Student board representative proposes confidential teacher feedback survey at Centerville High

Ahir, a senior and student board representative, presented a proposal for a confidential student-to-teacher feedback survey intended to bridge a communication gap between students and teachers. "Students have great ideas," Ahir said, and the survey aims to give students a voice while staying between the student and the teacher.

The proposal described three primary goals: help teachers better understand student needs and adjust instruction; give students a structured opportunity to offer constructive feedback; and foster a stronger school environment at Centerville High School. Ahir said the form is voluntary for teachers and would not be used for teacher evaluation: "This feedback form ... stay solely between the student and the teacher [and] has no impact on the evaluation of teachers as a whole." He said the team has recruited volunteer teachers to pilot the form and would present the idea to department heads and unit principals.

Board members and audience participants asked whether teachers would provide follow-up about how they used the feedback. Ahir said the plan includes asking volunteer teachers whether the comments helped and sharing positive examples to encourage broader adoption: "If this feedback actually helped ... then we can take that and say, 'hey, it helped this teacher.'" The student representatives also described running a "candy and comments" session that surfaced areas where students feel comfortable engaging and noted teachers who stood out in student responses.

Next steps, as presented, include department-level presentations and a commitment from the student reps to report results back to the board after initial piloting. The student reps framed the effort as a low-cost, voluntary pilot designed to empower students and support teacher practice.