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CHS seniors participate in 36th annual Civic Day
By ABBY SLANKER
The 36th annual Civic Day, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Canfield, took place on May 6 with 37 Canfield High School seniors assuming the roles of city, township and school officials. The day was organized by Canfield High School government teachers Todd Muckleroy and Mike Pavlansky and provided the students an opportunity to become familiar with the workings of their local government.
Each student was assigned an official from Canfield City Council, Canfield Schools or Canfield Township to shadow during the day. For example, Abhijit Khatiwada took over the role of Mayor Bernie Kosar, Sr., Andrew Hallof took over the role of City Council Member John Morvay, Gianna Campana took over the role of City Engineer Dave Pabak, Jack Pallante took over the role of Fire Chief Donald Hutchison, Vince Ferrier took over for Township Trustee Marie Izzo-Cartwright, Matt Minenok assumed the role of Township Fiscal Officer Carmen Heasley, Sydney Stewart took over the role of School Superintendent Alex Geordan, Mason Mangopora took over the role of Canfield High School Principal Mike Moldovan and Morgan Leonard assumed the role of Resource Officer Steve Garstka.
Civic Day started at the Canfield Local Schools Board Office where the students conducted a mock school board meeting with their official counterparts. The school officials helped the students understand how a school board meeting is conducted and explained policies and procedures for the meeting.
The students then took a tour of Canfield Village Middle School and were given a tour of the police and fire stations.
The students went to the Canfield Municipal Building where they were welcomed by City Council Member John Morvay and given an overview of City Council meetings.
“Welcome to Canfield City Council. We have five elected council members and the council contracts with the city manager, who runs the day to day operations of the city. Our meetings follow Robert’s Rules of Order and we structure our meetings around those rules, so we will follow those rules today,” Morvay said.
Mayor Kosar also welcomed the students and explained a few things about the City Council and the city manager.
“The city manager fixes everything that breaks. The mayor and the city council do not have the power to give orders. There is one boss and that is City Manager Joe Warino. We are a charter government. There is the mayor, city council people and the city manager. It is an excellent form of government. We hire a professional to be our city manager. You will find this mock city council meeting interesting, I hope,” Kosar told the students.
The students hosted a mock city council meeting, with their counterparts. The students were coached through a council meeting, complete with motions, questions from meeting attendees, discussions, roll call, debates and banging of the gavel.
Toward the end of the meeting, a motion was made to provide the absence of final exams for Canfield High School seniors. After a second, the motion was put to a vote, the majority ruled in favor of the motion.
The students then traveled to the Canfield Township Hall where a mock trustee meeting took place.
To close out the day, the Rotary Club of Canfield hosted a luncheon for the students and city, township and school officials at St. Michael’s Church.