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November 4, 2005
Voting privileges for student board membersA school board in Maryland is about to hand some voting rights to a student board member. Parents in Howard County, Md. support the plan for the most part. A couple officers of the teachers' union oppose, and a former board member asks: How will a student board member be held accountable, when he or she is unelected?
The plan would allow the student member to vote on key issues, such as school governing policies and curriculum changes. The proposal drew one of the largest public hearings in the area in recent years, reports the Washington Post:
The student, however, would be excluded from personnel hearings and collective bargaining sessions and not allowed to vote on the budget or redistricting. Currently, the student member can only have his opinion recorded. The change would take effect in December 2006 when the county's five-member board will be expanded to seven elected members.
The board is expected to decide Nov. 10 whether to recommend the change to Howard's delegation to the Maryland General Assembly, which must approve changes affecting local school boards. ... Student members on the state Board of Education as well as the school boards in Montgomery, Prince George's and Baltimore counties and Baltimore have partial voting rights. In Anne Arundel County, the student member has full voting rights.
The student board member in Anne Arundel County is elected by a student council association.
Posted November 4, 2005 11:13 AM
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