PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Philadelphia Board of Education on Thursday heard from teachers and students and good-government advocates who say voter education should be part of the school district’s curriculum.
Civics teacher and PA Youth Vote education and policy director Thomas Quinn estimates he’s helped thousands of high school students to register to vote over his 17-year career at Central High School. It’s one thing to teach civics, he says, but it’s quite another to prepare students to actually participate in elections.
“The school district curriculum does have a short section about voter education and registration, but it’s not necessarily implemented across the school district,” he said.
Quinn was among several people to ask for a policy requiring that 12th graders be taught how to vote.
“A lot of teachers don’t have access or don’t use resources to do voter registration and engagement. And so, having a policy put into the school district’s policy manual would make it a mandated portion of the school district curriculum for all 12th graders.”
Superintendent Tony Watlington says he’s all for the idea.
“The mere fact that we have such low voter turnout in many parts of the country tells us that we need to do a much better job,” he said.
“We should always, in every state and every school district, have voter education in the curriculum. The key is to do it in a nonpartisan way, but we absolutely should teach our young people how to participate in this great democracy.”
Quinn says 8,000 Philadelphia students turn 18 each year. He says if they were registered and cast their ballot in their first election, they would be more likely to become lifelong voters.
$6.9 million sexual-abuse settlement
The school board also approved a nearly $7 million settlement for a student who, according to a federal lawsuit, was sexually abused by a teacher.
The suit said Parkway Center City High School teacher Larry Perry abused the female student between 2006 and 2010. Perry is serving an eight-year prison sentence for statutory sexual assault.
The board unanimously approved the $6.9 million payout without public comment.