Should Kids Attend School on Election Day?

[Ruthie Koenigsmark]

Question of the Day…..

Should kids attend school on Election Day??????

From my perspective, parent of two, my vote would be “NO, no, NO! As long as schools in our community are used for voting we need to think about the added risk to our kids. This comes in the form of as access by strangers to the school and added traffic(cars)...both could be potentially dangerous. I am very interested in what all of you have to say on this subject. I would love to see our schools closed on this day, in honor of our kids. Other communities do it, why shouldn't we?

[Tom Bullock]

I also say no, but for an entirely different reason: I think kids should be encouraged to participate in Election Day activities by volunteering with a candidate or at the polls. Civic education and public service should be part of our experience growing up.

I'll go a step further and say that Election Day should be a national or state holiday. We should encourage civic participation--by voting, by volunteering, by engaging fellow citizens on issues of the day. Time off from work would encourage this.

[Lynn Farris]

Tom, I agree with you. We just got back from Costa Rica, where election day is a National Holiday and everyone is required to vote. Not only is it a holiday, but public transportation is free so people can get a ride at no cost to the polls.

Of course it gets more complicated for us as we have the Primary in Oct., Election in November, sometimes a special election in March and in May. That is 4 more holidays a year. Maybe too much for businesses and government to pick up.

I remember a couple of years ago that several veterans campaigned for the city to recognize Veterans Day and give the employees the day off. It was rejected because the cost of it was too huge.

So back to reality.

Maybe this would be a good day for teachers to have an in-service training. That way they would be out a little early and give them more time to vote as well. I must say I never worried about my children at school with more strangers, but traffic is heavier, so maybe not having kids at school that day would help. However PTA does a great job of scheduling bake sales and making some extra $$ during the election.

[Heidi Hilty]

My experience is that the Lakewood High School AP Government students(sorry, I don't know about the other government classes) are encouraged to volunteer/work on election day. My son worked as a poll worker from open to close at Lincoln Elementary School in his senior year for the November election . This year I was greeted at my precinct table by Sarah, who shared with me that she shadowed my daughter in the LHS Orchestra program, as an 8th grader. She confirmed she was participating in the poll worker program. The students are excused from school to participate (by prior arrangement).
So, this would be my rambling way of expressing my whole-hearted agreement with Tom.