BPS students work the polls as program turns 10

Boston Public Schools announced Nov. 5 that BPS students served as poll workers for the Nov. 3, 2026, election, as the Student Poll Worker Program marks its 10th year. The program, run with the City of Boston Department of Elections, launched in 2017.

The program is open to students who will be at least 16 years old by Election Day, and the work is paid. Depending on their assignments, students may serve as greeters, interpreters or inspectors at polling locations across the city. BPS said they help voters find their way, answer questions and support polling place operations.

The district also announced that Mansur Buffins, an instructional coach at Orchard Gardens K-8 School, is one of seven semifinalists for 2027 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year. The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education selected the semifinalists after 347 nominations from across the state.

Buffins joined Boston Public Schools in 2022 as a substitute teacher. He later taught humanities at Community Academy before moving into instructional coaching, and he joined Orchard Gardens in September 2026. "I work in education in the tradition of excellent educators such as Dr. Carter G. Woodson and Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune," Buffins said.

BPS also highlighted Jean Carlos Rodriguez, a Grade 12 student at the Horace Mann School for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing, who was scheduled to serve as a student journalist at the second annual State of the Schools address. Mayor Michelle Wu was set to deliver the address Monday, Oct. 19, at UMass Boston, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Rodriguez, a founding member of the school newspaper The Cougar Times, was to be part of the press scrum after the speech.

Source: Boston Public Schools announcement, November 5, 2026.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the original announcement.