On November 19th, I had the opportunity to speak at the BVSD School Board meeting. My focus was on the district’s planned cell phone policy, which states that phones would be banned all day during school hours on school grounds. There were no real steps presented by the board to enact the policy, and the policy itself is very rigid and inflexible. These factors make it the wrong choice for our schools. I wanted to share these thoughts with the board. It was a very interesting experience, as the meeting covered lots of topics around the District. For the speaking portion, each participant was allotted two minutes to speak on a topic related to the meeting. I heard about issues related to elementary education in Nederland and PTO problems at various schools throughout the district. There were also people who spoke against the phone ban, like me. I believe that I got my point across, and the board seemed to be receptive. Unfortunately, the ban passed with a 6 to 1 vote. However, I felt that I was listened to, and the board seems to be open to student input going forward.

I highly encourage students to reach out to our board, principal, and other administrators so that we can tailor the phone policy in a way that works better for students and teachers. Already, Ms. Carrol has put in plans to organize ping pong tournaments during lunch, as well as board games and other activities in lieu of the phones. I would highly recommend students approach staff members with ideas for what activities to bring to school in the upcoming semester.

To send an email to board members, you can email [email protected]. If you would like to email Ms. Carroll, her email address is [email protected]. All other staff or board emails are on their respective websites; https://www.bvsd.org/about/board-of-education and https://ceh.bvsd.org/about/staff-directory.