Students press board for stronger, ongoing drug‑awareness education; community senators offer strategic‑plan edits

At the Jan. 12 meeting, student voices took center stage: junior Jagger Delina urged the Bedford School Board to strengthen drug‑awareness education at the high school, and representatives from the community senate summarized suggested revisions to the BHS strategic plan and introduced a discussion about the digital‑literacy graduation requirement.

Student presentation: Jagger Delina told trustees that current drug‑awareness is primarily a short health‑class unit and occasional assemblies, which she described as largely informational and insufficient to develop real‑world decision‑making skills. Delina recommended a multi‑year, skills‑based curriculum that covers peer pressure, safety planning and current drug trends, and urged partnerships with prevention organizations and speakers with lived experience. "This education should focus on decision making, handling peer pressure, and real world scenarios students are likely to face," she said.

Student governance report: Brodie Wong and Harsh Bal Subramani, student community senators, reported that student groups reviewed three priority areas of the BHS strategic plan — academic excellence, comprehensive inclusion and curriculum/instruction — and proposed edits to bullet points under each area. They asked that school leaders present a revised draft at the next meeting and recommended bringing school technology and course deans to discuss options for fulfilling the state half‑credit digital‑literacy graduation requirement; the board agreed to table that discussion until expert staff could attend.

Provenance: Student public comment and the community senate presentation are recorded from SEG 029–118 and SEG 183–303.