More than 1,000 Vermont fifth graders are casting ballots this week to elect the state's first Kid Governor, a civic education program run by the Secretary of State's Office. The St. Johnsbury School is one of 65 elementary schools taking part.
Students in participating classrooms learn about state government and elections using free materials from the program. At some schools, candidates develop platforms on issues they care about, campaign, and then a primary selects a school nominee. Seven finalists will be on the statewide ballot, with results announced November 19. The winner will be inaugurated in January and work with state officials for a year.
St. Johnsbury fifth-grade teacher Pam Letourneau-Fallon, who previously taught in Connecticut where the Kid Governor program began, encouraged Vermont to adopt it. "This is not a pretend election," she said. "The stakes are high. Their platforms will become a reality."
Students like Kara Abare and Max Cloutier addressed issues such as health insurance and medical research. "I noticed a lot of things in Vermont, and some of them weren't so good," Kara said. "And I was like, 'We need to fix that.'"
Robyn Palmer, director of civic and voter engagement in the Secretary of State's Office, said the response exceeded expectations. "Our goal was to get at least seven schools signed on for our pilot year," she said. "And without that much work, we got 65 schools signed on almost immediately."
NEK will be looking into how the program's first-year turnout compares to other states with Kid Governor programs.
Originally reported by VTDigger.
Photo: angga via Unsplash. Photo is illustrative and not from the scene.
Log in as a subscriber to comment, or become a member.