Simulating a real municipal election, with ballot clerks and voting booths, students at Gorham High School Tuesday chose four representatives, one from each class, to form a new school council.
Elected were Elliot Jenks, a senior; Sam Spizzucco, junior; Jennifer Wiacek, sophomore; and Carolyn Lambert, freshman.
The new council also includes six members from the student council, nine teachers and an assistant principal. Mariel Roy, president of the student council, and Emily Mason-Osann, vice president of the student council, were named automatic members of the school council.
The other students of the new, 20-member panel are from the student council. Elected by the student council were Megan Hamilton, senior; Katie Foster, junior; and Lauren Cunningham, sophomore. An election next week will choose a freshman representative from the student council.
The new school council doesn’t replace the student council. With support from Gorham Superintendent Ted Sharp, Principal John Drisko proposed forming the school council. Drisko sees the school council as a hands-on exercise that teaches the process of democracy.
“The critical job is to prepare students to be engaged,” he said.
The school council could decide on a variety of procedures at the school. Drisko said 60 percent of the school council body would have to be in favor to pass a measure. Drisko has veto power.
Drisko said the new council could decide on measures such as a dress code, scheduling, cell phone use, developing a student intern program with local businesses, or whether to reinstitute homeroom that was dropped this year.
Meetings of the school council will be open, and students can submit petitions or address the council personally. Hannah Lilly, a sophomore, said students could officially file complaints to the council. It gives the students a voice, she said, adding that the student body was excited.
“It’s a cool process,” said Garrick Adolf, as he cast his vote Tuesday. “It gives the students as much voice as the teachers. It’s an interesting idea. I want to see how it works out.”
Jessica Harriman, also a sophomore, agreed that it gives students an opportunity to be heard. “It’s a lot more serious than what the student government is,” Harriman said.
Jim Hager, chairman of the Gorham School Committee, said the school council could not override the school committee. “They have to abide by administrative and school district policies,” Hager said.
He applauded Drisko for the hard work that made forming the school council possible. Hager said it would be a learning process for the students.
The election took place in the school’s auditorium between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. At lunchtime, ballot clerks Becky Harrigan, a sophomore, and Kaci Greatorex, a senior, were checking off students as they arrived to vote. Students voted in a row of authentic voting booths before casting the secret ballots in a class box.
Student candidates who wanted their names on the ballot were nominated by writing essays. Drisko posted the essays on a school bulletin board and the candidates ran campaigns.
Drisko named assistant principal Saundra Gnidziejko to the council, along with teachers Carol Besanko, Deborah Roy, Rob Roy, Ray Mathieu, Sally Hatch, David Hochheiser, Michele Cummings, Christina Triano and Susan McCarthy.
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