Students from Belleville High School held a candidate forum event last night in the school’s auditorium for the upcoming Board of Education election. Four challengers and one incumbent are competing for two open seats in the November 3rd election.
This event, which was run entirely by students from the BHS Mock Trial Team, was a remarkable display of initiative by students to have their voices heard in the district politics that govern their everyday life at school.
When you think about it, as much as I feel that kids should be kept away from the ugliness of Belleville politics, I believe they *should* be heard when selecting the people who will be making the important decisions that directly impact them. After all, two years ago it was their Board of Education that spent two million dollars installing nearly 900 cameras over their heads, all while the district was utterly destitute, without working computers and learning resources, and the kids were forced to share outdated textbooks.
Who is more impacted by the decisions of the Board of Education trustees than the students?
The BHS Candidate Forum was a spectacular look at how students can get involved, and do something worthwhile both for themselves and the voting public. It was very professionally done, clearly they spent a lot of time rehearsing, and in my opinion, they did a fantastic job.
On a side note, I apologize for relocating the camera a couple of times in the video. There were limited locations where I could have a good field of view, but not be standing in front of the audience behind me. Then I later realized that I didn’t want to focus only on the candidates, but that the real attention should be on the kids, and their efforts during the event. The candidates all did well, but the students were the stars of the show.
Congratulations to the BHS Mock Trial Team and to everyone who contributed to putting on a terrific event. We adults are now going to have to step up our efforts with our own candidate forums. The Mock Trial Team’s very professional production has set the bar quite high.
Enjoy the video, and please get out to vote on November 3rd.
Update: NorthJersey.com has published their coverage of the event:
Belleville BOE candidates answer questions posed by students
