THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 5, 1994 TAG: 9411050668
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 108 lines
The mock election was supposed to teach city school students nonpartisan lessons about democracy and citizenship. But in this unusually rancorous political season, even elementary kids are getting splattered by the mudslinging.
Miffed Republican Party officials are claiming that kids at Suburban Park Elementary were used as pawns by teacher-union Democrats to influence Tuesday's election between Democratic Rep. Owen B. Pickett, the 2nd District incumbent, and GOP challenger Jim Chapman.
Flabbergasted school employees, who had prepared a weeklong series of events as part of a National Student/Parent Mock Election program to increase family involvement in the election process, are smarting from an unexpected lesson in hardball politics.
Republicans are upset because Pickett spoke at the school two days before the kids held a mock election on the state's congressional races. The problem, Republicans said, is that Chapman wasn't invited. School officials say that's not so.
After the congressman's visit, the Suburban Park kids, drawn from a neighborhood that is a GOP enclave in a traditionally Democratic-leaning city, voted by a 2-to-1 margin last week for Pickett.
But they are just kids, right? They can't vote in the real election Tuesday, so what's the fuss?
``Hey, fair is fair,'' Norfolk Republican Party Chairman George Schaefer said. ``My complaint is that's my tax dollars at work, too, and there's something wrong with a civics lesson that gives only one side. Educators, I would think, are supposed to be neutral in the classroom and expose children to other possibilities besides only those that start with a `D.' ''
Mike McElwain, Chapman's campaign manager, said his staff learned Pickett was visiting the school after a supporter complained that posters for Pickett and Democratic U.S. Sen. Charles S. Robb had been planted in front of the school. McElwain charged that the school was using the results of the kids' balloting to sway Tuesday's vote.
``To use children to get a news story and try to influence the outcome of the election is pretty pathetic,'' McElwain said.
Republicans were so peeved that they went all the way to the top, calling district administrators to complain.
Suburban Park principal Janice Root reacted with disbelief to the brouhaha. She said school officials attempted to invite Chapman but that he couldn't attend because of a scheduling conflict.
Root said that Pickett's visit in no way resembled a campaign rally. He spoke only about the structure of American government and the importance of voting, she said.
And teachers did not try to politically influence the kids, Root said.
``Teachers talked a lot about the two-party system and the democratic process,'' Root said. ``I'm really confused by this. I hate for people to be upset when the whole process was just to educate students and to be a positive thing.''
If you're a local Republican, though, it's difficult to be cheery about the mock election results. Nearly 20,000 school kids at 41 Norfolk schools cast ballots, and the vote was solidly Democratic, with Robb, Pickett and 3rd District congressional incumbent Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott winning by comfortable margins. The results were released Friday.
The school system has held mock elections in previous years, but this is the first time that anyone has complained, said Gloria P. Hagans, coordinator of social studies for Norfolk public schools.
``The policy is that we're nonpartisan as educators,'' Hagans said. ``We're trying to prepare students to be productive, participating citizens. Our goal is if we start kids young, once they are 18 years old they'll get out more to vote.''
The mock election is not intended to predict the actual election outcome, even though some people may read it that way. Research suggests that most kids share the political views of their parents.
But that's not always the case, said Norfolk high school students who participated.
``Kids have opinions, too,'' said Alex Laws, 15, a sophomore at Booker T. Washington High.
``I think a lot of teens are responsible enough and know enough to vote, and the age restriction is keeping them from expressing their views,'' said Cathleen Morris, 18, a Booker T. senior who will vote for the first time this election. ``I may be just one, but it's a way for me to express my opinion.''
Republican Schaefer said he's not surprised by the student election results.
``It's primarily a Democratic town and I think a lot of these kids will reflect the thinking of their parents and what they hear at home,'' Schaefer said. ``I would probably only be shocked if it went Republican.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by RICHARD L. DUNSTON, Staff
Israel Banks, 9, peeks out the door at Suburban Park Elementary
during Congressman Owen Pickett's visit.
Chart
Winners in 41 local schools
For complete information see microfilm.
KEYWORDS: SENATE RACE MOCK ELECTION by CNB