By ERIC ZIMMERMAN
Recent poll results reveal that most Jericho students know very little about what the Student Council does. When I learned of this, I decided to conduct research on the Student Council and find out exactly what it does, how it works, the structure of it, and most importantly, whether or not it effectively represents the student body.
Most respondents report not knowing much about the functions of their student council.
The Student Council is composed of the General Student Council and the 4 Grade Student Councils. The main purpose of the Grade Student Councils is to raise money for the senior prom. The Grade Student Councils also facilitate Battle of the Classes, holiday decorations, and other independent projects.
Sophomore Grade Student Council President Patrick Z. found the Grade Student Council to be very different from what he expected in middle school. “The way they sell it in middle school is not the way that, to me, it is in high school. Student Council can represent the grade, but decisions are not a grade thing; it’s what the school decides.”
Junior Grade Student Council President Rebecca C. found the Grade Student Council to be less work than she expected before joining. She said, “I thought that it would be a little more rigorous, in terms of the amount of work I would have to do, but because I already knew a lot of the kids that became the other officers in my grade, it was really fun, and there’s not much work.”
Senior Alexia K. is the co-president of the General Student Council. She said, “As the student body president, my job is concerned with the events of the entire school. So from week to week, basically what we’ll do is at the beginning of the month, we’ll have a meeting with me, my co-president Jake, and our advisors Ms. Kahan and Ms. Romano.”
As the co-presidents, Alexia and Jake can call special meetings based on the wishes of club officers and the progress of an activity. Before COVID, the General Student Council was in charge of the pep rally and homecoming. During COVID, it organized the Halloween Parade and Senior Day.
Although Alexia said Administration has a good relationship with students, she explained that sometimes they are slow to respond to Student Council proposals. She said, “There’s not always full transparency as to where they’re at in terms of their discussions and whatnot. Like every time we hear, ‘Oh yeah, we’re talking about it. It’s going to happen.’ But like, when is it going to happen?”
When General Student Council advisors Ms. Kahan and Ms. Schmitt were asked about this, they understood the complaint. “We’re looking at it from the lens of what the school can do legally and logistically,” Ms. Kahan said.
Both advisors contend that it is impractical for all suggestions made by the General Student Council to be immediately approved.
While he generally doesn’t attend the meetings, Assistant Principal Dr. Artiles oversees the General Student Council and maintains a strong link between administrators and students. He also vets proposals, inspects elections, and makes sure the Student Council constitution is followed. Dr. Artiles is passionate about making sure the student body feels represented. “At the end of the day, the most valuable voice in this school is the students,” he said.
Dr. Artiles wants the voice of the students to be heard. When Dr. Artiles first came to Jericho 7 years ago, he started the tradition of having students do the morning announcements because he believed students wanted to hear their peers instead of administrators.
Dr. Artiles explained how Student Council members interact with Administration and why they understand the workings of administrators more than other students. “The students that participate in Student Council do have more of a view behind the scenes than the rest of the student body because they are able to meet with the Board of Education privately and because they are able to meet with the Superintendent privately,” he said.
60.2% of respondents never voted in a General Student Council election. Dr. Artiles would like to see this statistic decrease.
After gathering this information, I again asked myself, “Does the Student Council effectively represent the student body?” The answer is maybe. The members of all the Student Council branches have good intentions, but even Dr. Artiles maintains that the General Student Council election cycle needs improvement.
Featured image courtesy of Ms. Denise Nash.