Every year, IHS holds elections to select students as representatives to the Board of Education (BoE), Student Council members, and class officers in our system of student power. The elections have no shortage of exposure: the positions and the names of those running are reiterated over the announcements; posters touting individual candidates line the halls; classes watch the candidates make speeches on Little Red TV. But when it comes to what student power has accomplished, and indeed the breadth of its range, many still have no idea. For the majority of students at IHS, student elections are little more than popularity contests with no ramification other than to promote figureheads who enjoy increased exposure but won’t—or can’t—accomplish anything. From the perspective of students involved in the system of student power, the truth of their situation leans towards the latter.
These students overwhelmingly claim that the bounds of student power in all categories are very tight. Rather than failing to fulfill their official role or duties, elected students simply may not have the resources or influence necessary to be prime movers in the school community.
Representatives to the BoE
Student representatives (reps) to the BoE are officially supposed to “prepare reports with student input about issues and events at IHS and present them at biweekly BoE meetings,” according to rep Lisa Yoo ’17. The reps take notes at the meetings and relay important information and takeaways back to IHS. In communicating ideas between the student body and the BoE, reps theoretically should be able to make the BoE aware of any pressing concerns IHS students have and in turn immediately provide students with an official stance on those matters.
That’s not how it works in practice, however.
“There are limitations to what we can say at board meetings—it’s a very formal environment, so we have to make sure everything we say is correct and respectful,” Yoo said. She said that during past meetings when the reps brought up controversial topics, they were “corrected” and told to speak to IHS administrators for more accurate or comprehensive information on those topics before returning to the BoE. Jacob Silcoff ’17, who was elected BoE rep in September, corroborated Yoo concerning the atmosphere of the meetings that he has thus far attended. “I wish we had more say at the meetings, because it often feels awkward asking questions, let alone raising legitimate concerns or arguments,” he said.
Both reps acknowledged that a major issue with reporting concerns to the BoE was the lack of properly researched arguments, as well as little proof of support from the student body. The reps are unlikely to be taken very seriously without substantial material and time to present it.
Because of the lack of perceived change or effect BoE reps have instigated over recent years, many students have questioned the purpose of having such a role in the first place. Any student in ICSD has the ability to attend and speak at BoE meetings, as the meetings are open to the general public. In addition, videos of every BoE meeting are livestreamed and available on YouTube to be watched by anyone at any time. The sentiment has been echoed by longtime rep Max Fink ’17: according to Fink, aside from their figurehead designation, reps to the BoE currently have no power whatsoever.
As a possible fix to this, Yoo suggested that the reps set up meetings with IHS administrators to ensure they bring appropriate criticism to BoE meetings. Silcoff said he wants to focus on establishing a democratic method of gathering input from students by forming stronger ties with Student Council, whom reps are technically intended to liaison with. “I think that is something that is easily attainable,” he said.
Student Council
Student Council is “IHS’s student government,” according to the 2015–16 IHS Student Handbook. The Handbook says Student Council serves the purpose of a forum where students can discuss matters of concern and relay information and proposals to teachers and administration. As the official representation of the student body, the council could be expected to have meaningful influence in the school community, especially with its command of a sizable amount of money.
By nature of its role, though, Student Council is heavily limited by an inability to easily facilitate transfer of information through the school hierarchy, from students to administrators. In addition, the requirement that the council submit any and all proposals to the administration and wait on a response slows processes to a crawl.
Ruth Silcoff ’17, former head of the council’s School Works Committee and its current vice-president, was especially vocal in expressing her frustrations. “I couldn’t get anything done without multiple meetings with school and district administrators, and also the IT department when problems involved technology. Even as an officer, I still had almost no power and couldn’t make any changes without permission. I can’t even send out school emails without them being approved first,” she said. Silcoff added that because any student at IHS is able to set up meetings with administrators, she, in effect, has no more power than any of them with incentive to change something.
Asked about the council’s money, Silcoff acknowledged that Student Council is more or less free to donate and use the money as it pleases—so long as the usage conforms to existing school rules. A significant portion of this money is given away to clubs who request it for trips or activities. With the rest, the council has been able to accomplish at least a few things: last year, Silcoff said, Student Council influenced the library to implement a scanner sign-in system, put traffic tape in the halls to dilute congestion, and spoke to the ICSD social media manager about unblocking the chat feature on Google Hangouts, receiving an affirmative. The chat feature remains blocked at the time of writing.
Silcoff was emphatic about expanding Student Council’s influence this school year. To do this, she said, the council’s foremost goal is to realize a reliable form of communication between BoE reps, the IHS community, and the BoE in the form of a school-wide Google Classroom or website. This could potentially solve many of the problems outlined above, such as the inability to smoothly gather democratic input and the lack of quick response from administration. With an avenue of fluid call-and-response opened, Student Council could begin to think about more ambitious projects and play a larger role in the IHS community than it currently is.
Such a prospect is still considered unrealistic by Silcoff. “I think that there needs to be a clear outline for what we can and cannot do, because right now we have to ask the administration about everything and half of it is a waste of time. I also think having an admin at all of our meetings would help. Honestly, student power is kind of a joke, and I don’t think it will ever be achieved with the strict laws that our school enforces,” she said.
Most students at IHS understandably care little about these elected bodies; they both are seen to do nothing and are very niche role-players in reality. An important question to answer is whether IHS as a whole wants student power to play a larger part going forward. While the school community is vibrant and has no shortage of perks, we remain bereft of a way to effectively delegate the flaws students see to representatives. It will take action from all corners of IHS and beyond to collaborate and implement a system in which student voice can impact the decision-making process that ultimately affects our education in the years ahead.
