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Mayor McNally visits McGuffey Elementary
YOUNGSTOWN
Mayor John A. McNally joined William Holmes McGuffey Elementary teacher Pauline Cunningham to help teach second-graders about the election system.
The students “are already paying attention to [the election] – they see commercials and the outrageous behavior and the outrageous words used by candidates at times,” McNally said Tuesday afternoon.
Cunningham joked that her students mimic CNN talking points.
“Every day, we’ve had debates in here in the morning,” she said. “The kids are watching the news, and they’re listening to their parents. ... We let them give their opinions and argue it out.”
Cunningham said inviting McNally into the classroom was an opportunity for students to meet a real elected official and bring their community into the classroom.
“One of our standards is linking and connecting our life to the community,” she said. “I thought about this election and linking the mayor. The fact that he’s an elected official fit right in with us.”
McNally told students the importance of communicating with the community as an elected official.
“The best part of the campaign is meeting people,” he said. “You have to listen to what they have to say.”
He commented on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s communicating practices after student Diamantis Figuaero asked why Trump “makes fun of people in hospitals.”
“Sometimes Mr. Trump has a funny way of campaigning,” said McNally, a Democrat. “When you’re campaigning, you are supposed to be civil and treat people nicely, and, sometimes, Mr. Trump doesn’t do that. I don’t think that’s a great way to campaign.”