Parents and board members press for transparency after student committee approves two new high‑school clubs

High‑school administrators told the Board of Education they reviewed 33 student proposals and used a 12‑member committee (building administrators plus seven elected student representatives) to recommend two new clubs — Culinary Arts and an Artificial Intelligence club — which began meeting in January.

The presentation explained the committee consolidated similar proposals into 20 common themes and used a rubric scored on five criteria (purpose; number of students affected; addressing student needs; alignment to the district mission statement; inclusivity), each rated 1–5. "Clubs in our minds are for kids by kids," the administrator said, describing the district's emphasis on student voice in the selection process.

Several board members and community members pressed administrators about whether students knew they would be scored on the rubric before applying and who had ultimate decision authority. A board member said on the record that they had filed two FOIL requests for the underlying scoring sheets and that those requests had been denied; the member said, "I've gone through 2 FOIL requests, in‑depth FOIL requests, both denied, both essentially just thrown away." Administrators acknowledged confusion about which documents had been distributed and agreed to provide the scoring sheets to the requester.

The board asked for follow‑up details, including the exact number of clubs the district budgets for (the presentation referenced 35 clubs and service functions overall) and a breakdown of club attendance and advisor staffing. The business official said he would provide budget lines and counts to the board this week. The district emphasized the rubric and timeline are subject to refinement for next year, with discussion underway about moving selection to spring to allow newly elected student leaders more input.