Ward, Johnson mostly agree on student input

There ought to be a student advisory board to provide input to the Board of Education, says Republican mayoral candidate Ken Johnson.
Johnson said his proposal would have the school board “run any and all policy changes” through a new Student Policy Advisory Board.
“This panel would not prohibit the Board of Education from making policy changes,” Johnson said in a recent press release. “It would simply add a valuable student perspective to proposed changes in board policy.”
Johnson and Democrat Art Ward are vying for the chance to take the mayor’s office from retiring Republican Mayor William Stortz in the Nov. 6 municipal election.
Ward said Monday that he could go along with the idea.
“I don’t have any problem with having students sit in on an advisory capacity,” Ward said.
Ward said the school board “has to grasp the realization that all the public needs to be kept informed of the policies and decisions” it makes.
Though Ward added that “sometimes, you just sit there and you create more bureaucracy than may be beneficial,” he said that giving a bigger role to students is worthwhile as long as everyone remembers that school board members are responsible for making the final decisions.
In his press release, Johnson said that hopes his idea will be considered because it “has been far too long since the Board of Education has looked at, and attempted to understand the concerns of today’s students.”
“We’re good a studying statistics, but why not actually ask the students what they think?” Johnson asked.
Johnson said he believes that a non-voting panel made up of elected class presidents from each grade in both of the high schools should provide for student opinion and input to school board members.
“The panel would provide for another viewpoint to the board as well as encourage discussion and debate about changing school policy which directly affects our city’s youth,” Johnson said.
“I think this could be a great learning experience for our student leaders and a great opportunity to encourage youth participation in local government,” Johnson said.
“Since decisions are being made by people who no longer attend our public schools, I would think that the Board of Education would be interested in student input in their effort to make well informed decisions,” Johnson said.

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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com