At P.S. 170 in the Bronx, students exercised their right to vote, with the issue being how to spend more than $3000 to improve recess.

Option one: A plan to buy toys and games called “Indoor Playtime Fun,” with legos, craft kits and board games up for purchase.

Option two: A plan called “Easy Equipment,” to buy outdoor gear like bikes, scooters and soccer balls and goals.

What You Need To Know

  • At P.S. 170 in the Bronx, students exercised their right to vote, with the issue being how to spend more than $3000 to improve recess

  • It’s part of the city’s Civics for All program, which is a way to introduce students to participatory budgeting

  • Educators said it’s key for students to get into the habit of voting — and of caring about civic issues — when they are young

It’s part of the city’s Civics for All program — and a way to introduce students to participatory budgeting, a process used in many City Council districts to give voters a chance to determine how city money gets spent.

“It’s Civics Week, which is the best week of the year,” Jenna Ryall, director of Civics for All, said. “We have schools celebrating civic engagement, the power of registering to vote, participatory budgeting.”

For the students at P.S. 170, it’s an opportunity to make a choice usually made by grown-ups.

“It feels good because I’m able to make a decision,” second grader Peyton Collins said.

The process began months ago, when student council members formulated a list of things that could be improved with the money. Upgrades to recess won an initial schoolwide vote, so students put together these two proposals.

“If we had the stuff that we wanted and it was raining and we couldn’t go out for recess, we could just get the stuff and play with it,” Aaden Idrovo, also a second grader, said.

The outdoor recess proposal, meanwhile, argued the existing equipment was, as Zayvien Corona put it, “dusty, rusty and broken.”

Guy Rouchon, an instructional specialist with Civics for All, said it’s key for students to learn about voting early.

“The earlier they develop this habit and they learn how to stay active, how to be informed, the more likely they will be as adults, not only to vote but also to make sure to advocate for something that they’re truly passionate about,” he said.

This school serves students in three-K to second grade, and even though they’re far from voting age, they have lots of opinions.

“I think that it’s important that people understand that kids have something to say regardless of how old they are, right? So whether they’re five or whether they’re 15, they have opinions,” assistant principal Amanda Sloan said.

The students also got to count the votes and declare the winner: Indoor Playtime Fun, with 66 votes, beat Easy Equipment’s 44.