At the end of February, Student Organizers from the Highline School District (HSD) meet with several decision-makers, including Superintendent Ivan Duran and Valerie Allen, as well as Elle Daneshnia and the team from Capital Planning and Construction, to chat about new school construction plans, school food, the landscape of school board meetings, and much more!
These meetings were solely facilitated by our students from start to finish, and we are so proud to have witnessed their strategic and thought-provoking questions as they led these meetings with the people who have the power to make changes in their schools.
The image is of FEEST Student Organizers and Staff meeting with HSD Decision-Makers.
When students met with Dr. Duran, they asked:
- Why did you want to be a superintendent?
- Can students have one more counselor at each school?
- Food is running out during school lunch, what can we do to fix this?
- Bathroom Access has been hard with Tyee sharing a campus with another school during construction, how can we fix this issue?
- We have been deeply hurt by things that have been said about LGBTQ+ students at school board meetings during public comment, what can we do to make this space more accessible for all students?
As you can see, with such thought-provoking and direct questions the discussion was rich and full of insight on how our students can continue to organize for change. Dr. Duran shared many important updates around enrollment impacting how many counselors can be at each school, as well as committing to fixing the food issue during school lunch. Dr. Duran offered partnership with FEEST students to find solutions to fix bathroom access issues on campus, as well as invited our students to come and attend the next school board meeting and offered us space during the Superintendent Update to speak to the school board.
We then met with the team at Capital Planning and Construction, who are the people responsible for rebuilding Tyee and Evergreen. Student Organizers asked about bathroom access for all students, and other questions relating to the construction of the school and we got a chance to see the blueprint designs for the new buildings! We are thankful for Capital Planning and Construction’s transparency and engagement with our students during this meeting.
We were honored to meet with all of these HSD decision-makers and are thankful for their transparency and dedication to collaboration with the students that they serve! Thank you to Dr. Duran, Valerie, Elle, and the team from Capital Planning and Construction.
Spring is going to be full of exciting progress made by our Student Organizers, stay tuned for more updates!
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