Part of national effort

Students at the Iveland Elementary School in the Ritenour School District are gearing up for a busy political season this fall. 

And it won't be just the presidential campaign they'll be watching. 

Kids at Iveland hold an election campaign on a local school issue. They hold an all-school mock convention. There are home-made campaign signs, campaign speeches and casting of delegate votes in a non-binding referendum. 

They even shoot and edit a videotape record of all the in-school campaigning. 

In addition, the students monitor closely the progress of the general election campaigns. On election day, Nov. 7, they go to the polls like their parents to vote for president as well as other national, state and local candidates. 

Their school building is an official adult voting station. So, when their parents come to vote, the youngsters go to their own polling place to cast their ballots.

The next day,  youngsters compare their vote totals with those of adult voters. 

Students at Iveland school and other Ritenour schools were the first St. Louis schools to test this type of voter education. This year, 19 Missouri districts will involve 160,000 students in the national Kids Voting USA program.

The Citizenship Education Clearing House (CECH) at University of Missouri-St. Louis administers the program. 

Professor Timothy O'Rourke heads the Kids Voting Missouri program. He said the program has two main purposes. 

First, it helps to educate students on the rights and responsibilities of voters. Also, it helps young people to think clearly before making their voting decisions. 

The second purpose is to stimulate additional voting participation by their parents.

But, how much the kids get out of the program will depend largely on the effort of local schools. At Iveland, the effort involves every youngsters as well as all faculty members. 

Jackie Kofsky, head of  Project Challenge at the school, said, "Kids Voting 2000 is very cross-curricular." She means the voter activities involve every class in the school. 

For instance, the art classes are involved in making campaign signs and delegate hats for each student. The math classes are involved in tallying the votes. 

Fifth grade teacher Sue Houston said, "Students also learn what a majority is."

The music classes help with the convention entertainment. Kofsky said, "The students learn how to research the issues. Social studies classes compile maps to show where the national candidates go during the campaign."

Two years ago, the Iveland school mock convention debated the issue of whether students should be required to wear identical school uniforms. After a lively debate, the students gave a narrow majority in favor of school uniforms. 

This year, the faculty will pick a new issue before the school holds its Red, White and Blue Day on Sept. 28. That's the day when the students dress up in red, white and blue and are told what the local issue. They also start the voter registration process so they can vote in the campaign. 

The mock convention is slated for Oct. 24. That's the same day as the first PTA meeting of the year. First, the kids vote on the issue during the day and the parents vote on the same issue at night. 

The next day, the students compare the votes and hold discussions on the results. 

The study of the national elections is also important. And, the students put special emphasis on encouraging their parents to vote in the November election.

Teacher Houston said, "I came from a large family of nine kids. On election day, we waited until everyone was home from school and off work. They, we all went to the polls as a family." That even included the young kids who couldn't vote, she said. 

Barb Morris, the library media specialist at Iveland, said the current students can serve a valuable function this year. "For the parents who weren't planning to vote, they get badgered by their kids to go to the polls."