The New Trier Board of Education enacts policies that affect all students but does not have a full grasp of why students think, feel, and act the way they do. That is not okay.

One way to ensure that students’ voices can be heard is to allow a student representative, elected by students, to be seated on the school board.

This school year, the school board discussed the academic and social-emotional needs of students. They have focused on absenteeism, school safety, and mental health. Most students, however, are not watching school board meetings or reading board minutes. That has left the school board largely in the dark about what students want them to do.

A student representative would put an end to that.

Every month, when a school board meeting occurs, the student representative would provide a report on the student body’s perspective, speaking on the issues, questions, concerns, and successes that students have.

The student representative should also be a member of Student Council, as the mission of Student Council is to “advocate on behalf of all student voices to enhance the New Trier experience” through “soliciting student feedback on and suggestions for all areas of student life.”

Since July 2005, school boards in Illinois have been able to have student representatives. 

Under the law, however, the student representative does not have any voting privileges and may not participate in or attend any executive session of the school board. 

While the student representative does not get a vote, they can shed new perspectives on current issues and bring awareness to issues previously not discussed by the school board. In Evanston Township High School, the student representative was the first individual to publicly speak about the arrest of a part-time coach who had inappropriate behavior with students. 

Since 1997, ETHS has had a student representative on their school board.

In at least 31 states, according to the National School Boards Association, schools have the option to have student representatives on school boards.

Like any elected official, the student representative can’t know every concern that the student body has, nor do they have the time to share every concern. That is the same for school board members and even administrators.

Getting a student representative on the school board would foster open, consistent communication between students and the school board. 

Having every stakeholder at the table allows students, faculty, and administrators to work together as one New Trier to solve the pressing issues that the school faces.

That would improve everyone’s experience at New Trier.