Uniondale Elementary Scholars Head to the Ballot Box

Uniondale Union Free School District’s Walnut Street Elementary School and Grand Avenue Elementary School Pre-K scholars recently cast their votes in their first election.

Grand Avenue scholars were taught the electoral process by voting to decide the classes’ favorite type of Oreo cookie, chocolate or vanilla. Before voting, scholars watched two videos created by the Pre-K teachers. Teachers dressed as two characters from the classes’ favorite book characters—Pinkalicious and The Blue Crayon, and pleaded their cases, one for chocolate and one for vanilla. After watching the two videos, each scholar was handed a ballot to cast their vote. Scholars then took their ballots to the “West Wing security desk,” where they signed their names, cast their ballots and received an I VOTED sticker. Once the votes were counted and revealed, each student received a winning cookie.

“It is incredibly important to teach scholars at this young age that voting gives voice to the masses,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Monique Darrisaw-Akil. “When scholars understand that their vote matters, they are more likely to be politically engaged when it comes time to register to vote. We thank our elementary teachers for planting this seed and our high school teachers for continuing this education and helping our scholars register to vote each year.”

Walnut Street elementary scholars also exercised their right to vote for the first time. In a school-wide vote, scholars were asked to decide on what spirit day would be celebrated next. The two options were Uniondale pride, where everyone would arrive to school dressed with their school spirit attire, or have a more relaxed day where they could wear pajamas.

For more information about the Uniondale Union Free School District, please visit the District’s website at https://district.uniondaleschools.org, and ‘like’ our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/uniondalek12.