Community Meetings

Overview:

Town meetings are a common form of government in New England. At these meetings, citizens meet to discuss topics of local interest,and vote on a variety of issues. Students will be given opportunity to participate in a town meeting, either attending a local meeting and selecting an issue to explore and present to the town or using a possible scenario which is included at the end of this unit.

This study may take 2 to 3 weeks depending on the issue students select.

Enduring Understandings/ Essential Questions

1. Everyone has the right to share ideas and concerns in their community.
2. Members of a community should use good manners when attending a meeting.
3. Speakers should present their ideas or concerns in a positive way. In addition, the speaker should provide information/evidence that supports the idea/concern.
4. The success of a community is dependent on contributions from all its members.
   • What does Freedom of Speech mean?
   • Why should speakers present their ideas/concerns in a positive way?
   • What procedures should be followed at community meetings? Why?
   • Why should speakers give information that supports their ideas/concerns?
   • In what ways can the entire membership contribute to the success of the organization or groups?

Objectives:

• Students will be introduced to and employ Robert’s Rules of Order in a town meeting setting.
• Students will attend and participate in a local town meeting.
• Students will select an issue presented at the meeting, research and collect data related to the issue.
• Students will  analyze the information and  draw conclusions based on the information.
• Students will create a plan of action and present their proposal to the town at the next scheduled meeting.

Background:

In January 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt gave an important State of the Union address to Congress. In his speech he named the Four Freedoms, which he felt were essential rights for all citizens of the world. Freedom of Speech was one of these rights. Towns in New England have been recognized for town meetings, which allow members of the community to speak about their ideas and concerns. While attending a town meeting in Arlington, Vermont, Rockwell realized that this was an example of Freedom of Speech.

Norman Rockwell’s Freedom of Speech is arguably among the most famous works of American art. Popular from its first publication in The Saturday Evening Post, it expresses a timeless message that continues to be relevant today, from issues relating to freedom of thought, the press, assembly, and speech, to the power of advocacy and  . It is the only one in Rockwell’s series that is based upon a specific event. On November 9, 1940, the Memorial School in Rockwell’s town of Arlington, Vermont, burned down. A replacement school was offered for approval and townspeople voted to borrow funds at a Town Meeting that Rockwell attended. Commissioned to produce illustrations based on Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms, the artist struggled to come up with ideas. “Then one night as I was tossing in bed, mulling over the proclamation and the war, rejecting one idea after another and getting more and more discouraged …I suddenly remembered how Jim Edgerton had stood up in a town meeting and said something that everyone else disagreed with.” Rockwell wrote. “But they had let him have his say. No one had shouted him down. My gosh, I thought, that’s it ….Freedom of Speech …I’ll express the ideas in simple, everyday scenes.”

A farmer and a neighbor of Rockwell’s, Edgerton was hit hard by the collapse of milk prices during the Depression and an outbreak of disease among his herd, and his eighty acre dairy farm was in danger of going out of business. The impact of additional taxes would have been a challenge for Edgerton, who, in the words of his son Buddy, “held everyone’s full attention as he passionately outlined his minority position. Finishing with thanks and a nod of his head, he sat down; and then the townspeople voted to build the new school.” Rockwell is a witness to the scene here; he appears on the left glancing up at the speaker, who is

modeled not by Edgerton but by the more Lincolnesque Carl Hess, also a neighbor.

Materials:

Classroom Supplies:

• A copy of Robert’s Rules of Order for each student. A condensed version is available on the web at:
• Simplified Handbook of Parliamentary Procedure

https://www.uaex.edu/publications/pdf/MP350.pdf

• Additional Teacher Resources: (The 4 H guide provides some ideas to teach and practice Parliamentary Procedure with students.)

• 4 H Quick and Easy Guide to Parliamentary Procedure

http://larimer.colostate.edu/4h/4h_docs/parli.pro.granola.recipe..pdf

• Basics of Parliamentary Procedure

http://octsa.ua.edu/uploads/1/6/6/9/16699238/basics-of-parliamentary-procedures.pdf

• Letter to send to school officials and/or town board explaining purpose and intent.
• If using alternate scenario, a copy of handout for each student.

Activities:

Prior to bringing students to town meeting, it may will be necessary to get permission from town and school leaders. Explain the purpose and intention to participate.

• If possible, watch a recorded meeting with students. Discuss the format of the meeting as well as the roles of the various community members in attendance. Discuss ways that a town meeting works in the community.
• Close read the appropriate parliamentary procedure handout, giving students opportunity to ask questions and discuss these procedures. Discuss the use of parliamentary procedure observed in recorded meeting.
• If permission is granted to attend community’s town meeting, schedule date with class. Not all students may be able to attend. Those in attendance will share meeting highlights with class.
• Students will choose a concern from the meeting to analyze, collect information/data and create a possible solution to present to the town board. The plan should be prepared to present at the next scheduled meeting (usually meetings are held monthly).
• Schedule meetings for sharing collected information. Students should schedule interviews with concerned individuals, collect appropriate financial, environmental and other data to assist in developing and supporting a possible plan to present.
• After researching, students should analyze collected information, propose a solution and create a presentation. The presentation should provide relevant data, utilize visual graphics (posters, powerpoint, etc.) and possibly handouts for the board members and audience.

An alternate scenario is included with this unit. It may be used to provide the students with an opportunity to roll play a town meeting if it is not possible to participate in actual meeting. It may also be used to introduce students to the town meeting format, offer opportunity for research and presentation planning prior to attending and participating in the actual meeting.

Assessment:

• Are students demonstrating civic virtues at the meetings?
• Are they following Parliamentary Procedure?
• Are the meetings productive?
• Are all members participating?
• Did students’ presentation contain supporting evidence?
• Did their plan provide a reasonable solution for the concern?