IRVINE : Student Trustees Coached on Politics

People who attend school board meetings on a regular basis are familiar with the panel of student representatives who sit in front of the trustees. In some districts they cast straw votes alongside their adult counterparts; in others, the students just watch the proceedings and occasionally voice opinions during designated sections of the meetings.

On Thursday, more than 30 high school juniors and seniors who sit on district school boards throughout Southern California gathered at Woodbridge High School for a daylong symposium. The topic on many of their minds was how to get the adults to listen.

“A lot of people in education get so caught up in their jobs, in doing what they see as their jobs, that they lose sight of the people they’re doing it for, the students,” said Rebecca Toth, a member of the California Assn. of Student Councils, which sponsored the program. “The main goal of the program is to get students to be able to actually do something on the school boards.”

Another student, Jeff Melo of the Saddleback Valley Unified School District, said he has found that adults aren’t usually prepared to take action on students’ concerns.

“We don’t have the power, but the people who do have it aren’t listening,” he said.

The symposium included seminars on time organization and effective presentations. But Toth said the most important lessons were on how to deal with school board politics and how students can use their positions to advance the concerns of their classmates.

“A lot of them said that their principals don’t want them to talk about issues that will rock the boat,” Toth said. “So we suggest that they get together with some of the board members on a one-to-one basis and talk about what they feel are imminent concerns.”

In fact, diplomacy with the elected members is often the best way to get something done, said Maureen DeMarco, president of the California Assn. of Student Councils and a speaker at the symposium. And, she said, getting more students interested in important issues helps, too.