“I am talking as the person entrusted to represent the students.” An explanation of the Student Advisory Board, Representative

On January 7, 2021, Charlie Wilson, the 2020-21 President of the National School Boards Association (NSBA), wrote a thoughtful letter to the American school board community and supporters of public education. In it, Wilson reinforced the commitment of locally elected school board members to teaching students to be good citizens of a democratic society.

“School leaders should serve at all times as guardians of these principles: of democracy, of liberty, of equality, of civility and community, and of the Constitution and the rule of law,” he wrote.

There has been a lot of reporting over the past two weeks concerning the Matanuska Susitna Borough School District (MSBSD) policy change to the role of the Student Advisory Board (SAB) Representative, moving the seat from the dais alongside the other school board members and engaging in discussions regarding policies to being in the audience and presenting a report.

A little background on what the SAB is and what function it serves. The SAB isn’t new-it was set up in 1979, and its purpose is to act as an Advisory Board to the School Board, allowing for student input in educational decisions.

“The SAB and the representative are giving a voice to the biggest stakeholders in the district-the students,” says veteran teacher Kristy Shea, who is the Student Advisory Board Coordinator, a role she took on during the last day of the last school year.

According to the National School Boards Association, there is little research found on student representatives in school boards. However, there is a consensus on the positivity of having students serve on their local school board.

“By creating opportunities for students to participate in the democratic process, school leaders can help student board members to learn how to observe all laws and rules, how to resolve conflicts peacefully, how to demonstrate a commitment to the public good, and how to work for a community and cooperate with all stakeholders.”

The Mat-Su SAB consists of student representatives from each secondary school in the district who meet monthly throughout the school year.

Every middle and high school can have representatives on SAB. There are four voting representatives from the high schools and three from the middle schools; membership shall consist of at least one (1) upperclassman and at least one (1) underclassmen.

“The SAB discusses issues pertinent to the student body. The SAB representative is an elected official, chosen by the body of the SAB. They are the liaison between the SAB and the school board,” explains Shea.

The idea of students on school boards is not restricted to the Mat-Su, but is part of nearly every board associated with students, such as the Alaska School Activities Association (ASAA) and the State Board of Education.

On the ASAA, there is a student representative from the Alaska Association of Student Governments (AASG) who sits on the board as an advisory, non-voting member.

For the State Board of Education, 2 students are also selected by the AASG and the state board to advise said state board.

Further, Title 4 of the Alaska Administrative Code requires the Alaska State Board of Education and Early Development to include two non-voting public high school student members.

The advisory student advisory member may participate in board deliberation and debate, and is able to cast a non-binding vote, which is recorded but not counted.

According to Alaska Statute 14.14.300 (c), “Involvement of Young People in Governance,”

“An individual appointed to a district committee or advisory body under this section is entitled to the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of other members, and the appointment is subject to confirmation by the board when required by law.”

In 1972, the Alaska state department of education reported that they encouraged local school boards to consider roles for students on the school board. Thus, the MSBSD created the Student Advisory Representative Board Member position 7 years later.

Within the district school boards, there is no specific governance concerning student advisory representatives, and the titles vary from district to district, with some being called the Student Council Representative and others utilizing the SAB title.

However, most district school boards that do have an SAB or similarly titled position abide by the same general consensus of rules, that students do not vote on district school boards in Alaska, and

The current SAB Representative (SABR) is Ben Kolendo, who was elected by the SAB to represent them at the school board. He previously served as SAB rep in the 2021-2022 school year before being re-elected for this school year.

During the Wednesday MSBSD school board meeting, Kolendo, who was celebrating his 18th birthday, fielded questions from the school board regarding what exactly the SAB does and what sort of training he and the SAB receive.

“What actually is the productive work at the meetings that you would be reporting on?” asked board member Kendall Kruse of Kolendo’s role with the SAB’s Executive Board.

“Our Executive Board is responsible for organizing every Student Advisory Board meeting…A good majority of our meeting is talking about student representation, getting voice from students from each school, seeing what’s going on in their school, or if there is something major going on with the school board, we discuss it so that when I go to the school board, I know that I’m talking on behalf of the students,” he explained, adding that the SABR’s goal is to make sure that it’s not my opinion-it’s the students’ opinion.”

There are also committees within the SAB that address concerns over student representation in curriculum decisions, how to become more involved with the schools, and be involved in the community. Kolendo explained that in the past, the SAB has been involved in fundraisers for cancer, canned food drives, worked with local non-profits, though he said that the COVID-19 pandemic slowed things down for them, and the SAB is working their way back to being a visible part of the community, in school and the community.

He further explained that the tool the SAB utilizes most often to gauge student opinion is surveys, which he says they often have success gaining responses from the student body.

Citing his first term, Kolendo said that a big topic of discussion was the wearing of masks and 4C’s.

“Those two things were brand new at the time, and we did a survey on both those things and reported the student opinion, because I couldn’t say at the time that all students feel this way on masks. I couldn’t know that.” He said that the SAB conducted the surveys so he could show the board there was significant amount of students feel a certain way.

When the questions shifted to the training, specifically whether the SAB follows Robert’s Rules, receive any type of legal training, or other trainings provided by the SAB’s teacher advisor.

“I actually love that question because I think it’s one of the most beautiful things about the student advisory board. Our goal is to teach students about civics and being involved in our government. A big part of that is Robert’s Rules and how the government functions,” Kolendo responded. He told the school board that when someone is elected into the Executive Board, there is a level of responsibility that requires them to meet and work more closely with the advisor, and that in each meeting, there is discussion of why things are done in a specific order regarding Robert’s Rules.

Kruse pressed him on legal training, specifically executive sessions in terms of the school board, thinking that the SAB did not engage in executive sessions within the student body. Kolendo clarified that the SAB Executive Board does engage in the practice of executive sessions and that the information exchanged is kept confidential.

“Obviously, we can’t sign contracts or take the same level of oaths as all of you, but we do practice like it is a school board.” He said that the SABR receives advice from many different levels within the MSBSD that they are not privy to executive sessions.

Overall, the SAB, more importantly the SAB representative role can be summed up by Kolendo:

“We’re elected by the students because they feel we reflect their voices that they want heard.”

Despite the change in the role of the SABR that was approved by the school board, Shea wants to move past this and heighten the visibility of the SAB.

“I want a student up on the dais for 45 more years, but I don’t want us to waste this opportunity. We want the SAB to continue to do great things.”