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Bemidji school board discusses boosting student voice, considers student-council alignment and outreach
Summary
Board members discussed ways to increase student involvement at the governance level, including aligning student representative slots with student government, using a Google form for broader input, lunch 'office hours' at school and pilot steps to meet student council advisors.
The ISD 31 school board discussed options to elevate student voice at Monday’s meeting, exploring closer alignment between the board and student government, broader outreach channels and mentorship for student representatives.
Board members and student representative Mackenzie raised multiple ideas for increasing engagement: aligning one student representative position with the high school student council while keeping one at-large slot; creating a Google form on the high school website to collect student input; and holding regular “lunch hours” when student representatives are available to peers.
Mackenzie, the district’s student representative, suggested an online form to gather input from a broader set of students. “Making a Google form to put on the high school website so that kids can put in insight and I can have a way to look at that and get a bigger reach throughout the school,” she said.
Board members described training and mentorship goals for student representatives, including explaining governance basics, the chain of command and where particular issues should be raised (principal, superintendent or board). One board member summarized a conference takeaway: align the board-level student role with student government so both bodies understand one another and can train future civic leaders.
Other proposals included recruiting more student candidates to apply for representative slots, rotating board members to attend student council meetings, and having student representatives hold availability during lunch periods so more students can speak one-on-one.
Superintendent Olson said the administration would pursue two next steps: meet with Mackenzie to refine ideas and contact the student council advisor to discuss logistics and interest. Olson proposed reporting back to the board with findings and a recommended pilot plan. Board members emphasized that participation should not be limited to student council members and suggested a hybrid approach (one rep from student government and one at-large representative) as a potential model.
The board treated the matter as a discussion and direction to staff; no formal vote or policy change was taken at the meeting.
