Even though elected trustees are in charge of major decisions affecting school districts, students are largely left out of the process. But the Sunshine Coast School District (SD46) will be introducing three motions to change that at the British Columbia School Trustees (BCSTA) annual general meeting at the end of April.
One motion asks the provincial government to amend the School Act to give school districts discretion to establish student trustees and student advisory councils. Another would see declarations recognizing student voice and input at the board level added to BCSTA’s Foundational Statements. A third would see BCSTA provide support to school boards that want to increase participation at the district level.
Currently the Vancouver School Board is the only other district with a student trustee besides SD46, which was the first district in the province to establish the position.
SD46 Board of Education chair Lori Pratt credits superintendent Patrick Bocking as helping spur the change. “He had come from Ontario and they actually have student trustees embedded in the school act, so every district has one to three student trustees across the province,” Pratt said.
The Sunshine Coast School District tried to pass a BCSTA motion before but was unsuccessful. For this year’s AGM, Pearl Deasey, the district’s fifth student trustee, worked with Pratt on the motions.
“We are bringing three forward this time so that we can definitely get at least one through, hopefully,” said Deasey, a senior at Chatelech Secondary.
The 18-year-old has been playing an active role in advocating for student participation at the district level. She and Pratt recently gave a presentation at a summit of municipal leaders and she has attended multiple conferences since her term began last September.
She said other districts have approached them about how they incorporate student perspective into the governance process. “That’s been really eye opening to me because we’ve had the opportunity to be a role model district,” Deasey said.
Trustees are publicly elected positions, and boards guide policies, planning and annual budgets. At SD46, student trustees aren’t elected by the public and so cannot attend closed meetings or vote. But for Deasey, having a vote is secondary.
“A lot of people don’t realize how much weight the voice of a student has, just because that’s the whole reason trustees are there, is to make the student experience the best it can be,” she said.
Bocking said student trustee input has led to concrete change at the district. “Trustees (including our student trustees) have raised the matter of mental health at the British Columbia Trustees’ Association meetings, in part due to the conversations they’ve had with our students. The voice of our student trustees has been heard across the province in advocating for student voice and we are aware of a number of districts who are seriously considering moving in this direction as well.”
Earlier this year, Deasey and Bocking gave a presentation to the Nisga’a School District as it prepares to move forward with appointing a student trustee. Deasey calls it one of her proudest accomplishments. “It made me feel so proud and like I’m making a difference in the province.”
