John Powers’ seventh grade history students made history of their own last Friday when they became the first class to teleconference with members of the Maine State Legislature.

At 8 a.m. on June 3 the students filed into the computer lab at Jordan Small Middle School in Raymond to speak to State Sen. Bill Diamond and Rep. John Robinson up in Augusta. The teleconference was part of the school’s arrangement with Polycom to demo the equipment on loan to the school.

Students listened attentively while Diamond and Robinson outlined a typical day in the legislature. The two men took turns sharing their schedules and explaining the differences between the Senate and the House.

“Some people say it’s more fun in the House and that the Senate is a bunch of old, stodgy people,” said Diamond.

They also gave examples of some of the bills they discuss in their legislative sessions.

“We debate things as interesting as how to define a cord of wood,” said Robinson, laughing, “whether it’s a loosely stacked cord or a tightly stacked cord. Seriously, if you can think about it, we’ve probably debated it.”

Once they had finished their overview, Diamond and Robinson asked for questions from the students and, though somewhat reserved at first, the seventh graders posed a variety of questions for the two men to answer. From, “What do you think of the ‘No Child Left Behind’ initiative?” (Both men feel the intent is good but have reservations about how to carry it out) to “Why did you leave education?” (to Sen. Diamond, who said he misses being in education at least some of the time), students asked thoughtful questions and received detailed replies.

Diamond and Robinson had questions for the students, as well. Sen. Diamond asked their opinion on a bill currently under deliberation in Augusta: If a student is truant from school (absent from school without an excuse for seven days in a row or 10 days a term) should he/she be allowed to obtain a driver’s license? After some discussion and additional clarification of terms and conditions, the students voted by a show of hands that the question should become law. Of course, the students who were present for the vote were not truancy problems, pointed out Lisa Friedlander, Raymond School Board member and the one responsible for securing the loan of the equipment.

Friedlander has researched the teleconferencing companies extensively, contacting both Polycom and Tandberg to request trial periods for their products. The school has had use of the Polycom equipment for about four weeks. During that time, they have teleconferenced twice with NASA and with an art museum, tying the experiences into the school’s curriculum.

Many organizations are available and willing to teleconference with groups of students at no charge to the school. After testing both systems, Friedlander hopes to receive grant money to purchase the preferred equipment for the school.

Friday’s teleconference, which lasted 45 minutes, ended with the two legislators encouraging students to pursue their interest in government and to run for political office.

“Don’t think age is an issue,” said Rep. Robinson.

“Believe you can do it,” said Sen. Diamond.

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