Bach Elementary School

I suppose the reason to close school on election day is for security or some such. Yet there is a great loss of learning when kids are shielded from the democratic process – which is the net effect. And it must make voting even more difficult for parents, who also have to find child care and get kids to and from. The kids should be in school witnessing and experiencing the inconvenience, the disruption, the need to stand in line, and even risks that can occur. That is an invaluable first hand experience. Democracy is not a pretty or convenient process, and our kids need to see that first hand.

Hire a security guard for each school if you need to, it must be cheaper than losing an entire DAY of education, and parents who have to shell out extra $$ for child care might even chip in for the alternative.

I want kids to see people voting. It is important. It is also good to have the neighborhood show up in your school, and see the kids doing their thing as well. We’re the community that supports the school. Walking into a silent building with all the chairs up and no background noise of kids doesn’t support connections and great feedback.

No school on elections days are missed opportunities in a multitude of ways.

Linda Diane,
This is the 3rd (I believe) year the Ann Arbor Public Schools has scheduled a professional development day for staff on election day. For years parents have asked for schools to be closed on election day since a majority of the schools are used as polling sites. There is a high concern for security of students and as well as the added confusion of having to reschedule gym/media center classes on election day because those rooms are used for polling.

During presidential elections it is common for lines to wind up and down halls making it almost impossible to cross classes of students for lunch, recess and specials. Hiring a security guard would not really solve the issue and it comes with an added expense to the district.

We always encourage people to take their children to the polls to watch voting in action. Having no school allows for this. But I do understand that childcare could also be an issue. Many PTOs offer voting childcare just for this purpose.

The professional development days are also group (2 a year) to ensure that students are not out of school as often. Teachers also have agreed in the past two contracts to start earlier, before students arrive, to accomplish three days of PD to meet the total state requirements and to not take students out of the classroom during the school year.

Hope this explanation helps!

Liz,
It does help, yes. Thank you. You’ve clearly made the best of it. I still wish the kids were there to see the voting, since the actual significant disruption is only every four years. I still remember it in 1976 at Community High. It was very exciting to have that going on in school. 1972 I admit I skipped school – Slauson – to work on the get out the vote effort. That was a truly amazing day that ended with me – and many others – in tears.
But thanks for sharing the thought process.

I was voter No. 153 @ Bach around 11:30 a.m., with several others behind me – including a parent with two children in tow. I miss the kids, too, but understand the reasoning.

Even without the children present, I like voting at an elementary school. Spend way too much time looking at all the stuff on the hallway walls!

RE no kids: while it may be convenient for the schools somehow, a few years ago I went to vote at Forsythe and there was no place for voters to park. Teachers filled the parking lot, and were bumper-to-bumper all along Newport; the few spots (6?) reserved for voters constantly filled. Ended up having to walk a mile, poor me, now I absentee vote, since I never know when I “may” have to be out of town all day on election day.

I don’t like the schools being closed for election days. The message I get is that I am not a citizen exercising her right to vote, I’m a security threat or potential criminal. If schools are no longer considered appropriate polling places due to the aftermath of 8 years of a fear-based federal government, then we should get different polling places altogether – or (gasp) go to a mail-in-only vote, especially for off-cycle election days like this one.

I have 2 school-age children, and while it’s nice to get an extra few hours of yard work out of them today, I think they should be in school. And I don’t think I should be treated like I might be a criminal because I want to vote.

The only thing I’ve heard about closing schools was that potential people, such as sex offenders who cannot enter schools, would not be able to vote. In Florida, convicted felons such as sex offenders cannot vote, so I never bought the argument. I’m not sure what the laws are here.

I much prefer voting at schools than religious places… that being said, my favorite place to vote has always been firestations. Plus, what kid is against going to see mom and/or dad vote when they get to see the firestation?

Closing schools for election day sounds like a good way to solve a couple of problems at once. Schools have to hold professional development days; they’re mandated.

And having lots of people walk around the schools isn’t a good idea. It’s not that the schools think voters are terrorists. But there are a lot of family situations that you might not have anticipated.

For instance, couples going through a divorce can get into nasty custody disputes that involve the children. You don’t want to allow a parent who isn’t supposed to contact a child get access to the school and hallway under the guise of voting at a polling place.

I enjoyed voting this morning – in addition to the democracy, I always see people I know and like! This morning I chatted with Dave and Linda Diane, as well as a Food Gatherers volunteer, a neighbor and another pal I hadn’t seen in a while.

I voted at Bach today, #155 around 11:30. Because I am a student teacher in the district, I had the day “off” to work from home, while the staff in my building had a professional development day. The PD days are very necessary and I think it makes sense to have them coincide with election days, without children there.

While I enjoy the atmosphere of elementary schools, and the children themselves, there are too many logistic and safety variables to have the children there while voting in going on. The best idea to me is to hold them in other locations as people have mentioned, but the school employee’s still need to have PD days, so they might as well coincide with one another.

I grew up in the old west side, and I live there again, now. I went to Bach, walking down one block to school. I have spent time for pre-student teaching in the building, and know many families with children there. It is very comforting for me to go back down the same hallways and exercise my right to vote YES on a millage that will help support my colleagues and my future career. I would love to work in this very same community as a teacher, but we risk losing that vitality without more support.

We voted at Bach immediately after our parent-teacher conference, and we weren’t the only ones following that pattern. I would think that would have to have an effect on some people’s millage votes.