Youth Get Involved in Framingham First Campaign

FRAMINGHAM, MA - Students, who enroll in Framingham High’s AP Government and Politics class, learn to analyze and interpret theories and concepts.

But this year, students in Elizabeth Raveche’s AP Government & Politics course also explored government in their own backyard.

Back in June, a group of Framingham leaders launched a campaign to collect signatures to form a charter commission to study Framingham’s form of government.

Calling themselves Framingham First, the group began collecting signatures to get a question on the town’s election ballot in spring 2016 to create a Charter Commission.

Several Framingham First members want to change Framingham’s form of government from a Town to a City. Others wants to make changes to the Town form of government to make it more efficient.

Earlier this fall, Framingham First members Janet Leombruno and John Stefanini made a presentation on why a Charter Commission is needed to study Framingham’s form of government and explained some options a Commission could explore to the Framingham High AP class.

“At first I really wasn’t about the whole idea, but they gave a good presentation that made sense and was easy to follow, so they swayed me over,“said Mika Kawakami.

Framingham currently is run by a Town Manager, a 5-member elected Board of Selectmen and Town Meeting. Residents elect 12 Town Meeting members for each of the town’s 18 precincts.

Leombruno, an elected Town Meeting member, explained that on most nights of Framingham Town Meeting less than half of those elected are in attendance.

“If the current town council is truly as inefficient as Framingham First described it to be, the charter to change Framingham to a city seems like a logical step,” said student John Lagoutaris, after listening to the presentation.

Stefanini, a former Framingham State Representative and Selectman, told the class about 50 percent of Framingham’s 216 elected Town Meeting members were elected with less than 10 voters or no votes at all.

“I originally sided with the idea that Framingham should be a town but the people from Framingham First brought up a lot of good points,” said senior Mikey McDonald. “They definitely raised awareness to the minimal participation of our town members in Town Meetings.”

“I thought it was interesting to learn about how our town specifically functions in terms of government, because I never really knew about it prior to the presentation. I do think the charter would be a good idea and the presentation really showed it,” said Sophie Stocklan.

“I support a charter commission in Framingham because I believe that our town needs a solid form of government,” said student Nadia Bushard. “By having research be done for a year about all of the different types of government I think that we can definitely find the best fit for us. We need a strong form of government in this town so that we can get things done, therefore making us a better community as a whole.”

“Our local government should be more productive,” said student Grace Seta.

But the AP Government class is not the only way youth are helping the Framingham First campaign.

Framingham High senior class president Jake Binnall helped helped launch Framingham First’s website. Binnall has also been helping Framingham First with its social media campaign.

And, Binnall and Framingham High students have been canvassing Framingham neighborhoods collecting signatures helping Framingham First to reach its goal of 6,000 signatures by Dec. 18.

Some other Framingham High students who have helped collect signatures include Hudan Gudal, Maeve O’Leary, Jess Abramson, Patrick Cassidy, Alex Leombruno, Eli Bondar, Sabrina Bondar, and Matt Costa.

The students have also been at local athletic games and other events in town, gathering signatures.

“I am thrilled to see the enthusiasm and the participation of the young people getting involved in Framingham’s future. It is a great experience for them to take such an active role in democracy in action,” said Leombruno.

“The general consensus seems to be that the more students learn about the state of our town government, the more they see the need for change. The presentation swayed pro-town students, and has solidified support among others. It has sparked an interest and a conversation among students about our government,” said Binnall.

In October, Framingham First announced it had collected more than 3,000 signatures to put the Charter Commission question on the spring 2016 ballot.

State law requires those interested in creating a Charter Commission to collect a minimum 15 percent of the registered voters in town (about 5,375 signatures for Framingham) via petition.

Framingham First needs to submit the required signatures to the Framingham Town Clerk by Dec. 18 to get on the ballot.

Once the signatures are verified, then voters, via a ballot question, will be asked in spring 2016, if they wish to create a 9-member charter commission to review and make recommendation on changes to the Town of Framingham’s form of government.

At that same spring 2016 election, voters also would elect the 9 individuals to serve on the commission. Those interested in running for charter commission need to collect signatures to appear on the ballot as well.

Any registered voter in Framingham, including students who are age 18, are eligible to collect signatures to run for Charter Commissioner.

This is not the first time Framingham has requested a Charter Commission.

Back in 1996, 63 percent of Framingham voters agreed to create a charter commission to study the idea of changing Framingham from a town to a city form of government.

But a year later, the when the commission asked voters to adopt a city charter the measure was rejected with only 32 percent of voters supporting the ideas.