Thought someone in here might be interested...

Student group seeks to educate school boards on value of young voices

By STACY NICK
StacyNick@coloradoan.com

While school boards often have a mix of viewpoints -- educators, parents, businesspeople -- there is one voice that is sorely lacking on most boards, according to one local group.
The Colorado Association for Student Representation is asking local school boards to appoint student representatives to bring some balance to school politics, said the group's founder Sabrina Karim, 19.

Because students have an obvious stake in decisions made at the board level, they should have a role in making those decisions, said Karim, who graduated from Fort Collins High School in 2003.

But state law prohibits electing any one younger than 18 to a school board, which leaves students like Fort Collins High School senior Kayla Steele, 17, with few options.

"Students would really love to get involved," Steele said. "I know I sit around with my friends and we complain about things like (the state's student achievement test) and how it has no effect. And I know if we had a chance to fix it, we would, but right now there is a feeling of disillusionment and that no one really cares."

While they would not be allowed to vote, students could be appointed to boards to make recommendations and provide valuable insight to board members, said Lauren Kingsbery, legal counsel for the Colorado Association of School Boards.

It also would be educational for students.

"It's a good form of civic participation," she said.

While many say it's a good idea, few are walking the walk, said Karim, who also is lobbying the Colorado Board of Education to appoint student representatives. Only 15 of the nation's 50 state boards of education and a handful of Colorado school districts have student appointees helping make board decisions, Karim said.

State Sen. Peggy Reeves and state Rep. Angie Paccione, both of Fort Collins, sponsored a bill in January that would have created positions for student advisory officers on the Colorado Board of Education and asked local boards to consider doing the same. The bill died in committee, but Karim is keeping the issue alive.

Only one member of the state's board of education has a background in K-12 education, she said.

"That tells me that they haven't been in a school for a while," Karim said. "We need to close the (experience) gap."

For the past three years the Pueblo School District's Board of Education has brought in student advisers for its meetings. Two students from each of the district's four high schools give the board updates on student questions and concerns, but they do not have any decision-making role, board secretary Donna Like said. It's a move that has been well received by the board and students, Like added.

This fall, Poudre School District's Board of Education might look at appointing a student representative, board President Ross Cunniff said. Members from Karim's group spoke with the board this spring about adding a student representative.

Getting student insight is always helpful, Cunniff said, but recently it also could have saved the board time and energy.

When the board chose Harmony High School for the name of its new school, students and parents came out against the name, and after months of discussion, the board renamed the school Fossil Ridge High School.

"A student representative might have helped us get to a better answer faster," Cunniff said.

But while the representative, or representatives, would be involved in all public discussions, Cunniff said they would not be privy to confidential information such as student expulsions or staff records.

Throughout the state Karim has come up against people who feel students aren't competent or reliable enough to be part of such important decisions, but they're not giving students enough credit, she said.

"Contrary to popular belief, we are not just out to have a good time," Karim said. "We have something to say."


Originally published Thursday, July 29, 2004

For more information on the Colorado Association for Student Representation, contact Sabrina Karim at sabrina@studentreps.org or 310-4793. The group's Web site, www.studentreps.org, will be online in two weeks.

For more information on students on school boards, visit http://www.soundout.org/Guide.106.htmv

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Youth Rights Resources
http://freechild.org/SNAYR