Emerson High School senior Stephon Wright was among the more than one dozen people who applied for the at-large seat on the School Board in December.
"I think the students need more say in the policy," he told the board. "They need to be able to speak and to have a voice."
Wright offered some simple solutions to problems in the district. Probably the most memorable: his perspective on how to increase parent involvement.
"You know what I come to find out draws a lot of people? Food. We need to have movie night or chili night or something like that," he said.
His main theme? Everybody in the district needs to start working together better. He likened the district to a family.
"The district needs to bring people together," he said. "Like I said, food brings people together. Family eats together. Family does a lot of things together. If we're going to be family, let's work together."
Well, Wright was not selected to fill the seat, which went to Barbara Seals Nevergold. But he drew a lot of interest from a number of board observers, who found him to make a compelling case for the merits of having a student voice at the board table.
Wright has since launched an effort to have the board add a non-voting student member -- something that a number of other districts in the state have done in recent years.
The District Parent Coordinating Council this month voted to support the idea, and Wright this week provided the board with a draft resolution to add a student member for the remainder of the school year.
Will it happen?
Stay tuned.
- Mary Pasciak
facebook.com/mary.pasciak twitter.com/SchoolZoneBlog mpasciak@buffnews.com
