CIVICS SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE

The Civics Committee was established to serve as a resource for the Falmouth public schools as they implement the 2018 Massachusetts law requiring that all Massachusetts students complete a hands-on civics project in eighth grade and again in high school.  Two members of our Committee meet several times a year with Michael Feeney, who serves as Social Studies Chair for students in grades seven through twelve.  We discuss ways that our Committee and the League can support these efforts. 

In Falmouth, the high school project is done during the sophomore year as part of the United States history curriculum.   Here, students may need to communicate with members of the community either to seek information or to advocate.  We try to be helpful if there are communication roadblocks.  Then, when the projects are completed, the students make informal in-class presentations.  We try to publicize these presentations as soon as we learn the dates and times because Falmouth League members are invited to attend in groups of one or two.  This is icing on the cake for our League, and we believe the students appreciate our presence as well.

For this coming 2024-25 school year we expect to be invited to become an audience for the eighth graders who will be conducting a springTown Meeting at the Lawrence School.  Students will undertake the roles of Town Meeting Member and of community member.  (We will be neither, but we will be able to watch the entire event in person.  Stay tuned as information becomes available in the spring of 2025!)

In engaging in these Civics Committee efforts, we hope our League’s belief in the importance of civics takes on a concrete form in a way that is helpful to educating our voters and community leaders of the future.