| This day, May 6, 2008, I spot a front page headline in | | | | run the first time were allowed to run for office, |
| my local New Jersey paper, The Trenton Times that | | | | although they had little time to campaign. Those placed |
| reads: Ewing H.S vote is void a second time. I had | | | | on the ballot for the first time might have achieved |
| previously commented on my hometown high school's | | | | some recognition from the local news coverage that |
| senior class elections in a prior post, so I read on. | | | | would have helped, but I do not know enough to say |
| Seven students, one black and Hispanic, five black and | | | | that students who could vote in this school election |
| one white, were barred from running in their senior | | | | read the paper. |
| class elections on April 23. The reason given was that | | | | Then today's Times reports that the do-over was |
| the students had missed too many meetings for | | | | botched; the vote was disallowed after the principal |
| school activities and had not sufficiently participated in | | | | and the faculty advisors realized that approximately 60 |
| school fundraisers. | | | | students were not eligible to vote because they owed |
| In my previous post on this election, I commented that | | | | fines. I'd guess these were fines for overdue books, |
| such requirements were unreasonable for a student | | | | failure to return school property, or to pay for |
| election; we do not require adults to show prior | | | | damages to school property. I can not imagine other |
| experience in politics to run for public office. I added | | | | reasons for a high school to fine students. |
| that a school should have the right to deny students a | | | | But if this was a serious concern, why didn't the |
| right to vote if there are serious blots on their records: | | | | principal and faculty advisors stop these students from |
| academic probation, repeat suspensions and criminal | | | | voting in the first election? If they were serious about |
| activity being examples. But neither faculty nor | | | | assessing fines, they should have been equally serious |
| administrators in Ewing stated that any of the | | | | about collecting them. It's not an unusual practice for a |
| candidates who were denied the right to run was in | | | | school to hold your diploma until you pay back unpaid |
| any academic or behavioral difficulty. | | | | fines and parking tickets, though I've never heard of a |
| I stepped back after writing that post and asked | | | | case where students in arrears were denied a right to |
| myself: was it possible that some of those students | | | | vote in a student government election. I must add that |
| were in any difficulty, but the faculty and administrators | | | | had no one protested the first election, the votes of |
| said nothing, in order to protect the privacy of the | | | | voters with outstanding fines would have counted. |
| students? It would have been inappropriate, not to | | | | I apologize to you, readers, if you believe that I might |
| mention embarrassing to the students' families to | | | | be beating this story to death, but it's too amusing to |
| mention academic or behavioral difficulties to the | | | | ignore. This is the first time, I'm aware of an election |
| media. | | | | where people who owed fines were not eligible to |
| However, if this had been the case, then a responsible | | | | vote. As adults we have the opportunity to vote in all |
| teacher or principal would have sent a personal letter | | | | sorts of elections: local, state and presidential, and we |
| to the student and their parents. But, based on reading | | | | retain the right to vote if we owe back taxes, parking |
| the Times coverage, I have to believe the students | | | | tickets, and of course, library fines. |
| were good standing or that the school didn't bother to | | | | Now there will be a third senior class election this |
| inform them that they were not. All we have from the | | | | week. I wonder if that should be put on hold a little |
| school system is a string of "no comments," which is | | | | longer to allow the principal and faculty advisors time |
| nothing to go on. | | | | to consider the meaning of free elections before they |
| At the end of last week, with the support of their | | | | set the rules for a new contest. |
| superintendent, Ewing High School's principal and | | | | (Originally published at Educated Quest blog and |
| faculty advisors declared their senior class election a | | | | reprinted with permission of the author, Stuart |
| Mulligan. They called for a do-over; a new election | | | | Nachbar). |
| where candidates who were denied an opportunity to | | | | |