NEW YORK, N.Y.-I support the voters of Brattleboro who elected to extend to 16- and 17-year-old teens the right to vote, the right to serve as town officials, and the right to serve on the school board.
I believe it is a mistake to amend the will of voters by eliminating school board membership for teens, as it is in the forum of educational policy-making and leadership that teens are most directly and significantly impacted. These include the areas of school culture, quality educational curricular options, and school safety.
In my 40 years of experience in New York City with teen civic and enfranchisement programs, I had served with the New York City Police Athletic League (PAL) for over two decades. I had the pleasure of managing a high school civics program that organized students into leadership cohorts at 19 PAL youth centers across the five boroughs.
Each cohort would choose a priority issue of concern to them, ranging from program options for teens at local centers to facilitating better communication between youth and police on the streets of their communities.