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District Sparks Controversy By Busing Students To Polls

The Guilford County Schools administration building in downtown Greensboro. KERI BROWN/WFDD

The Guilford County School district has been busing students to local polling places so they can vote, register to vote, or just observe the process. But officials there are split over the activity.

Administrators say the polling place field trips will help educate students on citizenship. But The News & Record reports the initiative has caused a rift between school leaders. 

Board Vice-Chairwoman Linda Welborn said the idea caught her by surprise after people began contacting her with questions. She expressed concerns about the expense, student absences and whether there might be a perception of ulterior political motives.

But Superintendent Sharon Contreras says the field trips help to eliminate barriers to registering and voting. She also points out that state law encourages schools to register students to vote.

Officials say about 6,900 Guilford County Schools students are eligible to participate in the trips if they are 18 or will be by November 3, Election Day. 

Copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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