O’Fallon Township High School: A democracy school focused on civics engagement

O’Fallon Township High School, a school of 2,600 students in O’Fallon, Illinois (just east of St. Louis Missouri) was recently designated a Democracy School by the Illinois Civic Mission Coalition. This special designation recognizes schools for providing students with authentic experiences in the rights, responsibilities and tensions of a constitutional democracy. Through these experiences, participating schools equip students with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for informed and effective engagement in our democracy.

Christopher Busse, social studies chair and one of the drafters of the O’Fallon Township High School’s application for Democracy School status, attributes achievement of the designation to the school’s long-standing culture of student civic engagement and community service, which permeates classes and extracurricular activities. Social studies and other faculty members make use of the Choices Materials from Brown University. These materials stress critical thinking, multiple perspectives, and textual analysis, with use of primary sources. For example, one history teacher requires students to do an oral history of a veteran, which are then incorporated into a student-produced documentary. In this way, students learn the history of the nation along with individual stories.

In one social studies elective offered at O’Fallon Township High School, students have several opportunities for interactive civics engagement. This class includes opportunities to serve as jurors for Washington University Law School’s Moot Trials; to travel to the local courthouse to participate in a question-and-answer session with a judge, prosecuting attorney and defense attorney; and to take on different roles in the American adversarial system through a mock trial experience.

In another elective offered at the school, students are encouraged to participate in the McKendree University Model United Nations Conferences in the fall and spring. Students research and represent the international interests of different world countries in a forum with representatives from other area schools.

O’Fallon Township High School students are also regular participants in both the Illinois State Bar Association Mock Trial Invitational Program, in which students prosecute and defend a lawsuit, and the teen court of St. Clair County, a unique juvenile justice program that allows first-time, non-violent offenders to appear before a special peer jury after admitting guilt.

Civic engagement is not limited to the classroom at O’Fallon Township High School. Without any administrative directive, faculty (in their classes) and students (in their clubs and activities) tend to gravitate toward community involvement. Just a few examples of this include:

• the Gay-Straight Alliance teams up with the Wellness Club to sponsor a blood drive;

• the Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps participates in the Special Olympics bowling program;

• the Robotics club hosts a pennies for patients’ fundraiser for the Leukemia/Lymphoma society;

• the Honor Society organizes a food drive; and

• the art club produces sculptures for the city’s parks.

Because of their focus on civic engagement, O’Fallon Township High School is well-prepared for the new requirement that students take a full semester of civics while in high school. The school requires five semesters of social studies, including a semester course in civics or American government, two semesters of American history, and two additional semesters of electives from the social studies curriculum.

O’Fallon Township High School and neighboring Granite City High School, also recently named a Democracy School, join Belleville East High School and Belleville West High School as examples of Metro-East schools in which civic engagement is alive and well. 