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Earlier than the beginning of this college yr, 18-year-old Odeth Garcia, a senior at Hancock Faculty Prep on Chicago’s Southwest Aspect, didn’t know that her first time voting would come with casting a poll for the folks charged with guaranteeing she will get a very good training.
Inside Room 105, Odeth and 20 of her friends dug into the day’s civics lesson: Chicago’s historic college board elections. They’d be taught that the board has immense energy, together with to alter college insurance policies and curriculum and undertake the district’s funds.
“I really feel like the truth that they’re being elected within the first place is actually cool, as a result of I really feel like we should always have a say in deciding, like, how we’re going to be taught,” she mentioned. “It was fascinating to find out how a lot they really management.”
Trainer Froy Jimenez teaches an elections unit yearly, however 2024 introduced a brand new alternative. Along with studying concerning the race for president and different native races, Odeth discovered the town would elect 10 college board members, whereas one other 11 could be appointed by the mayor.
Jimenez ran for eleventh Ward alderman in 2023, serves on Hancock’s Native Faculty Council, and is on the district’s citywide Native Faculty Advisory Council. However constructing a lesson across the new college board elections was not solely pushed by his personal curiosity in politics.
He mentioned he used sources curated centrally by Chicago Public Faculties that had been meant to assist lecturers educate concerning the upcoming college board elections. Jimenez went to an optionally available skilled growth session to be taught and located the teachings helpful.
For his class, Jimenez needed college students to grasp the obligations of being a faculty board member, however he mentioned he needed to take the teachings “a step additional.”
“That step additional was them developing with their very own model of what it means to be a board member,” Jimenez mentioned.
College students be taught to do their very own analysis
College students pulled out a earlier homework project: job descriptions they created for the varsity board within the type of colourful fliers that marketed the varsity board positions and included {qualifications} for the job. The category rotated across the room, viewing friends’ job descriptions and writing interview questions they’d pose for candidates.
“How would you distribute 10 bil?” Odeth wrote, referencing how a candidate would wish to spend the district’s almost $10 billion funds.
The teachings are about extra than simply this election. Jimenez mentioned it’s additionally a possibility to show college students the way to discover dependable info, come to their very own conclusions, and perceive that the end result can impression their day by day classroom expertise.
“It’s necessary not solely to vote, nevertheless it’s necessary to be an knowledgeable voter, and you must do your personal analysis — that’s one thing that I believe we’ve emphasised,” Jimenez mentioned.
On a cloudy October Tuesday, Jimenez requested the youngsters to think about the next assertion: Voters ought to think about others’ opinions – reminiscent of celebrities or influential organizations – when casting their ballots. He requested a scholar to tally up her friends’ opinions on the dry erase board. The scholar scribbled the phrases “refute” and “help” throughout the board.
One scholar mentioned folks ought to do their very own analysis, a tally marked underneath “refute.” One other mentioned others’ opinions can present a useful perspective, for the reason that consequence of any election impacts everyone. That was tallied underneath the “help” column.
There wasn’t a proper reply. However the lesson was meant to get the scholars to assume critically about how they’re reaching conclusions about candidates, Jimenez mentioned.
Some college students are making ready to vote for the primary time
A handful of Jimenez’s college students, like Odeth, are of voting age this yr, he mentioned. Certainly one of them is 18-year-old Luis Garcia, a senior at Hancock. Like Odeth, he didn’t learn about Chicago’s first college board candidates till he took Jimenez’s class.
Luis mentioned he is aware of the place he stands politically. However in Jimenez’s class, he discovered that “it’s good for me to be taught concerning the different aspect.”
After reviewing the job duties of a faculty board member and studying the way to discover dependable info, the scholars rearranged their desks into teams to begin certainly one of their ultimate tasks for this unit: creating voter guides.
Jimenez tasked them with creating just a few classes, reminiscent of {qualifications}, that they felt voters ought to learn about every candidate. He offered a number of hyperlinks to information web sites that had created voter guides — together with Chalkbeat’s with the Chicago Solar-Occasions and WBEZ — as sources. He additionally inspired college students to go to candidates’ web sites.
Jimenez often requested the category questions that appeared focused towards getting them to assume critically or pay attention to misinformation. As college students ready to work on their voter guides, he requested them concerning the distinction between discovering info on a candidate’s web site and a information supply.
“I believe a impartial [website] would let you know concerning the good and the unhealthy,” one scholar mentioned.
On their very own web site, one other scholar mentioned, a candidate “would sugarcoat” their experiences.
As one group labored on their voter guides, college students raised questions with one another about what counts as expertise. A few of these essential pondering abilities peeked via.
Junior Miche Avendano-Escobar, 17, requested: Would attending previous board conferences depend as expertise or {qualifications}? Her classmate, fellow junior and 16-year-old Eduardo Hernandez Jr., determined it could fall underneath expertise, as a result of attending conferences makes them “accustomed to the setting.”
Senior Isabella Garcia requested if they need to embody candidates’ GPAs of their voter information, an concept that popped into her thoughts as she combed via District 4 candidate Kimberly Brown’s resume, which mentioned she had a 3.9 GPA in graduate college.
Because the group dove into candidate backgrounds, Miche chimed in as she reviewed District 2 candidate Maggie Cullerton Hooper’s web site: “My god, this lady has so many experiences.”
As class wrapped up, Jimenez requested the scholars to write down down on a small piece of paper what they assume is an important consider selecting a candidate and why.
Earlier than he walked out, Eduardo rapidly scribbled his reply: Take a look at the candidate’s “essential challenge” as a result of “it reveals precedence and headspace.”
Reema Amin is a reporter protecting Chicago Public Faculties. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.
