As some of you know, I have been working towards presenting a resolution to the Lancaster City Council, called Representation Week (Full Text Below). The essence of the resolution is simple: increase civic awareness, acknowledgement of the responsibility of our educators to instill a formative knowledge of how government works while Illuminating the importance of representation in a representative democracy.

The first draft was written by Jules Mermelstein (Thank you Jules!), while I added the lines relating to representation and representative democracy. The purpose of the resolution could not be more obvious in the climate we are living in today in this country: We need our schools to bring back civics education into schools, because our democracy depends on it.

I have gained support from city council members, local community leaders and recently the Spanish American Civic Association. I was just informed today by the executive administrative assistant to the superintendent of the Lancaster School District that the full school board will be looking at the resolution at their next meeting in August. I feel it is important that the school support the resolution before I make my case before the city council. I have sent the resolution to several local leaders, and while I have received positive feedback, there are still a few I am waiting to hear back from. But, here it is for you to preview. Please feel free to leave comments below.

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Representation Week Resolution
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Whereas Article IV Section 4 of the United States Constitution guarantees its citizens a form of government in which voters elect representatives to carry out the powers of government; and,
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Whereas Article I Section 2 of the Pennsylvania Constitution recognizes that all political power rests with the people; and,
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Whereas representation is an idea that requires elected officials be responsive to all of their constituents; and
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Whereas in a representative democracy, voters pick their representatives, and those elected to office are expected to be responsive to the will of the people; and
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Whereas the United States Constitution was submitted to the states for ratification on September 17, 1787; and,
Whereas many surveys have found that those in the United States are lacking in basic knowledge of the United States Constitution; and,
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Whereas it may be inferred that many of those in Pennsylvania are lacking in basic knowledge of the Pennsylvania Constitution;
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BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that [insert municipality] , County of [insert county], the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania proclaims the period of Sunday through Saturday, which includes September 17th each year, to be Representation Week and that our municipal officials should plan activities honoring the principles of representative democracy and both the United States and Pennsylvania Constitutions; and
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BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the municipality will encourage the School District of [insert school district name] to urge its faculty to emphasize the principles of representative democracy and both Constitutions as they apply to the subject of the classes taught during that week; and
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BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that our municipal representatives will implore our county commissioners to enact a Representation Week Proclamation honoring the principles of representative democracy and our Constitutions as outlined above.
