The student member of the Board of Education should be given the right to vote, according to a resolution passed overwhelmingly by 140 student leaders from public and private schools across the state at their annual conference this week. Student leaders want
voting board memberThey point out that some other states
let student members voteBy Susan Essoyan
sessoyan@starbulletin.com"The educational system is for the students, and we have no say in how things are run," said Kelsey Yamasaki, a junior at Roosevelt High School who chaired the 2002 Hawaii Secondary Student Conference. "We want a say."
He and other students tried out the role of legislators at the state Capitol during their three-day conference, debating resolutions on issues from drug-sniffing dogs to merit pay for teachers.
Their resolutions will be forwarded to the state Legislature and other relevant authorities, and the students plan to lobby for their passage.
The voting-rights resolution noted that the state attorney general has no objection and that other states, including Massachusetts and California, let their student members vote.
Another hot-button issue at the conference was school security, with students complaining that many security guards lack training, play favorites and sometimes ignore trouble.
"We want qualified security guards that would intervene when there are fights, rather than sitting on the sidelines," said Sam Tiitii, a senior at Farrington High School. "We want to have a safe environment."
Delegates passed a resolution calling for funding to establish a mandatory basic training program for security attendants.
Students also approved banning the use of Ephedra-containing stimulants in athletic events at public schools, adding healthy drinks to the soda offered in school vending machines, instituting a weighted-grade scale policy to give a bonus to students taking challenging courses and reinstating "credit by exam."
"If someone wants to take a Japanese class on their own, for example, we should reward this, not deny them credit," Yamasaki said.
The student delegates defeated resolutions to decentralize the Board of Education, institute random drug sweeps, base teacher pay on merit rather than seniority and fund SAT preparation courses.
The conference is made up largely of public school students, with the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools fielding one of eight districts. Each student at the conference represented 600 peers.
Francisco Heftel-Liquido, a junior at Punahou who was vice chairman of the conference, said he chose to participate because "private school kids need to pay attention to what's happening in the public school system."
While the students were winding up their conference yesterday, Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald Moon swore in eight recently elected members of the Board of Education, including new members Mary Cochran, Shirley Robinson, Laura Thielen and Randall Yee. Their first meeting will be Thursday at Molokai High School.
State Board of Education
