Student Board Member

[Amie Fredericks]

For those boards who have a student representative sitting at the table, how do you engage that student member? We have the senior class president sitting at our table and he reports on the "senior happenings" but we want to utilize him more. I'm wondering how other boards incorporate their student member. Thank you!

[Kimberly Tully]

We have 3 student board reps. There is a section in our agenda for “student representatives reports” where they share anything they deem necessary. And when appropriate, depending on the agenda item, we ask them for feedback/opinion on how it’ll impact students.

[Wade Abbott]

While we don't have a formal student board member, we do have student representatives who report to the board at every other meeting. We have three high school seniors, and this year, we added two middle school students, who report out on the events that are taking place in our school buildings. We often ask follow-up questions after their presentations, and we always thank them for their time. This year we also held a pre-meeting dinner (just pizza and subs) at the beginning of the school year to allow school board members to get to know the student representatives better.

[Paul Haggett]

We have had a student ex-officio board member for the last 7 years or so. The member is chosen by the HS student council and vetted by a guidance counselor, the Student Council advisor and a secretary. The student member has a report built into the “reports from Board Members” part of our agenda, and s/he reports on current events at the HS and sometimes weighs in on more substantive issues involving the student body. Our ex-officio last year was very engaged and was instrumental in a school climate survey being conducted last year for the first time post-Covid. Having a student rep at the board table is a wonderful way for us to stay that much closer to student issues and opinions.

[Keith R Hanvey]

Our student board member has the chance to speak during reports and presentations part of our meetings, usually after the Superintendents report .

[Rob Curtis]

We have had a student board member for 8-10 years. The high school accepts applications from Juniors towards the end of the school year. The students are interviewed by a committee at the high school and one member and one alternate are chosen to begin a term the following September.
Most of the student board members have an open Google Survey to gather student input. Some have had open hours for students to come with concerns. Sometimes the building principal will suggest some topics to cover.
We also utilize the student board member to attend some functions that take place during the school day.