A presentation of AIT.

- It's messy. It is freedom and it's rules. It's rights and responsibilities. It's conflict and resolution. 
- Both empowerment and compromise. 
- It is justice. It is individual and it's collective. 
- It's fairness, respect and values. 
- It is equality. It is truth. It is government and it's choices. It's passionate. It's problem solving. It's action and it's possible. It's me, my family and my community. "Democracy it is." 
- All: Democracy it is!

- Mom? I'm over at Haley's. Can I stay longer? What? Right now? Okay, okay. My mom wants me to clean my room. I forgot it before I left. 
- How long will that take? 
- Well, it's kind of a mess, but probably not too long. 
- My room is always neat. I can't leave home if it's not. 
- Hey, I've got an idea. Why don't you guys help me? 
- No way! 
- Oh man, this is gonna take all day! 
- Well, what are you waiting for? The sooner you get home, the quicker you'll be done. 
- Okay. 
- Wait! How about if Lily and I tag along on the way? 
- You'll help me clean up? 
- Nope, nice try! Haley and I can hang out at the park. 
- Yeah, we found a shortcut. 
- A shortcut? Cool.

- Student Council is for grades two through five here at the elementary school. 
- The way that the room is arranged in a semi-circle, it's like knights of the round table. So, everybody has a voice. 
- We vote. 
- This is a group of kids that are learning about government. 
- Student Council, in a way, is like government. 
- Well, we had an election. 
- We had to give a speech for the class. 
- I made a speech, because I really wanted to win it. 
- I started it a couple of days early, so I could, like, practice it and get it down. 
- There were a lot of people running against each other. 
- Then we would elect who we thought would be the best people. I knew that I might not make it. I was really glad that I was elected. 
- It was cool to get elected. 
- It is, like, kind of a big responsibility. 
- Because, they have to show up for meetings. They have to bring ideas from their fellow students. 
- They depend on us, because they voted for us. I think we should show them that we can be depended on. 
- What would you like to do for this month? Somebody make a motion. 
- I suggest crazy hat day. 
- I second that motion. 
- All in favor of crazy hat day say, aye. 
- Aye. 
- Opposed? All opposed? 
- Nay. 
- The aye's have it. That means the motion passes and we're going to have crazy hat day.

- Boys and girls, give yourselves a hand. You did a great job. We have five minutes to spare. 
- We're having a special lunch at school. Somebody thought of it at Student Council. 
- I think it's a good idea. 
- We decided we wanted to do it. 
- Kids voted on it. 
- I think it's a great idea. 
- Some people on Student Council invited some senior citizens. 
- We thought this might be a good chance. Senior citizens don't really get to go out a lot. 
- Like, if they're lonely, they could have people to talk to, and stuff. 
- This is quite an honor to be invited to this. They put on quite a feed. 
- And special food that we don't usually have. 
- It's pretty impressive, I'll tell you. 
- I think the students should feel proud of what they have accomplished. 
- I think that Student Council was a very good idea. 
- I think it gives the kids a voice. The best thing I see is the connection between these students and people in the community. 
- It can't get any better than that. 
- I want to be in it next year again.

- The shortcut's right here. 
- We found the path over there.

- I don't see the path. 
- But it is here. We found it a couple weeks ago. 
- This is taking too long. Maybe we should just go back to the regular way. 
- No, look, over here! That's the path, but I don't remember all that!

- It looks like somebody used our shortcut. 
- Or abused it. This is disgusting! 
- It was a great place. I thought we could make a hideout here. 
- Me too, but not now. 
- Yeah, who wants to hideout in a dump? Anyway, my mom's waiting. Is this where the path goes through? 
- Yep, from here on it's easy. 
- You coming? 
- Nah, we're going to head back to my house. 
- See you later. 
- Why did someone do this? It spoils it for everyone. 
- Yeah, especially for us, and our hideout.

- I have two best friends in my classroom, Max and Templeton. And they're rats. This is Templeton. 
- This is Max. 
- This is Templeton. 
- This is Max. 
- That's Templeton. 
- This is Templeton. 
- And we love the rats as much as they love us. 
- A man from the Humane Society gave us the rats, so they can have a better home. 
- Max and Templeton here are domesticated rats. They've changed from the wild kind. 
- Our responsibility is to take care of the rats. We have to give them food, make sure they have space, and give them water. 
- We started hearing that they were not allowing teachers to bring in animals 
- The school board said that we couldn't have animals in classes because we could be allergic to them or sick. 
- It was frustrating, because I was like, well, why do they have to take the rats away today? 
- They obviously wanted to do something. 
- Should animals be allowed in classrooms? 
- Yeah. 
- Why, or why not? 
- Marcus is saying they might not have owners. Do the animals at the Humane Society have owners? 
- No. 
- No, so you're helping them out. Let's try the why nots. 
- Gabby, go ahead. 
- They might get out of their cage. 
- Emma? 
- Kids might be allergic to them. 
- If people are allergic to animals, then you could just take the pets out of that class and then other classes would have pets. 
- The school board, they will talk about these reasons, a lot of the same reasons that you've given here. 
- We wrote letters to the school board, because we wanted to change the rules so we can have the rats back. 
- It's not a law, but it's a policy. So, it's similar to a law in a way, and that you just don't have to accept that if you feel that it's unfair. There's things you can do about it. 
- Dear school board. We like the rats, but you changed the rules. 
- I think you should not have the rule that you can't have pets at school or in classrooms. 
- I wrote a letter, and it was in the newspaper. That meant that other people could see it and say well, "I could change my mind about not letting the rats in the classrooms." 
- I feel they've learned a lot about how to be a citizen in our society. 
- It is important to express your opinion 'cause you might change a rule.

