One of the LWV’s overarching goals is to increase participation in our democracy—activities range from “getting out the vote” to encouraging the civic engagement of our youth and many things in between. This slate of activities includes standing as allies with students, teachers, and citizens engaged with local school boards.
As part of a pilot project, the LWV-Downeast is reaching out to members and friends in our area (including current and former school board members, as well as interested parents and others) to conduct a listening session to hear about experiences with school board meetings and other activities and to help determine how and if the LWV might contribute to having public meetings that are productive and civil.
The session will be conducted on Zoom. We hope to hear from participants regarding things like: what causes school board meetings to take a negative turn; if the meetings start down that road, what can participants do to help keep them civil and on track; are there particular topics that seem to engender more problems; and what, if anything, can the LWV do to be a “good ally” at meetings?