Student rep coming to Revere board?

by Sheldon Ocker

May 12 board of education work session

A new member of the Revere Board of Education proposed something new for the district: a student representative being added to the school governing body.

Jennifer Burke, who won a seat on the board in last November’s election, asked her fellow board members to consider adding a high school junior or senior as a non-voting member to gauge student interest and support for various board decisions.

“So the purpose of doing this would be to bring that student voice to our board discussions, not only so we learn a little bit more about the students’ needs and what they are interested in, but I think it’s also a great opportunity for our students to participate in policy setting and see how things run,” Burke said.

She suggested a student board member should be a junior or senior in good academic standing, show up to meetings prepared to give a presentation and be allowed to ask questions of board members and others who come before the body. A student board member would not be permitted to vote on any issue.

Burke also proposed as an option that the board add two students, one junior and one senior.

“A junior could serve for two years and really get to know how things kind of run,” she said.

Burke added that she consulted with Revere High Principal Doug Faris and counselor Emily Rion “because I did not want them to be surprised. They are very much on board.”

Burke proposed a selection process that would rely on the student body and high school administration.

“I would advocate that we don’t have any say in selecting. … If it’s their voice, they should make the selection,” she said.

However, Burke suggested a specific selection process that included having a prospective student rep submit a petition signed by at least 5% of the student body, an essay and a letter of recommendation, followed by an interview.

Burke said Faris proposed that next year’s senior class president serve as the first student representative to the board, “which I thought would be an easy way to fill the position while we work through a selection process.”

After a brief discussion, the consensus of the board was to continue consideration of the proposal at the June work session.

New athletic director

Superintendent Dan White announced the hiring of a new athletic director, Ben Kobus, formerly the AD at Norwayne High and Norwayne Middle School. He replaces Don Seeker, who is retiring.

Additional reading tool

Director of Curriculum and Instruction Marcia Roach gave a presentation about a set of reading materials for kindergarten and first grade that can be used to practice phonics, a basic element of the Science of Reading, an instruction strategy mandated by the state.

“This is really, really different from how all of us learned how to read,” she said.