By Stefanie Jackson – An Accomack school board policy, intended to give students a voice in district matters, narrowly missed the swing of the axe Tuesday night.
“The opinions and concerns of the students in Accomack County public school division are important to the Accomack County Public School Board. Therefore, the school board selects a student representative,” the nearly discarded policy states.
The policy was adopted more than three years ago but was never implemented. It allows a student representative to sit on the school board and serve in an advisory capacity.
The policy lays out guidelines for the selection of the student representative.
The principal of each high school is to nominate two candidates for the position, which could result in as many as eight candidates if Chincoteague and Tangier combined schools participate along with Arcadia and Nandua high schools.
The school board selects one candidate to serve as the student representative. The student attends all regular meetings but does not vote. He or she does not attend closed sessions or otherwise access confidential information.
The student may complete research or data collection assigned by the school board.
The school board may appoint a student representative as authorized by Virginia code, Title 22.1, Chapter 7, Section 22.1-86.1.
The policy was listed on the school board’s Dec. 17 agenda for “immediate approval.” It was not apparent, without viewing the attached document, that the school board would approve not the policy, but its elimination.
School board member Edward Taylor saw the attachment and said he did not understand why all the text was crossed out.
Chairman Paul Bull said he believed the intent was not to delete the text, but to change it.
Bull suggested changing the policy’s language to state the school board “may” select a student representative, instead of it “will” select one.
School board member Ronnie Holden made a motion to follow Bull’s suggestion.
“It keeps the option open, but it doesn’t say we’re going to do it when we really have never done it,” Holden said.
“Is it something that we need … to try to get a voice from the student body?” asked school board member Gary Reese.
Holden said the school board could discuss the topic at the next meeting.
His motion was seconded and passed unanimously, with at least one board member, Camesha Handy, appearing to abstain.
In another matter, Sierra Nock, of Belle Haven, addressed the school board about her son, a special needs student at Pungoteague Elementary School.
She was concerned that her son, who is autistic and has sensory issues, was experiencing anxiety in the classroom, which was allowed to escalate until he threw a book at another student.
Due to autism, “he can’t express himself, he can’t tell you what’s going on with him – so if they can’t figure out what’s going on with him, then they can’t help him, and then he lashes out,” Nock said.
School staff want to put a “band-aid” on the behavior issues instead of attempting to determine “what’s going on internally with him,” she said.
The teacher had sent Nock a message earlier in the day saying the student had been chewing things – which Nock recognized as a sign of her son’s anxiety – but no action was taken until the explosive episode occurred.
He also did not have his break that morning, Nock said.
She called for more resources and training for teachers and staff who work with special needs students.
She said that in the morning, the teacher has no aide to help identify student issues and stop them before they become disruptive.
“When something like that happens, the whole classroom has to pretty much stop to help my son, and I don’t want that … not just for my son, but for all the students.”
