuffy what progress the district has made in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) curricula, she cited a list of accomplishments.

“We have a unique setting, with the airport and all this industry right in our back yard,” McDuffy said. “We’re adding an advanced manufacturing strand this fall, and we’ll have the current principal of Weston High School in a full-time Career and Technical Education position.”

McDuffy explained that companies such as AMT and Newell are advising the district on a program that would allow students to leave high school with certifications they could take directly to employers after graduation.

“STEM is a high priority and a huge focus for us,” McDuffy said. “There’s a huge gap in the preparation level of high school students and what the workforce needs.”

To help bridge the gap, Weston recently implemented a two-week STEM experiment that tasked students with responding to a simulated natural disaster.

“It immersed them in real-life, hands-on learning opportunities,” McDuffy said. “This came after eighth-grade and high school students spent two weeks last summer developing proposals to reduce our carbon footprint.”

Sid Logan, executive director of operations for the district, added that the Aerospace Joint Apprenticeship Committee has established state-of-the-art machines on site at AHS to teach adults at night, which younger students have access to during the day.

Meanwhile, Jenkins noticed the number of school staff, students and parents protesting by wearing red shirts and marching in downtown Arlington April 22, and asked McDuffy for the district’s official response.

“While we sympathize with and share many of their sentiments, we couldn’t support a work stoppage,” McDuffy said. “We do appreciate that they made an effort to minimize the impact to our students, by still working a half-day. It’s a delicate conversation, but what it boils down to is, now is the time for our legislature to comply with the state Supreme Court’s ruling, because the direction for where this needs to go is already set by the courts.”