In a decisive show of hands, seventh-grade students at Veterans Middle School overwhelmingly rejected a citizen petition to eliminate the town’s sustainability coordinator position during a mock town meeting Thursday, preserving the role many argued was vital to the coastal community’s future.
The mock town meeting focused on Article 47, which proposed cutting the $73,000 position that some have characterized as redundant and unnecessary during tight budget times. After hearing arguments from both sides, students voted by significant margin to maintain the sustainability coordinator role.
“It does not pass, and we keep our sustainability coordinator,” announced Town Moderator Jack Attridge after votes by a show of hands.
The exercise mimicked the real town meeting process that Marblehead has practiced for 376 years, long predating the Revolutionary War. Students in teachers’ Noah Pasackow and Bill Shull’s social studies classes spent weeks preparing for the mock town meeting as part of a hands-on civics unit.
Students researched municipal budgeting, crafted arguments for and against the article and delivered public speeches before voting. The exercise was designed to mirror the actual Town Meeting process and give students a deeper understanding of how direct democracy functions in their community.
“The sustainability coordinator is very important because it improves the quality of the town and enhances the town’s environmental resilience,” argued one student. “Vote no article 47 to keep our sustainability coordinator and our time safe.”
Those favoring elimination cited financial concerns amid budget constraints.
“With a budget shortfall this year, our town is unnecessarily spending $73,000 a year for a position to be eco-friendly,” countered another student.
Several students emphasized the coordinator’s success in securing grants, with one noting the position “has raised more than $450,000 which is more than six times annual salary.”
After the debate, Attridge explained why Town Meeting remains valuable despite being time-consuming.
“Town Meeting is meant to be a deliberative process where both sides can argue out that case through a deliberative process with your community members,” he told students. “It’s amazing. It can be a sacrifice to participate in our form of government.”
The actual Town Meeting begins Monday night. Students were assigned to either attend or watch the proceedings, which will include debate on over 50 articles, including zoning changes and approving the town’s $120 million budget.
Last year, Marblehead introduced electronic voting devices to make the process more efficient and reduce intimidation for voters.
“There’s no intimidation to how you vote,” Attridge explained. “If you’re sitting next to somebody that is for a cause and you have to be against it, but they’re your friend, you can just click the button and vote more anonymously.”
The mock meeting, in its second year, included faculty members and a surprise appearance by the actual sustainability coordinator Logan Casey, offered students a firsthand experience with town government.
“All the speakers were thoroughly researched and well spoken, it felt just like my first Marblehead Town Meeting last May,” Casey said. “It’s great to see youth engaging in the democratic process and events like these make it clear to me why Marblehead is so politically engaged.”
Anthony Boccuzzi, the new Marblehead Municipal Employees Union president, was not immediately available for comment.
