We want you! Eighth graders take civic action to solve candidate shortage

LAKEVILLE — In early April, Paul George, an eighth grader at Freetown-Lakeville Middle School, heard his mother discussing a lack of candidates for the upcoming School Committee race.

He brought the issue to his group members in Ryan L'Heureux’s civics class, and the team of five boys decided to tackle it for their end-of-semester Civic Action Project.

“Our research started with trying to figure out, is this just in our town? Or is this widespread throughout the nation,” Paul said.

With that question in mind, Paul, along with Jacob Besse, Camryn Miller, Eamon Hardy, and Dominic Lombardi, dove into research. They interviewed parents and teachers, surveyed classmates, spoke with Select Board and School Committee members, and even reached out to Harvard professors.

The most revealing statistic they uncovered came from Ballotpedia: in 2024, 70% of local elections across the country were uncontested.

“Once they’ve researched the problem,” said L'Heureux, “they start to research some alternatives, how other people have addressed this problem before them and they start to develop their own solution and take their own action.”

The boys’ solution was multi-pronged. They proposed a small increase in pay for local elected officials in the form of a “bonus, not a salary.” They also recommended improved cyber and traditional security for municipal officials. However, their primary strategy focused on raising awareness about the issue, including election dates and the accomplishments of elected officials.

In their project, the team wrote, “Increasing press and praise around elected officials will make them feel appreciated. This will lead to more people that are competent running in these elections.”

“The problem was people didn’t really know this was an issue so you had to get it widespread and out,” said Dominic.

To spread the word, they created a flier and reached out to Nemasket Week and the Taunton Gazette.

“We hope that with the flier people realize when the elections are, how they can help their community by running and in-turn that leads to more people running,” Paul said.

Using local newspapers was a priority for the boys — a strategy they learned from John Griffin, a managing partner at Partners in Democracy, a nonprofit that advocates for democracy reforms.

The team said Griffin told them his hometown newspaper had played a pivotal role in fostering engagement with local politics.

“He said once his local paper was shut down and bought by a hedge fund people weren’t as aware of what was happening in local government and people generally had a decrease in attention to the elections,” Paul said.

The team will present their project, along with the rest of their classmates, on May 20. L'Heureux noted that other students have focused their projects on topics such as the environment, teacher pay, school lunches, high school athletics, and a range of other issues.

Paul said he’s interested in running for office when he’s older. Jacob said he’d put his name on the ballot if pay for elected officials increased.

All the boys were adamant that they will vote in local elections once they reach voting age.

“If it takes effect in Massachusetts, other states might see that it's working and they might try the same thing,” said Dominic.