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Hilltop third-graders get civics lesson
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Neighbors | Submitted.Canfield Mayor Bill Kay explained the duties of his job during Hilltop Elementary School’s third-grade civics day Nov. 4.
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Neighbors | Submitted.To give the students an example of his ceremonial duties, Canfield Mayor Bill Kay presented third-grade teacher Treena Kackley, who is not a resident of Canfield, with an honorary citizenship to Canfield.
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Neighbors | Submitted.Third-grade students at Hilltop Elementary School received a civics lesson from city leaders, township leaders, school district leaders and Mahoning County leaders Nov. 4.
BY ABBY SLANKER
City leaders, township leaders, school district leaders and Mahoning County leaders gave third-grade students at Hilltop Elementary School a live lesson in civics Nov. 4 in the school’s library.
Mahoning County Judge David D’Apolito, Canfield Township Trustee Martha Zarlenga, Canfield Mayor Bill Kay, City Manager Joseph Warino, Canfield Local Schools Superintendent Dante Zambrini, Canfield School Board President Tony Peluso, Canfield Police Department Sgt. Jim Conrad and Canfield Fire Department Assistant Chief Don Hutchison all gave the students a description of the duties.
Judge D’Apolito, Mayor Kay and Sgt. Conrad each had a special connection to a third-grader and received a special introduction from his cousin, his granddaughter and his son, respectively.
Kay started the civics lesson by telling the students some of the duties he carries out as mayor. He said he has many responsibilities to the citizens of the city, and touched on a few, such as he presides over the Mayor’s Court and doles out fines for offenders, performs ceremonial duties, makes honorary presentations and can even perform marriage ceremonies.
To give the students an example of his ceremonial duties, he presented third-grade teacher Treena Kackley, who is not a resident of Canfield, with an honorary citizenship to Canfield.
Judge D’Apolito explained he is responsible to uphold the law in court and decides if an offender is guilty and then decides the punishment. He said he can send offenders to jail and it depends on the crime as to how long the jail sentence would be.
Sgt. Conrad told the students his main job is to keep the people of Canfield safe. He also said he gets to arrest bad guys and also serves as a mediator.
Hutchison brought two of the firefighters he works with to the school and said all firefighters need to be trained in several areas. They must be trained in medicine, firefighting, Hazmat and how to get people out of a car after an accident.
He also said he is responsible for school fire inspections and conducting fire drills.
The firefighters brought some of their equipment to show the students and even demonstrated the equipment. With the help of some student volunteers, one piece of equipment showed the children how thermal imaging works and another measured the heartbeat of a student.
Warino told the students there are 8,200 people who live in Canfield. He explained that he manages all the different departments in the City of Canfield, such as the Water Department. He also said he prepares an annual budget for the city at the beginning of the year and he also creates laws for passage, such as the new texting law in Canfield.
Zarlenga told the children there are three trustees and they oversee the township and are responsible for the upkeep of the roads and cemeteries in Canfield Township. There is a fiscal officer who takes care of financial matters for the township and there is also a zoning inspector.
Zarlenga also explained the township is more rural than the city and if students have a house number with four numbers in it, they live in Canfield Township and if they have three house numbers or less, they live in the City of Canfield.
Peluso explained to the students he deals with and sets policies and procedures for the schools in Canfield. He also laid out how someone gets on the Board of Education. He explained that if a person would like to serve on the board, he or she must start a petition, get signatures and qualify to be put on the ballot. The outcome of the election will eventually be decided by a vote of the people.
Peluso added he runs the monthly board meetings of the five board members. They address finances, hiring of personnel, retirements and extra curricular hirings, such as coaches. Their job is to also hire a treasurer, a superintendent and a business manager.
Zambrini told the third-graders that, in kindergarten through grade 12, there are 3,100 students and also 350 employees of the school district. He also said he works with the district treasurer and it takes $26 million a year to run the school district.
He also mentioned that, as an educator, he must have a license to do his job. He said he is in his ninth year as superintendent and started out as a teacher and then a principal and then assistant superintendent.
The one responsibility of his job that really impressed the children was he gets to make the decision on snow days. He explained to them that if school is canceled, it is for safety reasons and the district does not want anyone to get hurt trying to get to school in bad weather.