Agent of Democracy - Society for College and University Planning

Agent of Democracy
an impressive, multifaceted public relations effort to persuade citizens
in the towns to take their side. As election time drew nigh, a
“sign war” along the roadsides of the region made the division
visible to all, especially when it was clear that each side had their
signs vandalized and torn down by their opponents.
The advocates for the new school felt the current buildings
were not large enough or modern enough to meet the educational
needs of the region’s growing school-age population. They thought
those who opposed the bond issue for a new high school (and a renovated
middle school at the site of the existing two schools) were
basically voting against improved education out of self-interest in
keeping their property taxes from getting higher. The school board
and the advocates for a new school worked harder than ever in
2003-2004 and hoped for a positive electoral result that spring. But
they were defeated by an even greater margin than the year before.
It was then that David Drouin, a citizen on the “pro new
school” side of the dispute made a phone call to Jason Czekalski, a
citizen from the group against that particular solution. They had
been trading barbs in letters to the editor of the local newspaper
during the run up to the election. “We’ve got to talk,” Drouin
said. Czekalski agreed. Two weeks later at the next school board
meeting, they offered their idea to convene a citizens committee
made up of members of both sides of the issue and asked the school
board for their support. At that meeting, a community leader
named Patricia Barry, who had worked with me and my students
on a previous school/community Study Circles project in 1999,
stood up and suggested that the group seek the help of the New
England Center for Civic Life (NECCL).
School superintendent O’Neill had been involved with that
Study Circles project, too. He had later attended a National Issues
Forums (NIF) forum at Franklin Pierce University on “Public Schools:
Are They Making the Grade?” and had come away from the event
impressed at how the process enabled people to listen to each
other’s different views and to find some common ground through
their deliberations. Exacerbated by the limitations of other advocacybased
civic engagement efforts, he wondered whether some version
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