NEW YORK, N.Y.-I support the voters of Brattleboro who elected to extend to 16- and 17-year-old teens the right to vote, the right to serve as town officials, and the right to serve on the school board.
I believe it is a mistake to amend the will of voters by eliminating school board membership for teens, as it is in the forum of educational policy-making and leadership that teens are most directly and significantly impacted. These include the areas of school culture, quality educational curricular options, and school safety.
In my 40 years of experience in New York City with teen civic and enfranchisement programs, I had served with the New York City Police Athletic League (PAL) for over two decades. I had the pleasure of managing a high school civics program that organized students into leadership cohorts at 19 PAL youth centers across the five boroughs.
Each cohort would choose a priority issue of concern to them, ranging from program options for teens at local centers to facilitating better communication between youth and police on the streets of their communities.
During this time our teen program also forged a partnership with an agency, Generation Citizen, that would train middle school and high school social studies teachers to develop an "Action Civics" program for a semester.
Students would debate topics, choose one topic, and then conduct pro and con research on that topic. At the end of each semester, they would present at a citywide conference hosted at the New York Law School.
In both programs, adult leaders came to understand the value of the youth work, and they would strive to incorporate recommendations into their youth center or school-based practices.
Today, the Policy Agenda/Youth Agenda program is co-led by YVote New York and the Intergenerational Change Initiative (CUNY School of Professional Studies).
Approximately 40 high school students are recruited and trained to distribute surveys to thousands of high school students. The top five priority issues are then also researched by the student leadership group.
This group develops recommendations for change on issues such as mental health and job opportunities. At the end of each school year they make presentations to elected officials and municipal agency staff who continue to work with those youth leaders throughout the school year.
I believe that in including student presence and voice on school boards would inspire an adult to come to develop and appreciation for a unique and productive youth voice, developing an emergent generation of prime-time citizens.
Alfred H. Kurland
New York, N.Y.
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