Should the state improve drug rehab rather than jailing users? Implement policies that would create a nicotine-free future? Raise the age for owning a firearm? On Saturday afternoon at Town Hall, Needham High School juniors participating in the fourth annual Needham High School Civics Showcase presented proposals for a range of policies at the local and state levels. Community members, including elected leaders and other volunteers, heard their proposals and provided feedback as well as probing questions.
The event was co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the Needham High School History Department.
Stephen Plasko, chair of the history department, said the assignment was for students to design issue-appropriate strategies for political change. “We hope that this skill is something they can take with them well beyond this particular project,” he said.
Fourteen of the 38 projects dealt broadly with the issues of health care, mental health and substance abuse.
Ella Gravin, Leila Agne and Lauren Wong argued that the state should put more money into rehabilitation centers rather than jailing inmates charged with substance abuse-related crimes. Agne reasoned that not only would the policy be more humane, it would also save money.
Isabel Tashie, Maria Marinelli and Allegra Franco called for an age-gated nicotine policy where the minimum age for tobacco would go up one year as each calendar year passes. The policy’s intent is to create a nicotine-free generation among current youth and future youth. Needham has already adopted this policy.
The project forced many of the students outside their realm of experience. For Tashie, however, battles over substance policy are regular events. She is on the leadership team of the 84 Movement, which discourages smoking and vaping. She has also worked for a generational nicotine ban in other towns, speaking to students and community leaders in Dover, Bellingham and Somerville.
Tashie believes the nicotine-free generation policy may be easier to pass on a town-by-town basis. “We now have 574,000 people living under the regulation,” she said. “That builds momentum for a statewide ban.”
Tashie said it is critical that youth take part in this movement. “Don’t make policies about us without us,” she said.
Seven projects advocated steps toward a cleaner environment, including two that attempted to limit PFAs (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) in water. Szilvia Robertson supported legislation for stricter standards while Samantha Sorrento, Hannah Leiman, Chelsea Heeger and Marissa Lucas focused more on the importance of informing the public about the dangers of these “forever chemicals.”
Six projects focused on education. Daniel Golmohammadi was an enthusiastic spokesperson for Massachusetts House Bill 650, legislation he said would ease the transition for children who enter school without English proficiency. “We should have more teachers with skills in more languages,” he said.
There was also a smattering of other topics, including support for improving pedestrian safety in Needham and raising the age to own a firearm. Two groups attempted to design policies that would lower the rate of childhood poverty in the state.
James Lalonde, Daniel Burdin and Lincoln Maxwell argued for a novel but critical piece of civil rights protection. They said 99% of Fortune 500 companies use AI to screen resumes that eliminate the majority of qualified candidates. Burdin said the software operating the system is often biased against women, minorities and people with gaps in their resumes.
Companies claim to monitor the software they use, but Maxwell said self-policing is not working. “These internal audits are not enough to combat the issue,” he said.
Their proposal, based on existing regulation in New York City, would require government auditing of AI-powered hiring tools. Burdin said this would give applicants confidence that they were being treated fairly and were not being judged on circumstances or characteristics unrelated to the skills needed for the job.
Teddy Franklin, Devin Karp and Conor O’Brien lobbied against legislation that would ban cellphone use in school from the opening bell to the end of the school day. Franklin cited two Harvard studies that demonstrate students feel less safe and are less productive without some access to their phones. He also said the rule results in more student suspensions.
“That ends up hindering their education more than if there were no restriction on cellphones in the first place,” Franklin said.
The students said they supported the NHS policy of leaving phones in “phone caddies” during class time. The author of the bill they oppose, Needham state Rep. Josh Tarsky, who until recently was a high school principal, was in Powers Hall and spoke with the students. “He was very respectful and wanted to hear us out,” Franklin said.
Plasko said one of the purposes of the assignment was to learn the complexities of an issue and to be able to hear opposing viewpoints. For these students, the lesson deepened when they were able to converse with the author of the policy they opposed.
Save as PDF