Wellesley local government volunteers give 8th graders lots to chew on for civics project

Wellesley Middle School has kicked off its annual 8th grade Civics Action Project, which last week featured four panels of town and state government representatives who shared highlights about what they do and what’s going on in town.

Students paid close attention, because this information helps build a “universe of topic choices” for the project, said organizer Adam Blumer, Social Studies Department Head and 8th Grade Social Studies Teacher at Wellesley Middle School. Students have been learning about the various levels of government, so are equipped to put these ideas into context. The teacher added that it can be rewarding for students when topics they focus on for their projects hit big milestones down the road (such as accessibility of Wellesley commuter rail stations).

You’ll get a chance to see what students learn this time around when they later publish editorials on The Swellesley Report, as 8th graders have done over the past few years (here are some examples).

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Blumer invited us to stop by and take in any of the panels. Guest speakers during the session we attended were Select Board member Marjorie Freiman, Natural Resources Commission member Jay McHale, Advisory Committee member Donna Stoddard, Wellesley Free Library rep Je’Lesia M. Jones, former Advisory member Doug Smith, and Town Meeting member Jacqui Van Looy (all panelists, in fact, are Town Meeting members).

Each panelist shared hot topics that might give students ideas for their projects. Freiman, for example, mentioned the possible need for a new fire station in light of new housing in the area of town where the Nines apartments are located (a fire station master plan is in the works). She also referenced a town-wide arts and culture initiative underway and the results of an equity audit (if students bite on these topics, they might want to reference recent comprehensive coverage in The Swellesley Report: “Wellesley shares equity audit results against backdrop of changing political climate” and “Wellesley moves to strengthen arts and culture scene with new strategic plan”).

Library rep Jones discussed book banning and challenges, a nationwide issue that has hit Wellesley’s local libraries (see also: “Wellesley program addresses the scary story of book banning campaigns”). She also pointed out ways for students to get involved at the libraries, and to express their intellectual freedom.

Longtime Town Meeting member Smith started off by raising the issue of federal cuts and how they can impact local government resources. He also dipped into affordable housing and zoning challenges for Wellesley and beyond (see Swellesley‘s recent coverage on RIOs and the MBTA Communities Act).

Panelist Stoddard asked how many of the students were hot, and got a fair number of raised hands. That led into discussion of the air conditioning challenge faced by Wellesley at its older school buildings and that will be up for discussion at Town Meeting (see our recent “$182k Sought to Study Air Conditioning in Wellesley Schools”). Also on schools, Stoddard brought up the budget debate involving mental health service cuts (see: “‘Now is Not the Time To Cut’ Mental Health Staff, Parents Tell Wellesley School Committee”).

The NRC’s McHale hit on the Morses Pond bathhouse and beach project that he’s been a leader on and that will be a topic of conversation at Town Meeting (see also “Wellesley Town Meeting to be asked to OK more Morses Pond improvement funds”). He also asked how many in the audience attended the first football game under the new lights—for those interested in sports amenities in town, McHale pointed them to the School Committee’s website for information on the lights as well as new bathrooms and team rooms coming to the Hunnewell track & field complex.

Town Meeting member Van Looy focused on civic engagement, pointing to a lack thereof in the wake of a 17% voter turnout at the annual town election earlier this month (as Swellesley reported). Local government “is where government starts… you have so much more influence here,” she said.

While all panel members brought up interesting topics, our favorite moment of the session was when a student asked the town government panelists—all volunteers in their positions—how they make money (Well, maybe our true favorite moment was when a panelist cited a recent Swellesley story… or when Blumer told us he consulted our summary of the Town Meeting warrant during his prep work). Anyway, back to answering the student’s question: Some town board and committee members are retired or may have a partner who brings in most of their income, giving the volunteer time to devote lots of hours—maybe a full-time job’s worth on some town bodies.

But others do have heavy duty jobs, as Stoddard does as Dean of Faculty and a professor at Babson College. The combination of working and volunteering can make for late nights. “Wednesday night I got home at 10:30pm—that might not sound late to you, but that’s late for me because then I can’t fall asleep because I’m thinking about the things we talked about in the (Advisory) meeting,” she said.

Hopefully students won’t have too many late nights working on this project. They have a great head start to get going on it with so many topics to choose from.

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