‘My favorite project’: Civics Forum gives suburban high school students up close look at local government

Some suburban high school civics students are getting in valuable lab work, learning firsthand how government works by watching it in their own backyards.

And in one notable instance, they are given a test drive behind the steering wheel.

If you walk in on one of the Barrington village board’s committee of the whole meetings, you are likely to find students monitoring the proceedings as part of their classwork.

It is one example of how high schoolers are learning about the workings of municipal government.

The Barrington meetings are commonly held before the regular village board meeting in a cramped conference room just big enough to fit board members, staff and a few in the audience.

On a recent Monday, while the board discussed water and sewer rates, three students from Lake Zurich High School observed the proceedings. They may not have realized it, but they were treated to an inside look, since the committee meeting is not televised.

One of the students, senior Ryan Kohl, said one takeaway from the meeting was learning how the board balances the village’s financial needs against the needs of its citizens.

He said he gained valuable insight into how “people who probably just have normal day jobs take a role in their local government.”

Civics classes are, of course, a state requirement. But one community that takes the commitment to civics especially seriously is Buffalo Grove.

One of the traditions in Buffalo Grove is the annual Civics Forum, held at village hall.

The effort is spearheaded by longtime Village Clerk Janet Sirabian and involves teachers and students from both Buffalo Grove High School and Stevenson High School.

“This is my favorite project in the world,” Sirabian said before the Sept. 28 forum.

Sirabian said students learn about state and federal government in school but very little about municipal government.

“We want them to know that this is the government that is closest to them,” she said. “This is where the tax dollars go. This is where you call when there is snow in front of your street and they need to plow. This is where you call when you need an emergency ambulance.”

The forum provides the rare privilege of true hands-on training. The format is a mock village board meeting. But it is much more than that.

Students from the two schools began the day by touring village departments, working with department heads on proposals for purchases that would aid the departments in their day-to-day operations.

That evening, the students filed into the village board chambers. Several of them mounted the dais to assume their roles, including village president, village trustee, village manager and village clerk.

Others sat in the audience, waiting their turn to make their department pitches.

Meanwhile, the real village board members sat in the audience and watched, exchanging remarks as their constituents might while watching them deliberating.

Ultimately the village would commit to spending $2,000 on whatever the student board decided.

For veteran village board observers, it wasn’t a completely faithful rendering of a board meeting. The village clerk normally doesn’t pose questions to presenters. Nor do department heads argue against another department’s proposal — a real village manager would have a firm rein on staff.

But clearly everyone was engaged. One of the student trustees, Stevenson High School student Taneesha Pahari, had a smile on her face through much of the board meeting.

“I’ve never done anything like this,” she said. “I know I’ve done debates in English class, but having it actually have an impact on the real world was a completely different experience, and I really enjoyed it.”

The board voted unanimously to spend the money on a pediatric ambulance restraint for the fire department, represented by Buffalo Grove High School students Sophie Dashdavaa and Emily Chen.

The duo argued the current restraints are flimsy and hard to clean. They said the new restraints would allow parents and children to ride together, something not allowed with the existing restraints.

Buffalo Grove Village President Eric Smith addressed the students at the end of the meeting, calling it a very entertaining session.

He praised Stevenson student Jill Wang for running a respectful, efficient meeting as village president.

“This is a nice way to bring it to the local level, because in class we really don’t focus on the local level of government,” said one of the teachers facilitating the forum, Buffalo Grove High School teacher Zack Crandall, who teaches classes in AP American government and comparative government.

The classwork, he said, mainly concentrates on the federal lawmaking process.

The Civics Forum, he said, gives students the opportunity to see the impact of local government and learn firsthand how it is the level of government closest to them.

The Civics Forum idea may be catching on.

Recently appointed Gurnee Trustee Liliana Ware read about the Buffalo Grove event in an Illinois Municipal League magazine. She then visited the village of Buffalo Grove during the afternoon of the forum to observe the students’ preparation.

Ware said she has discussed the idea with her village administrator as something Gurnee might be able to adopt.

“I work at the College of Lake County, and my kids go to Warren High School, so education is big for me. I thought this would be a great program,” she said.

szalusky@dailyherald.com