Getting a New Street Light in Your Town
Authored by: Gail Perry, China Middle School

Grade Level: 5-8 (adaptable to 9-12)

The MLR performance indicators listed below are for illustrative purposes. Depending on the focus of the lessons as developed by individual teachers, these indicators may or may not be addressed. Conversely this is not a definitive listing of all of the performance indicators which could be addressed in this lesson.

MLR - Middle Grades: Social Studies: (Civics A - 1, 2); Language Arts: (Reading A - 2, 4, 8, 9, 11), (Literature B - 9), (Information D - 5, 6, 8), (Writing/Speaking E - 3), (Conventions F - 2), (Stylistic/ Rhetorical G - 6, 7, 10), (Research H - 7, 8); Visual and Performing Arts: (Creative Expression A - 9), (Criticism C -5); Mathematics: (Number sense A - 3, 4), (Computation B - 2), (Statistics C - 1, 2, 3), (Patterns G - 1, 2, 3), (Reasoning J - 1, 2), (Communication K - 2)

Task Description

1. Students will role play or debate the placing of new street lights.
2. Students will research current requirements, if they exist in the town, and investigate the process of getting a street light on their chosen corner.
3. They will also collect data on costs and numbers of existing street lights in town.

Student Products/Performances

1. Using their town's street light policy or the one provided by MMA from an actual small Maine town, students will gather the necessary data and fill out the provided application for a street light.
2. They will talk to municipal officials in their town to discover the financial requirements of budgeting for a new street light and how to get a new light installed.
3. They will submit a request, following the requirements, with supporting data to an official or role play a municipal board hearing requests.

Resources

Street Light Siting Policy (Real policy from a real Maine town)
       Application for Municipal Street Light Siting (This is a real application from a small town in Maine)
       Street Light Siting Application Instruction Sheet
Fee Schedule for Street Lights for Towns and Schools from Central Maine Power

How to conduct a Public Hearing from Maine Townsman, April 1976, 1998, by Clifford H. Goodall, Esq.
Chairman's "Aide Memoire" for Conducting ZBA Variance Hearings from MMA's Handbook for Local Appeals Boards: A Legal Perspective, August 1989. This outline was prepared by the Southern Maine Regional Planning Commission.
Rules for City Council Proceedings (can easily be used for conducting hearings or meeting situations)
Sample Petition (if needed)
      Voters' Petition Paper for Town Meeting or Secret Ballot Vote on an Article of Business
Petitions for Town Meetings from Town Meeting and Elections Manual, MMA
Municipal Official (Planning Board, Code Enforcement Officer, Selectman, or Town Manager)
Data on current costs and budget process (see budget lesson plans for materials (Budgeting - The Basics, Part 1, Making Budget Choices, or Approving a Town Budget).

Criteria for Evaluating Quality of Product or Performance

Quality of argument and data collected to support it;
Completeness of the application; and
Did the municipal official or the role playing authority feel that they would get the light?