Voting in Schools

Maybe I would be more sensitive to this issue if I were a parent or principal, but I don’t see why voting in schools is such a big deal. In the worst-case scenario, a school cancels classes. Then parents have to find alternative child care — an inconvenience, but no different from cancellations for professional development or snowstorms.

I’m not convinced that it’s such a security threat, either. Students go on field trips all the time, on which they encounter crowds of strangers. If teachers can handle field trips to public museums, why can’t they supervise students on election day? And is it really so traumatic for students to eat lunch in their classrooms one day a year?

Furthermore, the suggestion that voting take place in firehouses instead is a terrible idea. Imagine all those people lining up outside the firehouses and blocking fire trucks. Inconveniencing firefighters who are trying to save lives would be far worse than inconveniencing teachers who are trying to escort their classes to a computer lab.