At an Albemarle County School Board meeting, students, school staff and board members discussed the Student Senate’s work improving student leadership and family communication while students urged more time together and faster, clearer funding for student projects.

“Giving students a voice makes a difference,” said Dr. Carlock, an OCE staff member, who presented evaluation data showing gains in students’ self-reported ability to connect across groups and identify community problems. Staff described concrete improvements that followed Student Senate input, including expanded translation and interpretation for the parent portal, a districtwide move to the Remind messaging system, and additional family-support steps at school events.

The Student Senate, which links student affinity groups across Albemarle County Public Schools, increased districtwide gatherings from two to three this year and held two to three leadership summits, staff said. Students and staff credited the group with projects ranging from multicultural nights and mental health first-aid efforts to revised student-representation policy and bystander awareness training.

Student leaders also described operational barriers. “They want more time together,” said Ms. Roberts, an OCE staff member, summarizing students’ requests, and she noted a transportation constraint: buses must complete elementary routings and typically require high-school groups to leave by about 1:30 p.m., which shortens summit days.

Student representatives said funding uncertainty slows projects. “There is the physical resource of funding and money at your hands,” said Maxwell Keys, a student representative and junior, noting that grant money motivates project work. Isabelle Wong, a student representative, described delays: “It’s been sent to finance, but we don’t really know what stage it’s in,” she said, calling for greater transparency and faster disbursement so student projects can move from planning to implementation.

Staff provided quantitative results linking Student Senate work to family engagement steps. Presenters said the district added multimedia translation for the parent portal in the five most common languages and introduced paper opt‑in for families who don’t use email or online systems. Staff reported a net increase of 422 caregiver parent‑portal accounts this year, 669 additional elementary families receiving paper communication (a 260% increase over the prior year), and 226 additional secondary families receiving paper communication. Presenters also said the ACPS family survey showed improved satisfaction among families who identified a need for translation, based on more than 100 responses in each year compared.

Program details and process questions surfaced in the discussion. Staff said Student Senate includes two to three student leaders from each affinity group at the school level, with monthly school meetings (attendance at the school-level meetings ranged from about 10 at some schools to roughly 15–30 at the largest), and a small countywide senate supported by OCE. Students reported roughly 10 student projects this year; some will continue next year. Students asked for more panels with community leaders, clearer handoffs to school finance staff, and greater continuity between returning and new members so projects do not stall midyear.

Board members and staff said they will continue to involve students in planning; a board member noted a calendar-development work session in September where students could be invited to provide input on scheduling that affects observance of cultural holidays. Participants closed by encouraging continued collaboration between students, central office staff and the board.

The conversation ended with board members thanking the students and staff for the presentation and student leaders moving into breakout groups to meet individually with board members and staff.