After Spring Valley SRO incident, Richland 2 forming Student Advisory Council

Students soon will have the opportunity to be more involved in shaping and providing feedback on school district polices in Richland 2.

A direct communication avenue between students and the school board is an idea that school board chairman James Manning said he has been thinking about for “a long time.”

But the controversial disciplinary incident involving a student and a school resource officer at Spring Valley High School, which recently ignited dialogues on numerous issues both locally and nationally, was an impetus for creating the Student Advisory Council, Manning said.

“We were having lots of community conversations, and one of the questions that came up was, ‘Where is the student voice in our conversations?’ ” Manning said.

The Student Advisory Council, to be composed of students from every district high school and middle school and the alternative school, will meet annually with school board members to discuss “items of interest, inquiry and concern.” Those discussions could cover, for instance, school board policies, practices and procedures at schools, activities and opportunities, budget priorities, school safety and current events such as cell phone usage and school resource officers.

As a policy-making school board, Manning said, “we just don’t get a chance to really have that concerted, very deliberate effort to sit down and have a conversation” with students.

The school board’s Student Advisory Council will be separate from an existing student group, which mainly consists of high school student leaders, that reports to the superintendent.

Eighteen students — two from each high school, one from each middle school and one from the alternative school — will be selected by an application process and meet with school board members each spring.

The district hopes to have students representing a diversity of races, genders and academic achievement levels, Manning said.

A number of other Midlands districts have student council models similar to the one proposed in Richland 2.

In Lexington 1, for example, the Student Advisory Council meets monthly during the school year and gives feedback on a number of issues to district administrators, including on proposed policies, academic calendars and budgets.

Lexington-Richland 5 also has a student council that meets with the superintendent. The group was established by superintendent Steve Hefner, who previously was superintendent of Richland 2 schools.

A recent issue students brought to Hefner and district leaders was a concern about how often grades were updated and posted so students could get their scholarship applications submitted on time, district spokesman Mark Bounds said.

“Students are our customers,” Bounds said. “The reason we exist is to serve students and students’ families, and a part of that is getting feedback.”

In Richland 1, a Student Advisory Council composed of high school students appointed by their principals meets with the superintendent several times during the school year. School board members also go to schools to meet with middle and high school students for sessions they call “Chat with the Chair.”

“The students appreciate that we’re even asking,” superintendent Craig Witherspoon said. “Sadly, often in education the student voice is the last one we even listen to. Students should be the first voice to be heard.”

Applications for Richland 2’s Student Advisory Council will be taken this semester, and the group is planned to be active in the next school year.

This story was originally published February 3, 2016 at 4:56 PM.