MAPS Board Welcomes Students
Written by Erin Bozek-Jarvis, 15 and Jessica Goodwin, 13, with contributions by GlenEllen Lehmberg, 11.

The Marquette Area Public Schools (MAPS) Board of Education has the task of making decisions that affect the hundreds of students and teachers in the district. The MAPS board is comprised of elected adults, with the occasional appearance of teachers, parents and citizens at a meeting to voice their opinions. This has often left students as the only group not represented.

This situation changed this past school year as two Marquette Senior High School seniors, both involved in Student Council, were asked to join the board in an advisory, non-voting role.

The idea to have high school senior on the board came about when board members, frustrated with a low number of candidates for board elections, decided that there should be more interest in public service and wanted to provide an opportunity for some students to see what it’s like to serve on the school board. Two seniors, Kelsey Wilson, student council president, and Alex Mallos, student council ombudsman, were approached by MAPS Superintendent Jon Hartwig to be student representatives to the board.

Wilson and Mallos agreed and began to attend meetings in the fall of 2008. According to Board President Kellie Holmstrom, they brought with them a fresh point of view to the board deliberations.

“ Sometimes we think we know what the high school kids want and we’re wrong,” Holmstrom said. “So, by having some seated at the table they’ve been able to give us their view.”

Though Wilson and Mallos do not receive a vote, the students believe their opinions and views, for the most part, are taken in to consideration.

Even concerning the budget for the school system, one of the most important issues the school board is faced with, Wilson feels the voting members have considered her point of view. Earlier in the year, the Superintendent asked for a $16,000 remodel of his office.

During the meeting, when the floor was opened for comments, Wilson gave her opinion.

“ I was obviously on the side of the students and teachers saying that the schools needed repair not his office,” she said. “I don’t think he was very happy with me for awhile but he definitely took it into consideration and he decided not to go along with the remodel.”

The students’ insight has also been useful when the board began budget cuts.

“ At (a recent) work session for next years upcoming budget, they definitely took mine and Alex’s opinions into consideration about what should be cut in regards to the schools and athletics,” Wilson said, “because we had to make a lot of cuts.”

Mallos agrees that the board considers the student’s ideas.

“ I do think that my opinion is taken into consideration each time because they always ask me for my opinion on each topic.”

According to Holmstrom, having the students present allows the board to see opinions from the people who their decisions affect.

“ Once, I can’t remember what the issue was, but we said, ‘I don’t know if the kids want that,’ and they said, ‘we’re fine with that, but this is what we don’t like,’” She said. “So, they have another view and they are in this building (the High School) every day and they are interacting with the staff in a different manner than we are so they give us another point of view.”

The students are valuable members of the board, but being a student can make it difficult to be a diligently active member. During the regular monthly meetings Mallos and Wilson are able to participate and share their thoughts, but according to Holmstrom the majority of the work and dialogue happens at the committee meetings.

“ It takes a lot of time to be on the School Board and looking back on it we haven’t seen them at many of the committee meetings and often the committee meetings are where a lot of the work takes place,” Holmstrom explained. “The business meeting, which is where they have been, are where we make final decisions, but where the real dialog occurs is at the committee meetings and I think that they underestimated what the commitment would be to serve on the board.”

The committee meetings usually occur during the day, which makes it difficult for Mallos and Wilson to attend regularly.

“ We only meet once a month (for regular business meetings) so it’s not that hard to keep up with attendance, but there are work sessions during the day and it’s hard for me to miss school so those are hard to attend,” Mallos said.

Wilson finds regular attendance difficult due to other reasons.

“ I couldn’t make it to a couple of the meetings, they changed the dates. In the future, I would tell anyone who’s in my position to double check on the dates,” she said. “Make sure they’re up on the rescheduling of meetings because they tend to do that a lot depending on what the other board members’ schedules are.”

Despite the large time commitment required to be a Student representative both Wilson and Mallos have enjoyed their time on the school board.

“ It’s given me more leadership skills”, said Mallos. “And it looks great on a college application.”

Wilson also found the experience to be enlightening.

“ I do feel that my experience has been rewarding. I have gotten to look at the school in a way that most students never get the chance to.”

Since this is the first year student have been members on the school board, it is a question if the opportunity will be offered to future students.
Mallos believes it should continue.

“ I think it’s very important to have a few student members on the board just so that the students get their voices heard every year.”

Wilson agrees, but suggests with a few changes.

“ I would recommend it being continued in the future, yes,” she said. “Next year I just think the way that they chose students (should) be a little different. I think they should have tryouts for people who are definitely interested in government.”

Holmstrom believes the opportunity could continue in the future.

“ I think it was a good decision. I think it is one of those things we need to look at further and evaluate,” she said.