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Students at Ephraim Curtis Middle School are in the midst of their annual Civic Action Projects. The program was implemented three years ago. There are four civics teachers, including Gary Grassey, Mike Neagle, Jessie Winslow and Eric Waite. Lauren Egizio is the curriculum coordinator.
Grassey told Sudbury Weekly that he was quite impressed this year:
“Since implementing the Civics Action Projects three years ago, 8th grade students at Curtis have really grown in their ability to understand some of the important methods and processes to make their government responsive to their ideas and needs. The depth and breadth of the projects this year was impressive.”
Gary Grassey, Civics and History Teacher — Ephraim Curtis Middle School
Indeed, this year’s batch of projects span a number of issues, with noticeable clustering around inclusion and belonging, food insecurity, and sustainability and the environment. Grassey noted: “Student initiatives included projects that seek funding for composting in the Sudbury Public Schools (SPS), legislation to support American Sign Language classes across the Commonwealth (including LSRHS), improved teen mental health supports in the SPS, a new crosswalk at the Goodnow Library, participatory budgeting, affordable healthcare for seniors, and funding for food insecurity on college and university campuses in Massachusetts.”
Sudbury Weekly covered one of the projects already — a proposal calling for Sudbury Public Schools to implement composting programs district-wide. Sudbury’s Energy and Sustainability Committee already voted to pre-fund such a program for up to $30,000 over two years. The project team’s petition on Change.org wove research on food waste together with recent sustainability initiatives and Town Meeting votes in Sudbury.
On the environmental front, another project team is researching the use of pesticides on lawns in Sudbury, complete with a survey that looks into proximity to sensitive areas like bodies of water, wetlands and conservation land.
There are two proposals taking aim at food insecurity. One calls for funding and support for community refrigerators in Massachusetts food banks. The project team argues for support of a bill, and calls on the Governor to fund it: “Community refrigerators provide a simple way to bring fresh meat, fruit, vegetables, and other perishable items to people in need. However, there are many problems regarding the maintenance and cleanliness of the fridges. If the Massachusetts Senate were to pass Bill S.2760, sponsored by Senator Adam Gomez, the state will begin the process of adopting new rules to ensure safety and cleanliness for community refrigerators as well as guidelines for installing and managing new refrigerators.”
The second calls for support for food-insecure college students. The project team argues that “one-third of all Massachusetts college students experience hunger, and they worry about where their next meal may come from.” With that in mind, they found an initiative that could address the problem within the FY25 State budget: “Based on our research, which includes interviews with public policy experts at Boston University, the Greater Boston Food Bank, and the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, as well as staff members for Massachusetts legislators, we conclude that the best way to begin ending food insecurity for Massachusetts college students is to support approval of the Hunger Free Campus Initiative in the FY25 Massachusetts state budget. The Hunger Free Campus Initiative will provide $2,000,000 to individual colleges that apply for these benefits. By approving this Initiative, the program will secure permanent funding on a bi-annual basis to support the critical needs of Massachusetts’ next generation of educated citizens and workers.”
Another project team seeks to start a Best Buddies Club: “Best Buddies provides One-to-One Friendship, Leadership Development, and other programs for people with and without disabilities.” The project team is conducting a survey to gather relevant local data. Yet another project that looked to capture some local data was for a proposal to add temporary lighting at Cutting Field.
Each of the projects demonstrated the students’ ability to research issues, gather data, and even track down bills that are working their way through the State legislature. Grassey highlighted the research that goes into the projects: “In addition, a number of student groups used research techniques that went beyond just internet searches for news articles and reports from interest groups. To test their theories with the general public and their peers, students used social media such as Facebook (One Sudbury user group) and Instagram to circulate petitions and surveys that were well-crafted. Students also attempted to meet local residents face-to-face, employing `retail politics’ through door-to-door leafletting and face to face signature gathering at public places.”
One such project team sought to grow support for legislation that would require high schools to award foreign language credits for successful completion of American Sign Language curriculum. The team stated: “Our Civics Action Project promotes the inclusion of ASL in Massachusetts public high schools. Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School currently does not offer ASL as a language or elective. If the Massachusetts Legislature were to pass Senate bill S.2589 and House bill H.4428, these measures will require public high schools to credit the successful completion of an ASL curriculum toward satisfaction of foreign language requirements for graduation. In addition to passing this Legislation, we ask that the Massachusetts Legislature and Governor Maura Healey also enacts a law to provide funding for ASL curricula that supports resources, including the hiring of ASL certified teachers.”
The results of the projects, accordingly to Grassey, will be shared with local boards and committees, as well as Governor Maura Healey, Representative Carmine Gentile, Senator Jaime Eldridge, among others.
Grassey summed up what the students take away from the projects:
“These experiences, whether ultimately successful or not, build engaging moments that allow students to begin to understand that the knobs and levers of government belong to them. Their voices matter. While creating systemic change in the world can be challenging and time-consuming, the tools are there to make it happen.”
Gary Grassey, Civics and History Teacher — Ephraim Curtis Middle School
Interested readers can follow the civics projects on a dedicated Facebook page here.
*This story was updated on May 26 to add the names of all the civics teachers in the program, and to correct the characterization of roles in the program.