I voted this morning in the Arkansas primary. The polling place used to be in the local elementary school, but for the past few elections, polling places in Fayetteville were moved out of the schools. Ostensibly the reason for moving polling places out of public schools is concern for the safety of students.
This is part of a national trend. A few years ago Education Week featured an article on this trend: “About 25 percent of Ohio’s 6,229 polling locations are in schools, according to research by the Ohio PTA. It passed a resolution last year encouraging local school boards to adopt policies that would prohibit schools from serving as polling places when school is in session. ‘We feel on election days, safety practices within schools are compromised, possibly putting thousands of children at risk,’ the resolution said. ‘We want to be proactive in preventing a tragedy rather than reacting to it.’”
Once again, public schools are forgetting the civic mission that is their raison d’etre. Just as most school districts no longer use the naming of schools to promote civic values, they are failing to take advantage of elections in their building as civic teaching opportunities.
When the polling place is in the school, kids see democracy in action first hand. They see posters out front from competing candidates. They see people taking time to make voting a priority. I thought educators were enamored with experiential learning.
The security problems of having the polling place in schools are grossly exaggerated. Yes, people from the community come into the school, but it is usually through a single door and the polling place is populated with volunteers who can keep voters within the appropriate area. Besides, every time schools take kids on a field trip they experience similar dangers of inter-acting with the public in settings that are only partially controlled. Having a polling place in the school is like a field trip where the experience comes to the school rather than the kids going to the experience. And if terrorists wanted to strike schools they could do so on any day with similar ease, whether there is an election or not.
It is also ironic that school advocates, like the PTA in Ohio, want to get polling places out of schools. Making it easier for parents of school children to vote would improve the election-prospects of measures and officials that direct more resources to schools.
Unfortunately, school officials care more about political blame-avoidance than they care about their civic mission or even getting more money.
Jay P. Greene's Blog 
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