Some Guilford County commissioners were expressing major concerns on Tuesday, Feb. 18 after learning that Guilford County Schools is busing students to the polls to vote this year.
While the commissioners acknowledge that it’s a good thing for people to vote – some commissioners also said that they’re extremely concerned about the political bias that could be brought into the process given the groups involved and what appears to be a lack of oversight.
They also expressed concerns over the use of school buses to transport the students to the polls, as well as concerns over the schools failure to fully inform the county of the plan – and even to inform school board members about such a major operation.
Recently, the Rhino Times wrote about a strong push this year by the school system to get eligible students to register and to vote – and even that worried some commissioners with regard to potential bias among groups administering the program.
Guilford County School officials maintain that the school system has two “non-partisan” groups helping with that effort, and they also say that they’re being very careful to make sure politics is left out of it. They say the schools will not encourage the students to vote one way or another – only to vote.
On Feb. 18, Guilford County Commissioner Justin Conrad said he only learned about the plan for the schools to bus kids to the polls when the school system asked him permission as a parent to have his own child driven to the polls for early voting.
Conrad said that raised major red flags.
“Who made this decision?” Conrad asked.
He said the county commissioners had no forewarning and he also said that, after he found out, he spoke to several Guilford County Board of Education members who told him that they also had been told nothing about the plan to bus students to the polls.
“There seems to be no oversight of this by the school board,” Conrad said. “I think there are an awful lot of questions. Eligible voters should vote – I have no problem with that – but I have a question about the possibility of undue influence by some who may be partisan in the process.”
Conrad recently stated publicly the county commissioners’ concerns as to how long it has been taking for the schools to implement $10 million in security upgrades that the commissioners approved funding for in mid-2018. Conrad said this week that the new mass-voting program, on the other hand, seems to have taken virtually no time at all.
“It seems like this came together quickly and I really wish school administration was as serious about school security as it is about getting students to vote,” he said.
Guilford County Commissioner Alan Branson also said he was stunned by the news that there was a mass use of county resources to transport students to the polls. Branson, who, like Conrad, is a Republican, said he was alarmed not long ago when he heard Guilford County Schools Superintendent Sharon Contreras speak at a luncheon when he participated in a “Principal for a Day” celebration. Branson said Contreras spoke that day on how the Guilford County Board of Commissioners had never fully funded the school’s budget requests and she seemed to want that changed at the polls.
“She’s trying to get what she wants from the schools,” Branson said of the superintendent and the new mass-voting program. “Is it right; is it legal?” They’re taking them on a field trip to register and vote on county transportation with bus drivers at an extra expense.“
Branson said that, given those that he’s heard are involved in the operation, it is very, very difficult to imagine that everything is being done with no political bias.
There is no political bias. I actually tried it with my own child who emphatically refused to vote for who I suggested. She’s also a registered unaffiliated. County Commissioners are not our supervisor nor do they supervise the superintendent. Controlling our budget is enough. If you don’t give permission, then your child didn’t participate. Stop the paranoia. Give our students more credit. The board did know. It was in the supt, report and we knew about the program before the new year.
Canteras should be replaced!
Amen
I don’t believe you. If you thought about this for 2 seconds you would not believe it either…..
GCS Student Voters Experience Democracy in Action
Feb. 18, 2020 — GCS students are experiencing democracy in action as those who are 18 or will be 18 by Nov. 3 register to vote and go to the polls in this spring’s primary election.
Starting today, high school students who are eligible to vote were given the option to visit an early voting location as a field experience. As with all field trips, parent permission was required.
Nearly 7,000 GCS students will be of age to vote in the November 2020 election and have the potential to participate in the primary election. Students who have not yet registered can participate in same-day voter registration.
More than 4,200 of those eligible students, or nearly 60%, have already registered to vote, well above the national average of 51%.
“Public schools were founded to create educated and engaged citizens, and voting is the fundamental right and responsibility of every citizen,” said Superintendent Sharon L. Contreras, who visited with students voting today on the campus of North Carolina A&T State University. “Historically, young people – the newest members of our democracy – vote at lower rates than older Americans. A primary reason is barriers to registering and voting. By eliminating these barriers, we are empowering GCS students to become life-long voters and to believe in their power to make a difference.”
To register eligible students, GCS has partnered with You Can Vote, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization designed to educate, register and mobilize voters. Citizenship and civic literacy are part of the North Carolina Standard Course of Study, and GCS pledges to graduate responsible citizens as part of its official mission.
“Research tells us that hands-on participation in real-life issues represent the best and most memorable kind of learning for students,” said Whitney Oakley, chief academic officer. “We also know that voting habits start early, so by giving them this experiencing, we’re helping them understand that their participation in this most fundamental right is incredibly important.”
State law encourages local districts to register students to vote, and to keep voter registration materials on hand for parents and others visiting public schools and other governmental institutions.
The student voting experiences will continue each day through Feb. 28, except for Feb. 25, when the ACT exam will be administered.
Does the School Board set up field trips to teach students how to go to a bank, find a job, buy groceries, or volunteer to help someone. Of course they don’t. If you don’t believe that teachers and administrators are acting to influence the student votes, you need to make a reality check.
It’s curious to me who is “extremely concerned” about introducing students (a new voting block) to the voting process. One would think they would want new voters voting. Or, do they?
No political bias? Having exposed our children to left wing thinking in our schools we now use government resources to ensure that bias is carried through at the voting booth.
You can put lipstick on this pig anyway you want to but it still has that all to familiar aroma.
Voting is indeed a great thing. Hats off to those students that take the time to register and vote. BUT, why in the world are taxpayers footing the bill for students to be taken back and forth to the polls? Can they not go after school, or on Saturdays (for early voting) just like myself and others have to do?
Every year we have to listen to the Superintendent complain about the lack of funding, we are solicited to give money and supplies to the schools because they can’t afford it. In my case we have to purchase supplies for our daughter and daughter-in-law for their classrooms because of the lack of funds. But Guilford County Schools has the surplus funds to taxi students back and forth to the polls!
This may be an excellent opportunity for the County School Administration to advocate, teach and demonstrate not only civic responsibility but also FISCAL responsibility.
Most of my seniors went to the polls today. Not everyone wanted to participate or was eligible to participate. They printed sample ballots and did their own research on candidates and positions prior to today’s field trip. As faculty, we were strictly forbidden from influencing them in any way politically. In my opinion, editorials like this one show fear from Conservatives. If your platform is better, you shouldn’t be afraid of educated voters showing up to the polls. It’s also just a primary. Any Liberal young person you’re worried about probably wasn’t voting on the Republican ballot.
This is wrong on so many levels.
These kids have been indoctrinated by the school system for 11 years no doubt. No surprises here. They will figure it out in a few years when they start paying taxes.
The purpose of the school system is to produce educated students who can participate in life. Unfortunately, they fail miserably. The superintendent believes that more money from the taxpayers is the solution. Therefore, she invents a “voting block” to replace the commissioners who will not be bullied. The registration of and then transport of the students to the polls are a gross misuse of the resources provided by the taxpayers to the school system. It is long past the time that the superintendent was dismissed. The commissioners should also require an audit to see how much money was spent on this effort and deduct the amount plus the cost of the audit from the school budget. Finally, any school board member who approved this fiasco should be replaced immediately. The public must work hard to take our school system back from such unqualified individuals in both the administration and board.
Nothing in the world of liberal politics surprises me. Not their motives, not their methods, not their intolerance of those who will disagree with them. Nothing. The real thing that scares me is the uneducated voter. Any voter.