Photo: Kim Tunnicliffe (WBZ NewsRadio)
WESTWOOD, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Students at the Hanlon and Deerfield elementary schools in Westwood got their first taste of democracy Friday.
The two schools will be consolidated at a new elementary school currently under construction on Gay Street. On Thursday, March 9, the Westwood School Committee decided to let the students vote on the name of the new school.
Voting booths were set up in classrooms at both Hanlon School and Deerfield School, while some students acted as poll workers checking in other students.
"[It's] just as if it was a real election day," Westwood Town Clerk Dottie Powers told WBZ NewsRadio. "We have electronic poll cats, we uploaded the names of the students on those. They’re really getting the experience of checking each other in and then going right to the ballot box."
According to the Westwood Minute, the School Committee initially received around 200 responses after requesting ideas to name the new school. The list was narrowed down to six finalists, then to two frontrunners: "Pine Hill" and "Pine Oak."
"It gives the students an opportunity to see democracy in action, that their voice actually counts in something," Hanlon School Principal Matthew Kuklentz said. "The majority will carry the vote as to whether it is the Pine Hill School or the Pine Oak School."
"I feel excited because I’d never done this before," 5-year-old kindergarten student Vivian said.
"I feel a little bit proud because it’s like my first time voting," said fellow kindergartener Nora.
As part of the construction project, Hanlon School will be demolished to make way for the new school's playing fields, which will be called the Paul R. Hanlon Athletic Complex.
WBZ's Kim Tunnicliffe (@KimWBZ) reports.
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