Town Meeting demystified Wednesday evening

Middle schoolers preside over public forum on yearly meeting

By Ted Hayes
Posted 3/25/24

Confused about Westport’s Town Meeting? How it works, the process and procedure, and more? On Wednesday evening, Westport middle schoolers become the teachers.

The eighth grade class will …

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Town Meeting demystified Wednesday evening

Middle schoolers preside over public forum on yearly meeting

Posted

Confused about Westport’s Town Meeting? How it works, the process and procedure, and more? On Wednesday evening, Westport middle schoolers become the teachers.

The eighth grade class will host an informational forum at 6 p.m. in the school auditorium to talk and answer questions about Town Meeting, which will be held in May. It’s part of a state requirement that eighth graders perform a civic action during their school year.

“It can be pretty intimidating for people, especially if they have not grown up in Westport, to go to Town Meeting and figure out what actually takes place,” Superintendent Thomas Aubin said. “A lot of times it prohibits people from taking part.”

Led by instructors Amanda Tepzloff and Michael Ponte and overseen by curriculum director Lisa Kaminski, students settled on Town Meeting after being approached by Westport’s town government, Aubin said.

The hope is that by demystifying the yearly meeting, more people will attend — yearly, it draws a relatively small crowd when compared with the town’s population.

The session was scheduled for February but was delayed until this week as the original date fell during a winter storm.

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