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Senior student representatives urge stronger counseling, weighed GPA and more student voice
Summary
Student board representatives Claire Richards and Charlie Miller delivered exit presentations emphasizing the districts strengths in CTE and student voice and urging more college-focused counseling, a weighted GPA, expanded advisory time and broader outreach for student representatives.
At a special Selah School District board meeting, senior student representatives Claire Richards and Charlie Miller gave exit presentations that highlighted the value of student voice and called for changes to better support postsecondary planning.
Claire Richards described her time on the board as an opportunity to develop public speaking, conflict-management and advocacy skills and said student representation makes a difference in policymaking. She told trustees that the OSPI report shows only 25% of students meet education standards but cautioned against measuring the district by a single metric; she said the districts strength is in extracurricular programs and CTE expansion. Claire raised specific concerns about counseling access: she said high-school students lack academic/college-focused counseling and that she met with a counselor only twice during high school. She recommended designating a staff member whose role focuses on college counseling and academic-credit pathways.
Charlie Miller echoed the importance of student voice and described challenges recruiting diverse perspectives for board input. She proposed more outreach about the student-board representative position, expanding advisory time to provide structured work periods for heavily involved students (for example, adding three 30-minute advisory blocks), and considering a weighted GPA to recognize college-level coursework.
Direct quotes included Claires framing of generational expectations: "The truth is that this generation is not lazy." Both student representatives described hands-on programs they value: Claire said she will graduate with about 70 college credits earned in high-school courses, and both cited CTE and CTSO programs as strengths.
Board members thanked Claire and Charlie for their service and commended the steady inclusion of student voice on district panels. The board recorded the presentations as part of the meeting record and proceeded to the evenings business agenda.
