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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Students Represent Peers On Lakeside’s School Board

The Nine Mile Falls School Board wants to design a student-friendly middle school, so who do they ask?

Heidi and Trevor.

Got a question about new curriculum. Turn to Heidi and Trevor.

They aren’t polished consultants. They are Lakeside High students, invited to the administration table to give school board members the perspective of their clients.

Though non-voting members, Heidi White and Trevor Smith are among the few of their peers statewide with positions on the school board.

“It makes the students feel like they are involved, instead of everyone making decisions for them,” said Smith, 15.

Sure, the experience is a resumebooster for college applications. But they are required to attend at least two meetings a month, and have stacks of board preparation material to absorb.

“I’m really impressed with the board,” said White, 17. “They usually bring up all sides of an issue.”

Unfortunately for them, discussions of debt service and interest rates are more common this year than spicy debates over open campuses or better school lunches.

The board is planning for a new middle school, to be paid for by a bond on the February ballot.

“There’s been nothing that I felt very passionate about,” said White.

“Not a lot of the issues are studentinvolved, so there’s a lot of listening,” said Smith, an aspiring politician.

It’s becoming increasingly common for boards to have student representatives, according to the state School Directors Association. There are no others in the Spokane area.

White was a student board representative of an alternative school in Anchorage, Alaska, but it was a very different experience.

There she helped create a student conduct code and other policies.

“I have to readjust, because I came from such a very liberal school,” said White.

Here, she has less authority. “It seems we are there for window dressing sometimes,” said White, 17. “My voice - the student voice - isn’t nearly as strong here.”

Smith and White tried to amplify the student voice last fall, when a group of students started grumbling about the closed campus policy.

They tried to organize a protest to the board, but enthusiasm fizzled.

“You just had a group of angry students, who would just walk out,” said White. “Trevor and I said ‘here’s how you do it, show the board why’ the policy should change.

“It was a very good experience,” she said.

Full-day kindergarten?

The Willard Elementary parent-teacher group is gathering opinion on a possible switch to a full-day kindergarten.

Christi Clarry, parent of a first-grader and a 4-year-old, said full-day kindergarten would be a boon to working parents.

“We have no day cares that transport to and from the school,” said Clarry, a pharmaceutical saleswoman heading the drive. That forces working parents to drive their kids to a day care for a half-day.

Most School District 81 kindergartens are half-days. Clarry would like to see a one-day on, one-day off, schedule, with Fridays a half-day.

The staff agrees with the idea, but the change would require special school board approval because it deviates from the union contract.

The school parent group organized a Jan. 22 meeting at the school. Parents of future Willard kindergartners are encouraged to come.

The meeting is at 7 p.m. at Willard, 500 W. Longfellow.

, DataTimes MEMO: Education Notebook is a regular feature of the North Side Voice. If you have news about an interesting program or activity at a North Side school or about the achievements of North Side students, teachers or school staff, please let us know. Deadline is Monday. Write: Jonathan Martin, Education Notebook, North Side Voice, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. E-mail: jonathanm@spokesman.com. Call: 459-5484. Fax: 459-5482.

Education Notebook is a regular feature of the North Side Voice. If you have news about an interesting program or activity at a North Side school or about the achievements of North Side students, teachers or school staff, please let us know. Deadline is Monday. Write: Jonathan Martin, Education Notebook, North Side Voice, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. E-mail: jonathanm@spokesman.com. Call: 459-5484. Fax: 459-5482.