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Parents and students urge board to keep student delegate on the dais amid safety concerns
Summary
Multiple public speakers and student-advisor testimony urged the board to retain the student delegate seat after social-media harassment of the current delegate; some board members said safety concerns require program changes, and a workshop was promised to discuss revisions.
Public speakers and district staff urged the Hernando County School Board to preserve the student delegate role while strengthening protections after the current student delegate was targeted on social media.
Chrisandra Rogers (speaker 25), a student who has served as a student delegate, told the board the position "brings importance to this program, and the lessons that it brings to life," and warned that removing the dais seat would reduce student efficacy and civic engagement. Diane Limbrook (speaker 15) warned that eliminating the role "only hurts those students that have earned it" and urged the board not to allow one person's bigotry to remove student voice.
Amy Crisp (speaker 27), the student delegate advisor, said advisors and students across the district strongly favor retaining the senior student representative and keeping the nonvoting advisory seat on the dais; she pledged to gather advisor and student feedback and bring recommendations to an upcoming workshop to strengthen safety and clarify expectations.
Board member Miss Rodriguez (speaker 4) emphasized the board’s legal and moral responsibility to protect students and said the district must evaluate whether the current structure is safe in today's environment. "If a program is creating unnecessary emotional stress" the board must act, she said, adding she favored revamping the role so the student is no longer seated on the dais while retaining meaningful student input.
Superintendent (speaker 5) said safety is "our number 1 priority" and said he had provided support to the student and would bring input to the board to make decisions that protect both student safety and student voice. The chair said he looks forward to a summer workshop where the board will consider options and that he will support keeping the student representative and the voice on the board.
What happens next: the superintendent and advisors will gather input and the board scheduled a workshop to discuss how to retain student voice while addressing safety and privacy concerns.
