There are 8 new faces on the Puyallup School Board. They plan to elevate student voices
There’s a new way Puyallup School District students can let their voices be heard.
The school board recently welcomed eight student representatives to its meetings for the 2022-23 school year. Their task is to elevate student voices at Emerald Ridge, Puyallup, Rogers and Walker high schools as well as the Puyallup Online Academy.
This school year marks the first time the school district has had student representatives. Their role involves interacting with their peers and presenting issues they’d like to spotlight at school board meetings.
School district spokesperson Sarah Gillispie said the district has been focusing on elevating student voices since last year. Implementing the student representatives on the school board this year was a “natural step” in the process, she said.
The students are non-voting members.
Puyallup High School junior Hailey Kim was the first to present during a Nov. 8 school board meeting. She shared the results of a survey that asked students if they felt connected to the school district.
Many students said they felt disconnected, Kim said. She proposed creating a social media page specifically catered to students, to give them easily accessible and digestible information on school board meetings and other district news.
The other seven school board student representatives are juniors Korinne Dutton, Alejandra Gonzalez and Mariana Canales. Seniors Jose Martinez, Luka Rogers, Cimerra Killian Porter and Josue Ortega are also part of the team.
Dutton and Martinez represent Emerald Ridge High School. Rogers represents Puyallup Online Academy. Gonzalez represents Puyallup High School with Kim. Porter and Ortega represent Rogers High School. Canales represents Walker High School.
Over 60 students applied in September. The school district’s instructional leadership committee selected the students, according to the school’s website. They were assessed on things such as clear communication and their ideas for gathering information from students.
Puyallup isn’t the first local school district to add student representatives. Tacoma Public Schools, among others, has students on the board.
Rogers told The News Tribune he applied to become a student representative because he wants to elevate the voices of marginalized students. He wants people to be more aware of their issues, especially those in higher positions because they don’t always see what happens on school grounds, he said.
“Even though we are definitely more forward than many other school districts, there are large issues of transphobia, homophobia, racism and other forms of bigotry like ableism that many students have to deal with,” Rogers said.
Gonzalez, who considers herself a “military brat,” told The News Tribune she felt left out in the past few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic limiting the amount of socializing students did. She wanted to become a student representative to create a community.
Dutton told The News Tribune she doesn’t feel connected to the school district herself, and she knows other students probably feel the same. That’s something she wants to change as a student representative.
“This is something that I can do amazing for my community right now,” Dutton said.
School board president Joseph Romero said via email that the board sees the value of hearing directly from student representatives. The board is excited about what can come from working with the new representatives, he said.
School board member David Berg said via email that he’s excited to welcome students to the board. It’s beneficial when more voices are involved in the board’s public decision-making process, he said.
“I hope that students who get more involved now will stay more involved as adults,” Berg wrote.
