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Students take 'ownership' of levy vote
Students at Mountain Home High School are rapidly assuming "ownership" of the effort to promote the May 27 temporary supplemental school levy.
In small, individual groups, with no central organization, students have prepared and distributed posters and other media urging voters to support the $2.8 million levy proposal by the school district.
Instead of the painted car windows that this time of year normally commemorate graduation, student vehicles can be seen all over town sporting "Vote Yes on the Levy" signs, instead.
They've signed up on the Mountain Home News website, and other sites, to blog in favor of the levy.
Some of the students are going around identifying fellow students who are old enough to vote and making sure they get registered for the election, which will take place the day before graduation for the Class of 2010.
"It's just kind of spontaneous," said junior Kameron Hoskins, as she got out of her car in the student parking lot sporting a "Vote Yes" sign painted in the window. Around her, almost every other car in the lot had a similar sign. "Nobody's really organizing it. It's just each group (of students in the school) deciding they needed to do something. I got involved because I think it's important. It impacts me."
For students, it's an effort to save the extracurricular programs that would have to be cut if the levy doesn't pass. Approximately 60 percent of the students in the high school take part in one or more of the activities that could disappear due to severe district budget constraints caused by a 7.5 percent cut in funding by the legislature for education in Idaho.
"I think if we didn't have sports, and the other stuff, a lot of kids would drop out," Hoskins said. "If all we did is sit in class, and the classes are longer, it wouldn't be a lot of fun." The district's fallback plan if the levy doesn't pass includes shortening the school week to four days and increasing the number of hours students would spend in class each day.
"A lot of kids just wouldn't want to go to school. They'd drop out or they'd go somewhere else," Hoskins said. "For a lot of the kids, they take part (in the extracurricular activities, such as sports) to help them earn scholarships."
Hoskins admitted that "this is the first time I've ever really listened and paid attention to what's going on" in the world of politics, but she's getting informed and involved now.
Next year "would be my senior year," Hoskins said. "I want it to be the best ever."
In fact, many seniors, who technically have no stake in what will happen in the schools next year, are working just as hard as the underclassmen to fight for the levy.
"They care. They care about this school and this community, and they want to leave a legacy for those who follow," said high school Principal Jeff Johnson. "I'm pretty proud of these kids. They're doing it all on their own."
Johnson said he's made it clear to the teachers they cannot advocate for the levy in the classrooms. "I told them, if they are asked about the levy, they can provide factual information that's already out there in front of the public. But they can't sit on a soapbox and promote it, and they can't tell the kids what to do or how to think."
"I am so impressed with these kids," said this year's senior advisor and counselor Tilly Abbot. "They are very intelligent, very articulate and very opinionated. I've been with this class for three years, and these kids make up their own minds. Nobody's telling them what to say, and anybody who thinks so would be insulting them. They are very critical thinkers."
"I've had some of them come to me because they're concerned their parents are going to lose their jobs. Or some activity they really care about may be going away. They probably understand the impacts of what will happen if the levy fails better than anyone."
Many of the teachers have taken advantage of the students' newfound political activism to use it as a teaching tool in the classroom.
"It's a definite concern of the students," said government teacher Matt Bundy. "I can't tell them how to vote or what to think, and I think they'd object if I did. But when they ask what to do, it helps me lead them into discussions about the political process. How to get informed, to look at an issue from all sides and come to their own conclusion. How to register to vote and the different ways you can vote, such as at the polls or in advance by absentee voting.
"Most of my kids are seniors, but they're very concerned about what's happening to the schools. They want to make sure the kids after them have the same experiences they have. It's a community experience. They're feeling involved in an issue and they're excited to vote."
Journalism instructor Sue Martin agreed. "The kids are fired up. But I'm using it to teach them how to research an issue, and how to see both sides."
That's similar to the approach taken by speech and debate instructor John Petti.
"As the students took on this issue, I decided we needed some structure." Debate classes are about learning how to research and be able to debate both sides of an issue, he noted.
"The kids realize this is important to them. But they need to look at it from both sides. I told them to consider someone that might be like me, a 51-year-old male with no kids in school who's relatively new to the community. Why should I want to vote for the levy? Why should I want to raise my taxes?
"They're seeing why some people may want to vote against it. I'm trying to get the 'I' word out the discussion, to make them look at both sides and see what it would take to logically convince a person to come around to their position.
"I'm awfully proud of these kids," he said. "They're getting involved in a public debate on a local issue, and that's just fantastic. They're going out there believing they can actually have an impact, that they can actually shape the future.
"We always tell the kids that's what they're capable of, but now we're seeing them actually try and do it. It's wonderful. For them, for the community, and for the future of our country."