School Boards to include student representation

In the interest of including different perspectives in important decisions, the Lind and Ritzville School Boards were recently joined by two student representatives, Crystal Silva from Lind School District and Emma Aldrich from Ritzville School District.

Silva and Aldrich were selected to attend board meetings for the year, to provide insight from the perspective of students, and to share with their fellow students the topics discussed during meetings.

While the decisions made during board meetings directly impact the students, the topics of discussion are seldom able to be analyzed by the students themselves.

Superintendent Matthew Ellis explained of the traditional methods, “In education, we have adult conversations. We don’t always ask kids how they’d like their education to be like.”

With the new student involvement, Ellis continued, “Their purpose is to gain and give insight… [through] a different filter, lens, or perspective.”

The idea of including student representatives to the board is not a novel idea: “A lot of districts have already done this,” said Ellis, including Pasco, Prosser, and Naches School Districts in his list.

Many students applied for the two student representative positions. In selecting the best applicants for the spots, they considered who had existing leadership experience, as well as who the position’s additional leadership experience would benefit.

Rising juniors and seniors were allowed to apply, as Ellis felt “at that age in their schooling, they have those years of [leadership] experience and are read to tackle the adult conversations.”

Silva, ready to take on the leadership role, explained, “What made me want to apply for the student rep position was that I thought it would be a good opportunity to show the school board a student’s point of view.”

Of his expectations of the student representatives, Ellis explained, “Participation in the process is two-fold.”

Not only does the board hope to hear about current events or the occasional student opinion, but they hope representatives will educate themselves about school systems.

“As a board,” began Lind School Board Chair Rena Wahl, “we have wanted Student Representatives for a few years now. We look forward to hearing from students and getting their perspective on pertinent topics.”

Specifically, Ritzville School Board Chair Marci Miller explained she expects representatives to “report on current happenings within the student body, to be able to answer ASB accounting, to give feedback on courses and curriculum, and to relate any needs of student environment.”

“I would also like the student reps to feel free to give their true and honest opinion to matters that affect the student body,” Miller added.

Regarding the weight of the input of student representatives, Wahl noted, “Student input will have great value. It will not and cannot weigh equal to Board members.”

Student representatives will not be voting members of the board.

“But,” Wahl added, student input “will and can weigh equal to community members.”

Miller noted the unique quality of student input, “They have an insight to the world of current happenings within our system that we as a board and as a community cannot bring to the table.”

She added, “By opening this position within our system, we can greatly improve the ‘inside happenings’ in our district.”

Already, Silva has grown as a student and a student leader. She explained, “By being at a meeting, I learned more about what the school is all about.”

Silva added, “I learned that the community has a big impact… and because of that, we have so many opportunities.”

“My hope,” Miller concluded of the 2017-2018 school year and beyond, “is that this will bring us new insight and positive impact directly for each and every student that comes to us.”