Tuesday  •  November 17, 2020

Who is the Student Member of the Board Really Representing?

By Steven Keller

Shown below are the results of the HCPSS 2020-2021 School Year Community Input Survey, where HCPSS stakeholder groups were polled in July 2020 about their preferences for in-person vs. hybrid vs. virtual learning for the 2020-2021 school year.  This was first reported on in this previous post.

Note that the 60% of students preferred some sort of in-person learning this school year (fully in-person or hybrid). Only 13% of students preferred full virtual learning. The rest were “unsure” of what they wanted or had no preference.

At last night’s Board meeting, around the 48-49 minute mark, a school representative stated that about 60-70% of the student body wanted to move to the hybrid model.

Despite this feedback from the student community, the Student Member of the Board (SMOB) has consistently voted to remain in fully virtual learning mode every time this has gone to a vote. Just last night, he voted for HCPSS to remain fully virtual up through at least late April 2021.

Who is the SMOB really representing?  Even if his decisions are partially being influenced by concerns over safety for students & staff, it’s becoming clearer with each passing meeting that he may not be representing the majority opinion of the student stakeholders who elected him.