Beginning next school year, the Alliance Public Schools Board of Education could see a new member join their ranks after approving a proposal for a member of the student body to take a spot on the board.
At its meeting on April 8, the Alliance School Board discussed the idea after it was presented to them by APS Superintendent Dr. Troy Unzicker. He told board members that a student submitted the request to him for the board to add a representative from the student body.
“She did a ton of research before she talked to me,” said Unzicker. “After I talked to her, I explained that we would write a policy. I would prefer to create a policy to match the format of ours and get some feedback from our attorney et cetera. She is requesting that we add a school board student representative for the next school year.”
Board Member Shana Brown asked if they could refer the proposal to the policy committee, and Unzicker responded that the board would need to approve the position before the policy would be created. He explained that the student representative would not be a voting member, and that there would be limitations on sharing confidential information and having the representative attend executive sessions.
“I have no issue with it,” Unzicker said. “I’ll just tell you up front, the times I’ve dealt with this in the past, we usually have a go-getting student like this one is, that wants to be on the board—and this wouldn’t guarantee her position, there would be some election or appointment—but usually what I’ve experienced is it lasts for a year and then the next year, nobody really wants it that bad, and it’s inconvenient to give up a Monday night to come here, and it goes away. I’m not opposed to it.”
Brown made the motion to approve adding a student representative to the board, and it was seconded by Board Member Edison Red Nest III. The motion was approved unanimously by the board members in attendance.
Unzicker said that he will have a policy written and ready for the policy committee to review prior to the next school board meeting. The school board could see the policy before them for the first reading at its May meeting.