BRIDGEPORT — Months after stripping any mention of student representatives from board agenda and bylaws, steps are being taken to restore them to the city school board as non-voting members.
The Students and Families committee of the board spent an hour late last week crafting a carefully worded policy that calls for the student bodies at each city high school to hold elections each September to serve as student representatives for the school year.
The top vote-getters would get to attend all meetings of the school board that are open to the public, recieve board materials and weigh in on matters presented to the policy-making panel. Election runners up would serve as alternates.
For the past few years, student reps have been hand-picked by high school principals and most give written reports that board members suspect are not written by them.
“It shouldn’t be happening but does,” Board Chairman John Weldon said, suggesting some principals, determined to make sure their school is presented in a positive light, tell students what to include in their reports.
When a majority of the board voted in February to completely rewrite board bylaws, student reports were dropped from the slimmed-down agendas.
Weldon said the intent wasn’t to silence students but rather move them to more prominent quarterly student and staff recognition program. The first such program was held last week in place of a regular school board meeting.
Instead of delivering their reports to the board, the reps went on stage at Batalla School to deliver it to a full audience. Some admitted to the standing-room only crowd they were nervous.
At regular board meetings, Weldon said the idea is to have student reps...
from News https://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Student-voices-to-return-to-Bridgeport-BOE-13726954.php
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