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The Piedmont Highlander

The Piedmont Highlander

Students speak up on school committees

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Graduation gown colors. Dividers between lines at food service. Homework policies. Senior tea and barbeque. These are all ideas discussed and possibly implemented or changed through committees involving students around PHS.

Groups such as Site Council and Student Senate offer an environment for students to share their opinions in order to make the school a more cohesive place for all students.

The PHS Site Council is a forum composed of staff, teachers, students and parents who discuss any issues affecting students during school and how to best fix them, according to the PHS website.

Resource specialist Liz McCarthy has been a member of Site Council for two years and joined because she felt it was important for the group to have a special education voice.

Site Council discusses big decisions, such as schedule changes or facilities planning, and students who are involved have the opportunity to understand the background behind those decisions, McCarthy said.SiteConcilMeeting2_23_byLizzieBjork

“[Students] also learn how the school operates and see the meetings and work that is put in for policies to be made,” McCarthy said.

Junior Kelly Kronemeyer first became involved with Site Council about a year ago.

“It’s really interesting to be more of a peer than just a student while communicating with parents, teachers and faculty,” Kronemeyer said.

Despite the large age difference, there are lots of similarities between opinions of students and the parents, teachers and faculty, Kronemeyer said.

Both Kronemeyer and McCarthy agree that more student voices are needed to create the changes that are possible through these groups.

Current students members of Site Council have expressed interest or been recommended by PHS staff. If more students show interest than there are official spaces in the council, a student vote will be organized.

“The student opinion is the most important at a school because students are the ones who are being taught and the ones taking things away from this experience,” Kronemeyer said. “If [the school] is not catering to what the students need, they will not get the most out of it.”

Students do not always have control of conditions at school such as homework or the schedule because that is being dictated by teachers or the administration, McCarthy said.

Any student, even if they are not an official member of Site Council can attend the monthly meetings and contribute their ideas to the discussions.

“I would like to get more diversity in students, in terms of the type of student and their grade level,” McCarthy said.

Kronemeyer said that it is important for teachers to encourage students to learn more about the opportunities to share their opinions and if the student is a good fit, recommend the group to them.

Site Council helps narrow and define the community’s goals and makes decisions that are rooted in a solid foundation because of the different points of view that are represented.

“There’s definitely a movement to get things done, it’s not always easy, but the ideas are taken under consideration and evaluated in the group,” Kronemeyer said.

The other major committee in which student voices can be shared is Student Senate.

Junior Eva Mills was nominated by her fourth period class to represent them at the meetings and has enjoyed having a better idea of issues around school.

Recent discussions have been based around the change in senior gown colors and the concerns with the senior tea and barbeque.

Other topics discussed and eventually changed were problems at food service with lines and placement of the fruit.

“It’s important that all students have the means of putting in requests or giving feedback so they can help improve events, even with smaller problems that may not seem important at first,” Mills said.

Mills feels comfortable sharing her ideas because she knows that the possible changes have the potential to help every student.

“If there are voices from different grades and just more in general, the overall community can become better because there is feedback from a wider range of people,” Mills said.

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