Teddy bear, water slide on ballot

By Cara Solomon
Seattle Times Eastside bureau

GREG GILBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES Christopher Yu, 8, left, Michael Hill, 7, center, and Miranda Drakes, 7, second-graders in Joy Brooke's class, decorate a voting booth in preparation for today's election at Franklin Elementary in Kirkland.

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

His classmates were leaning into their glue sticks, slicing into their construction paper, pressing gold stars onto their makeshift American flags. Their foreheads were frowned in concentration.

"They're doing very well," said second-grader Christopher Yu, chairman of the so-called Kid's Election at Benjamin Franklin Elementary School in Kirkland. "They're working together, and I can see they're talking about what they should do."

After two months of work, Christopher's second-grade class at Franklin organized the election, complete with a homemade ballot, registration cards, voter lists, morning announcements and hallway advertisements.

Some of the questions on the ballot: Should we ask for monkey bars on the playground, or go with a water slide? Should we push for a cafeteria, or set up a Chinese-food restaurant?

	GREG GILBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES Miranda Drakes, 7, left, conceded that Franklin Elementary might not install a water slide, even if a majority of students vote for it. "I would be kind of sad at first, but I'd get over it," said Miranda, shown preparing for today's schoolwide election with classmate Michael Hill, 7.

What began as a small learning unit on voting took a sudden turn in September, when a student argued that it was unfair that people under 18 were not allowed to vote. She got cheers from the rows of desks, and the election was born.

"It's their idea and they're running with it," said Joy Brooke, their teacher, who has worked the project into her daily lessons on writing, math and computer technology. "I've been really impressed."

The children divided into committees — registration, ballot, advertising, setup — and elected chairs for each group. There were occasional scuffles; the registration committee wanted to sign kids up at recess, while the rest of the class did not think it was practical. But 24 hours before the election, the process was humming along without incident.

So if all goes according to plan, the children at Franklin will be burrowing their heads in cardboard voting booths today, shading in their vision of the future.

Class by class, they will come to Brooke's door at 15-minute intervals, registration cards in hand. The second-graders will greet them on the red rug with the dinosaurs woven in. They will stand behind tables, with lists of student names, and deliver a scripted address that includes this postscript: Help is available to any kindergartner who needs the ballot read aloud.

Most of the ballot items have to do with the new school under construction, slated to open next summer. And going down the list, Principal Mary Cronin said she saw some real possibilities there. A vegetable or flower garden is certainly doable, and sure, kids can learn more about UFOs if they so choose.

But the water slide gave her pause. And the moving floors. And the possibility of four recesses a day.

"Some of these things are against the law," she said.

Cronin said she would try her best to be flexible.

"A huge teddy bear to climb on?" the principal paused. "I don't know, I guess we could do that."

Cronin had concerns yesterday that students would not take it well if she vetoed their vote on certain ballot measures. But she noted it could be a good introduction to the world of politics, where dreams do not always come true.

And as they smoothed strips of construction paper onto their ballot boxes yesterday, the children acknowledged they were unlikely to get some of the items, no matter how many votes they collected. Even if the water slide won, Miranda Drakes said, she doubted the principal could afford to buy one.

"I would be kind of sad at first, but I'd get over it," she said. "We already have a water slide at home."

As with any electorate, there were divisions in the second-grade classroom yesterday. Some said they would vote for a recess that would include everyone, while others argued that the children should be separated, so the kindergartners would not feel threatened by the "big kids."

Maeve O'Connor, who suggested the idea of an election for students back in September, said it was sometimes discouraging to see good friends disagree.

"It's just so hard, people not liking what you like," Maeve said. "It's like you don't get your way."

There was widespread agreement on one item only: Recess should happen four times a day. School officials said that was not a possibility, but Sybille Horcholle remained hopeful.

"We could try to learn very quickly," she said. "Then we'd have enough time."

Cara Solomon: 206-464-2024 or csolomon@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

E-mail this article

Print this article

Search archive

More local news headlines...