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Home > Blogs > Springfield Schools News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > November > 03
Monday, November 3, 2008
Should schools be polling places?
Several local schools will be the site for voters to cast their ballots in tomorrow’s election.
More and more lately, districts debate opening their doors to voters. I’ve heard of districts that asked to not be used as polling places any more or even planned a teacher in-service training or conference day so the students wouldn’t be there.
Think about it: In a post-Columbine, post-Virginia Tech era, schools put a higher priority than ever before on knowing who precisely is in their halls. To be a polling place, the schools have to open up at least one portion of the building to residents assigned to vote there.
On a normal school visit, I expect at the very least to go through the office, identify myself, sign in and get a visitor’s badge. And that would be average security measures. Many schools keep their doors locked and require visitors to “buzz in” to get into the building.
In Butler County, the board of elections and the sheriff held a press conference today about their request to Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to ask the Ohio Department of Education to ask the five country districts that planned to remain open tomorrow to close, my college Josh Sweigart reports.
Their concerns stem from predictions for high turnout this election, traffic congestion and safety of the children at schools that will be used as polling places.Closing school for Election Day this year would present a bit of a pickle for some schools - particularly this close to the actual day - after September’s power outage used up some allotted calamity days before the first snowflakes even came close to falling.
The board of elections is allowed to use public buildings as polling places if they need to. In more urban areas, like Springfield, they have more choices such as churches, service organizations or government buildings. In more suburban or rural areas the pickings are usually much slimmer.
According to district calendars, none of the Clark County districts are closed tomorrow. A few schools will serve as polling places, according to the Clark County Board of Elections.
The Ohio Department of Education released an email Oct. 27 with guidelines for Election Day for districts serving as polling locations. The guide cautioned officials to work with the board of elections to ease traffic concerns; review expectations with students before Election Day; and know the correct contacts at the board of elections in case a situation arises.
My elementary school was a polling place. I remember seeing adults vote when I was younger and being intrigued by the process. I also remember going with my mom once and doing children’s voting. There’s certainly an argument in there for students being exposed to the election process by watching adults going to vote.
Do you think schools should be used as polling places? Should they cancel classes on Election Day?
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: Elections, Ohio, Politics
Former superintendent named to advisory board
Former Springfield City Schools superintendents are popping up everywhere today, it seems.
This just came across my Google alerts: Scott Spears, retired superintendent Jean Harper’s predecessor in the district, has been named to an advisory board of Gemm Learning, an education software company.
Gemm Learning created the Fast ForWord program, a literacy program designed to improve skills by focusing on issues that cause problems when kids are learning to read, like needing to re-read sections or not being able to focus during reading.
According to the release, Spears was the superintendent who helped implement Fast ForWord in Springfield schools. The district stopped using the program a couple years ago. The release also says he was superintendent for 35 years, but it was only four.
The interesting thing about this board, which will help Gemm develop programming for its center based in New York, is that it is spread throughout the U.S. and will do all of its work online through messages and blogs.
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Former superintendent to be recognized
Retired Springfield City Schools Superintendent Jean Harper will be recognized for her contributions to the district during her four-year tenure at a reception next week.
The Springfield Foundation/the African American Community Fund has sent out more than 350 invitations for a reception in Harper’s honor at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 11, at Holiday Inn on Leffel Lane.
The foundation has chosen to honor Harper based on her efforts to make scholarships available to area students through the foundation, in addition to her achievements at the helm of the district in completing the 16-school building project, managing the district through financial crisis and raising academic achievement to continuous improvement.
Mayor Warren Copeland will present a city commission proclamation recognizing Harper’s service to the city schools.
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