Reply to SMOB should be non-voting: HOCO parents are right

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Reply to "SMOB should be non-voting: HOCO parents are right"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

and I agree that a student should not have a vote in whether the district returns to in-person learning. as a parent to a special needs child who is significantly behind because of the closures, I don't want a student voting. I want the adults to make decisions and take action. I don't care if they want to stay virtual until 2023, I want them to make a plan and end the gridlock.
[/quote]

Listen, I think the board should be doing a lot more to prepare the district for reopening when it is safe to do so and have all the sympathy in the world for families struggling with DL. Those with learning differences, those from lower means, and for those with parents that MUST work and cannot afford effective childcare that helps those students with DL. It's an awful situation to be in, and it represents policy failures at the local, state, and federal level.

But you have to recognize that, after failing to lobby a majority of the board effectively, those frustrated with the board's decision filed a lawsuit attacking the SMOB's right to vote because it is the only anti-reopening vote they could figure out a legal argument against. The motivations behind the lawsuit are transparent. Sure, I'd imagine the litigants want to end gridlock--but the suit targets the student, not the processes dictating the board. Long-term, state-wide impact on student representation and civic engagement be damned. If someone wants to cite to a lawsuit filed by these people previously challenging the right of the SMOB to vote, I will be happy to learn that at least their suit here in based in principle and as opposed to political desire.

That said, I could not disagree more with your opposition to a voting SMOB. Parents, teachers, taxpayers--all have a lot more power in any education policy debate than students. Giving one young adult the ability to represent students on the board, which I believe has been in place for nearly 15 years in HoCo, is important to giving students on the precipice of adulthood a voice in decisions that can have huge repercussions on their lives.

I do not know the women who brought the lawsuit at all and so cast no judgment on them as people, but I do not respect their attempt to use the legal system in such a manner. [/quote]

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