Kudos to the Wiscasset school system having students attend a selectboard meeting to observe local government. This makes it real for them, and is also nice for the selectmen and others to be able to welcome them and, in the Wiscasset meeting, by Selectman William “Bill” Maloney, explain a little to them about some of the board’s business.

The Wiscasset meeting students attended was pretty tame, as were the topics, all important, but none which sparked heat from participants or attendees. The Alna one, while devoid of the yelling, profanity and sheriff’s department calling that have occurred, was probably more a lesson in: Meetings can be messy, and maybe some people in the room are not going to invite one another to their birthday parties, but somehow, and however uncomfortably, each piece of town business gets done or continues to be worked on. 

A Wiscasset Middle High School press release noted the students attended the meetings as part of the “principles of democracy” course. And there democracy was, at both meetings, with two very different feels, and everything useful to understanding government affairs.

We hope the students as adults will be lifelong voters and, if inclined, run for office in their town.

As they saw, a meeting is what you and everyone else make it, collectively.

Week’s positive parting thought: Taking this one, albeit out of context, from Alna Third Selectman Coreysha Stone in the middle of the board’s Sept. 21 meeting. She noted, “We’re all in this together.” A good reminder in government at any level, and a hallmark of, you know, democracy.