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Gaither students lay down the law

Well, almost. Four history students draft a bill as a class project. Now it's before the House.

By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
Published March 6, 2005

NORTHDALE - Leslie Geiger gently runs her fingers across House Bill 1263 as she reads it for the first time.

"Wow," the Gaither High junior says about the car insurance legislation. "This is exciting. I didn't think it was going to go this far."

Her three American history classmates - Mihaela Isac, Seth Arbour and Christine Rogers - share the enthusiasm. It is, after all, their idea.

"It started as a class project," Rogers explains. "Then they said (state Rep.) Kevin Ambler would take a bill for Gaither. . . . We decided, we might as well try."

Ambler, a Lutz Republican whose two children attend Gaither, said he came up with his "There Ought To Be A Law" contest while visiting the school for the Great American Teach-in. He spoke about writing bills, and students got interested.

They started talking about ideas for new laws, and the program practically created itself.

After winter break, 17 history and government classes researched their proposals and wrote bill language. A team of teachers and Ambler's staff trimmed the list to the three best, and the Gaither student body voted for the ultimate finalist.

Ambler said he would have been willing to put forth just about all of the student bills. The winner, which Sen. Victor Crist of Tampa is sponsoring in the Senate, could be strong public policy, he added.

"I think this bill has as good a chance as any other," Ambler said.

Geiger jokingly calls the legislation "Lory's bill" after her mom, Lory Geiger. While teaching at Cimino Elementary, her mom had her car stolen three times, and each time she retrieved the car from the impound lot, the fees counted toward her insurance deductible.

The students decided that didn't seem fair. Their bill would prohibit insurance companies from counting towing and impound fees as part of a policy's deductible provisions.

The idea beat out a proposal to give annual vision tests to all drivers, and one that would make living will forms available with driver's license applications.

Isac recalled that her group arrived quickly at its subject matter. She couldn't even remember what other topics came up.

They just knew they did not want to do something already done, and they wanted to stay far from education law.

"I was trying to come up with something we thought would pass," Geiger said. "When you mess with the school system, the chance is less."

As Arbour noted, "A lot of peoples' lives revolve around cars."

The rest of the work involved researching past laws, statistics on stolen cars, and other details.

"They worked hard," teacher Shelli Whitworth said. "They kept it secret, so no one would steal their idea. They were very serious about their research."

Whitworth was pleased the students took the final vote so seriously. On election day, she said, she heard animated, detailed conversations in the hallways about cost implications and impact on different groups of society.

For Isac, it provided an extra special experience. She's an exchange student from Moldova, a country where the elected government is controlled by the Communist Party. She says citizens there have no such opportunity to influence their laws.

"The laws are made so much differently here," she said. "I'm glad I had the chance to see this bill here and had a chance to say something about a foreign country's law."

Next up for her and the others is a trip to Tallahassee, where Ambler and Crist plan to have the students present the bill to committees. Ambler says he will teach the students how to lobby, giving such pointers as how to prepare for detractors and how to anticipate the tough questions.

"They will pick up, maybe, some inspiration for getting involved in the process themselves," Ambler said.

If the process is successful, he said, it could expand to the other high schools in Ambler's district next year, and perhaps statewide.

"The future of our state lies in these young people," Ambler said. "This could revolutionize the way we teach civics."

It's already done its part at Gaither.

Rogers said she rarely paid attention to politics before, and now she's interested. Geiger said she feels good that adults are taking student ideas seriously.

Senior class president Carly Gonzalez, who helped run the schoolwide election, said she was proud to know that Gaither might set the standard for a program that soon could pop up all over Florida.

"Students aren't just the rebellious teenagers they read about in the newspapers all the time," Gonzalez said. "They are out there, making a difference."

- Jeffrey S. Solochek can be reached at 813 269-5304 or solochek@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 5, 2005, 08:12:04]