How a Bullfrog Becomes Law
Social studies teacher leads students to legislative success By Cameron Carr Photos courtesy of Shawn Kaeser
“I know so much about the bullfrog,” says Shawn Kaeser. “If I were tough enough to get a tattoo, it would be a bullfrog.” The Willard Grizzell Middle School social studies teacher’s fixation with the amphibian may seem odd, but it dates back two decades to an in-class example during a lesson on legislation. That eventually led to success at the statehouse and a bullfrog license plate – but it wasn’t without significant effort. In 2002, Kaeser’s students pointed out Ohio’s lack of a state amphibian. Soon, the class had hatched a plan to fill that void. “I thought, … ‘I need to get children to understand the legislative process,’ but generally if I just put slides up it’s not engaging at all,” Kaeser says. “It was kind of a safe way to approach it that they had a little bit of excitement and interest in.” The Bill-d Up First, Kaeser led his students in selecting an amphibian. Toads were deemed to have a bad reputation. Bullfrogs, popular in frog
The first student prototype of the bullfrog license plate, top, and the first bullfrog plate issued by the state of Ohio, bottom.
jump events throughout Ohio and found in all of the state’s 88 counties, seemed an easy and recognizable choice. Still, the civic engagement exercise proved more daunting than expected. “The goal really was just to get (students) involved,” Kaeser says. “I did not know from the very beginning that it would take eight to nine years to get the bullfrog approved as a symbol.” A student-led effort to create the bullfrog as a state symbol seemed a safe bet, but as often happens in politics, opposition soon arose. Students testifying to the Ohio Shawn Kaeser, front row far right, brought students to General Assembly faced testify before the Ohio House of Representatives while arguments countering that working to make the bullfrog a state symbol. 20 • April/May 2022
the bullfrog isn’t native to Ohio and are known to be cannibalistic. Students came and went, along with state representatives. Soon, a Cleveland-area middle school had a proposal to name the spotted salamander the state amphibian. A stalemate seemed inevitable. In another apt political lesson for students, negotiations between the two sides found a compromise: the salamander would become the state amphibian while the bullfrog became the state frog. “Honestly, I didn’t think it would ever go anywhere,” Kaeser says. “Finally, they struck a deal, which is what politics is all about.” Kaeser says that, while the long process didn’t go over well with graduating students, it provided a valuable example of how and why government decisions can progress at a snail’s pace. www.dublinlifemagazine.com
