It is time to make an investment in Waltham Public Schools, Waltham parents have asserted in a petition to build a new public high school.

Over the past several years, the City of Waltham has been taking measures to improve its public school system, the petition states. The problem lies in the fact that two of Waltham’s nine public schools are classified as level three schools, according to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Ranked annually on a scale of one to five — one being the highest, five the lowest — public schools coming in at level three are performing in the lowest 20th percentile of public schools in their age category.

Now, Waltham families believe that the time has come to take a stand and invest in improving Waltham’s high school program.

The exact nature of the changes to be made to the Waltham High School are still uncertain; there can either be improvements made to the existing high school, or an entirely new school can be built. The petition to build a new school has 428 of its 1,000-signature goal as of press time.

“Waltham's public schools do not have a strong reputation among residents of the metro Boston area, including a fair number of Waltham residents,” the petition states. While the city could decide to refurbish the existing high school instead of building a new one, the current high school building is not fit for 21st century education at all, and it would be a great disservice to the children to not provide a proper education, the petition claims.

—Jen Geller