Over recent years, student influence on ICSD decisions has decreased substantially. The opportunities for student advocacy are seemingly endless, from activism clubs, to Student Council, to Board of Education (BoE) representative positions. However, these roles are often considered by the student body to be limited and symbolic. The district has previously held roles like BoE representative up as a demonstration of their willingness to listen to student feedback, but it has become clear that students do not in fact have very much influence at all over district decisions. If leadership can be convinced that student representation is not a privilege but a necessity, student input might in the future be received with more gravity and not dismissed so readily. The Tattler believes that the district must heed student feedback and act on it with greater urgency for the sake of the district as a whole.
The effects of good student representation and government don’t stop at the school level. A paper by Daniel McFarland and Carlos E. Starmanns reported that participation in high quality student councils generates the momentum needed to keep youth civic engagement going past higher education. As a consequence, rates of civic participation are directly correlated with the quality and accessibility of representation at the secondary school level. This, too, is reflected by student sentiments at the high school. Many students report feeling that attempts at advocacy, even, are pointless: there’s a reluctance to fill out school surveys or speak at board meetings, because these actions are largely seen as futile. Increased receptivity to student feedback would create a positive cycle, encouraging kids to be more engaged in school politics now, and larger political systems later in life.
Student representatives from this year have reported enthusiasm from higher-ups in hearing what they have to say, but very little follow-through. Often, they admitted, administrators they have talked to will respond to requests with “We hear where you’re coming from, but that’s not our priority right now,” or “We understand what you’re saying, but that’s not within your jurisdiction to request.” These frequent, arbitrary rejections of student input make representatives in community discourse feel dismissed. This approach to student representation creates the illusion of receptivity to student feedback within the district, without actually changing anything based on student input.
The Student Council at IHS has run into similar roadblocks. Students consistently describe a system where ideas are met with strict boundaries, leaving little room for meaningful influence. Jaya Bhojraj ’26, the treasurer of Student Council, explained, “I’d like to say I prioritize leading the council over following school expectations, but the rules are strict. It’s a delicate balance to strike. As a representative for three years, I felt as though we didn’t do all that much; as an officer, I realize it’s because there isn’t much wiggle room for the council in general.” Major initiatives often stall before they begin, with frequent dismissal of ideas for seemingly unclear or arbitrary reasons. For example, for the past few years, Student Council has been pushing for a school wide dance, such as Homecoming. When the suggestion was brought to the admin, they first said that the school could not hold all students for a dance. When Student Council provided information on how they could rent tents and locations for the event with their funds, they declined the proposal. Instead of working with Student Council to mitigate flaws in pre-existing student-led proposals and come to a compromise, district officials often prefer to simply reject the ideas outright.
This has not always been the case for Student Council. Previous Student Councils were consulted by school administrators on issues like creating a Universal Lunch period, unblocking Google Chat, and making music classes credit-bearing. In these instances, it appears that student opinions were actually given serious consideration and made an impact on final decisions. Reimplementing consultation from Student Council would simultaneously give renewed purpose to the club and improve school-wide policies for all building members. In addition, early iterations of BoErepresentative groups were able to implement policies as well, such as adding additional cultural holidays to the ICSD calendar. Evidently, it is possible to collaborate with student representation in making positive policy changes, and it is possible to return to this way of policy creation as status quo.
This conversation matters even more now, with the new Superintendent Student Advisory Council (SSAC), where selected student representatives meet to speak directly with Dr. Luvelle Brown. The first meeting of the SSAC took place on November 6, 2025 and representatives are hopeful that it will provide a more direct insight on student needs. But, there are also concerns that without clear influence or sustained administrative interest, the council could fall into the same patterns of limited impact and eventual dropout that have affected past representation efforts.
Rejection of proposals because they’re not manageable or outside of student jurisdiction to advise on should no longer be a valid excuse. One way to avoid rejections like these is to work with students on existing and flawed proposals, as mentioned above. In addition, there is a prominent lack of legislation and guidelines on how BoE representative roles should work. There should be clear policies outlined in future for what is within student representative jurisdiction and what isn’t, for example. Even creating a guidebook for representatives to reference when formulating proposals would make the advocacy process less redundant and more productive for both students and administrators.
However, the general outcome The Tattler hopes to see is a perspective shift: prioritizing student representation, making it clear to the student body when and how their voices make impacts, and acknowledging the necessity of student opinions in making the district run.