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High school students petition board to elevate sustainability coordinator to director level
Summary
Student leaders from multiple high schools asked the board to prioritize sustainability by classifying the sustainability coordinator as a district director-level position and presented a petition. They said the district is not meeting goals in the 2021 sustainability plan and urged the board to commit resources to implementation.
A coalition of student environmental leaders told the Ben La Pine School Board they want the district to treat the sustainability coordinator role as a director-level position with the authority and capacity to implement the district’s sustainability plan.
Zoe Mowery (Ben High environmental club leader) told the board the district must prioritize climate action and hire a sustainability coordinator who can oversee 33 schools and more than 17,000 students; she urged the board to give the role director-level authority so the position has the capacity to make sustained change. Vita Halpern and Simone Halpern (environmental club leaders) said components of the district’s 2021 sustainability plan—such as distributing reusable silverware in elementary schools and expanding to middle schools by 2025—have not been implemented and that district green-team leaders lack capacity to drive districtwide change. The students also presented a petition they said contains hundreds of signatures and said they would deliver it to the board.
Mikaela May (Caldera High) described operational impacts: she cited a composting implementation at her school that required repeated student and volunteer labor and said the absence of a funded coordinator results in wasted time and lost momentum when staff turnover occurs.
Board members acknowledged the student requests and said staff are hiring for a sustainability coordinator; directors and staff asked for details so they can ensure classification and capacity match the role’s stated responsibilities. The students asked the board to consider classifying the position as a director role to provide sufficient authority, resources and continuity for districtwide initiatives. No formal action was taken; the petition will be shared with board members and staff.
The exchange underscored student engagement on district priorities and put sustainability staffing classification on the board’s agenda for follow-up rather than immediate adoption.