(phone rings)
 
- Hello? 
- It's me. 
- You're done already? 
- Yeah, it wasn't so hard once I got started. Is Lily still there? 
- Yeah. 
- I've got an idea. Meet me back in the park, back at the hideout place in the woods. 
- Go there? With all that trash? 
- Don't worry, just meet me there in 15 minutes. 
- He wants us to meet him at that trash pile. 
- I think I'd really rather not. 
- Come on, just meet me there. I've got a plan. 
- He says he's got a plan. 
- This better be good. 
- See you there. 
- Okay. 
- Bye, mom!

- We're just here to save animals. 
- When I found out about it, I just wanted to go out and help. 
- A long time ago, people, they used to just shoot dogs in the head. 
- I've been working out there since the beginning. 
(barking)
 
- Dalhart is a pretty small town. 
- Everybody knows everybody here. 
- About 7,000 people in the city. 
- The only bad thing about it is a lot of dogs running around without homes. 
- Some people don't like dogs, and they just let them go. 
- I don't know how they could do that to their dogs. 
- My students came to me with this problem, because we had read in the paper that they were euthanizing over 600 in our city. 
- We just heard about all these dogs being euthanized. 
- We used to be killing a lot more dogs than New York City would be. 
- It's an amazing figure for a town of 7,000 people, that you're putting down that many animals each year. 
- Her 4th grade class told her that they didn't want them doing that anymore, so they asked the city for some land, and they fixed it all up and made the shelter. No dogs are killed out there. They keep on feeding them until they can find them a home. 
- You know, it was the kids' idea, and I don't think they ever dreamed it would be as large as it is.

- It's a paw, a dog paw. 
- DAWGS, D-A-W-G-S, Dalhart Animal Wellness Group and Sanctuary. 
- You must have on warm clothes because it's really cold out there. They said it's below 30 already. 
- We took an action to help animals and not just sit around, watch TV all day. We wanted to go out there and help. 
- I feel like all these dogs are mine and it's just like, I have to be responsible, so I can take care of all these babies. 
- They're not just dogs. They have human characteristics, too. 
- They have feelings. They have hearts that beat. They're lovable, like people can be. They're nurturing. 
- Very, very loveable, and cute and cuddly. 
- It makes me feel so happy, being with them. 
- We're helping as many dogs as we can. We give them water and food. And it's not just the fun stuff, we have to clean their pens out. 
- It's pretty hard to work out there with all the weather conditions. 
- It's pretty cold out here. 
- It's windy! 
- Everything's been freezing. And if we didn't break the ice, then they wouldn't have any water. And this came out of one of their buckets. 
- I think the problem in Dalhart, and I think probably it's a national problem, is people aren't responsible. 
- If they want a dog, they should have the responsibility to take care of it; feed, water, clean it. 
- That's why we've got 500 dogs out there at the shelter. 
- We've adopted out over 2,500 dogs. 
- When a dog gets adopted, it makes me feel happy, because they're finally getting into a home, which makes more room at the shelter for more dogs to come in, so we can help more dogs. 
- It's kind of sad letting them go. It's like, I'm letting go one of my own dogs. 
- I feel happy, but I cry. But I feel happy that they're getting a new home. It's like tears of joy. 
- Because I want the dogs to live, have good lives.

- Here he comes. 
- So, what's your plan? 
- This. 
- More trash? 
- Trash bags and gloves. 
- That's your plan? 
- Look, if we clean this place up, it can be our hideout. 
- I thought you hated cleaning up. 
- Well, yeah, but it won't take too long if we all work. 
- It is a cool place. 
- I'm responsible for my room. But a park, too? 
- You want a hideout, right? 
- Yeah. 
- Just think of it as your other room. 
- Very funny. Okay, let's get to work. 
- I can't wait till we get done. This will be awesome!

- To learn more about our program, visit our Web site: democracyitis.ecb.org