419 Students to Waterford’s Board of Ed: We Want a Voice

Late last month, Waterford High School senior Josh Kelly handed the Board of Education a petition signed by 418 fellow students asking for two student representatives on the Board of Education.

“I think it has been a long-time coming with a large group of students in Waterford,” Kelly said in a Thursday interview with Patch. “We want to be actively part of the discussion.”

Kelly is not asking for students to have a vote on the Board of Education, as that is against state law. Instead, he is asking for two student representatives on the board that are allowed to be part of the discussion. There are some boards in the state that have student representatives.

“We believe that we should not be subject to decisions and rules made by a body that we ourselves may not contribute to or be represented in,” Kelly wrote in the petition. “The students of Waterford High School have different perspectives, feelings and insight into and about the decisions made for us by the Board of Education.”

Board of Education Chairwoman Kathleen McCarty said the board has a retreat every year in the summer to discuss its goals, and the student’s proposal will be on the list. She didn’t commit to having a student on the board, but said it would be considered.

Mechanics

In his petition, Kelly suggested having two students on the Board of Education, one from the junior class and one from the senior class. Rather than allow everyone to run, he suggested having English teachers pick a student from each class – high school students must take an English class each year – and then they run, he said.

Kelly said the reason for that is to avoid a “popularity contest.” By doing this method, there is a better chance of getting two people the students would be “proud of,” he said. 

“We are not electing the two most popular students onto the Board of Education,” Kelly said. “We are trying to elect two students the rest of the student body would be proud of.”

Kelly said while he wrote the petition, several students were behind the idea. They even formed a club entitled the Industrious Students of Waterford – or ISW – that’s main focus at the moment is to get a voice on the board, Kelly said.