Perhaps as soon as this summer, the Warwick School Committee could have a high school student attending its meetings as a non-voting representative for students throughout the city.

That’s the hope of School Committee member David Testa, who suggested at the School Committee’s most recent meeting that they explore ways to involve students in School Committee proceedings.

One of the biggest reasons Testa brought the topic forward is to encourage greater civic participation among students.

“Typically, the only time students have shown up is when something is potentially being taken away,” Testa said. “Several years ago, when we were looking at cutting sports because we didn’t have it in the budget, they came out in big numbers and they criticized us. And that’s fine - it’s good that the kids turned out for that. It’d be great if they can turn out for more positive stuff as well.”

So far in the state of Rhode Island, Smithfield, Woonsocket, Narragansett and North Kingstown all have student representatives on their school committees. The idea was also introduced in Bristol-Warren, though it ended up not passing there.

There are some restrictions in Warwick- most notably, the fact that a student representative would not have a vote on committee matters, as that would violate its charter. However, Testa believes that a student voice would be important enough to influence decisions made by the committee.

“They can have input, give us perspective on any Open Meeting issues that they have and want to be heard on,” Testa said. “Especially when it comes to policy- when we debate policy initiatives that the district wants to take.”

Another hurdle to clear is that Warwick would be the first community with multiple high schools to pick potential representatives from, leaving a conundrum as to how to include both Pilgrim and Toll Gate.

Currently, the role that a student would have on the committee is undefined, Testa said. He hopes, though, that despite not having a vote, they would be able to bring attention to school matters that the committee would otherwise miss.

“Having that voice at the student level, being there to represent their school, is big,” Testa said.  “And other students could be able to reach out to their representative if they’d like something to be covered.”

Around the state

Alexander Menzies, a member of the Narragansett School Committee, said that one of his biggest policy goals when he first ran for a seat on the committee in 2018 was adding student representation to the committee.

“I felt strongly that a student’s voice was missing on the School Committee,” Menzies said. “As somebody who was born and raised in the Narragansett school system, I felt that it was not only an important thing to bring to the School Committee’s side, but a necessary voice to bring to the table.”

While Menzies would lose in 2018, he won election to the School Committee in 2020, and introduced the bill shortly after. Other committee members were in favor, and from there the committee got to work implementing it.

The policy would eventually be adopted in December of 2022 after two years of work. Menzies attributed the delay to the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the policy taking a backseat to more urgent matters.

That kick-started a process running from March through May at Narragansett High School, where between 30 and 40 juniors interested in the position went through an application process. As that process starts again, Menzies said that he’s heard that there’s a “high interest” among this year’s juniors in running.

“I was very happy to hear that,” Menzies said. “Current students who are on the other end of all the decision-making that we’re doing, they have a lot to say, and I truly believe we as a school committee are only able to do the best that we’re capable of doing when we hear directly from those who are on the benefiting side of the decisions that we make.”

Menzies noted the student is not an official member of the School Committee, holding the official title of “Student Representative to the School Committee”- the same as Warwick’s would be.

Menzies, along with fellow Narragansett School Committee member Diane Nobles, shared the idea with Testa at last year’s Rhode Island Association of School Committees (RIASC) annual meeting.

While Narragansett’s program is relatively new, Smithfield’s dates back to the 1990s, and while Smithfield School Committee Chair Richard Iannitelli wasn’t sure if they had the oldest student representative program in the state, he knew they were the only one for many years.

“It was a project by one of our social studies teachers at the time, to have a commission to try to get a student representative at our meetings,” Iannitelli said. “It gives us a good perspective.”

Smithfield’s student representatives operate uniquely. The town has two student representatives- one junior and one senior. The senior helps mentor the junior throughout the year, getting them acclimated to the School Committee before they graduate, the junior takes their place, and the School Committee looks for a new junior.

According to Iannitelli, this format came about approximately eight years ago in order to help combat declining student interest in being a representative. He said that since it was implemented, it’s worked well to keep students interested.

“Anything new gets a lot of hype, but then it wanes, and to keep it from doing that, we have the two representatives,” Iannitelli said.

Iannitelli said that Smithfield’s program may also be able to serve as a blueprint for Warwick.

“I would say I’m a big supporter of having two students,” Iannitelli said. “That would serve them better in the long term.”

Student leaders of today

Narragansett’s school committee representative, Maya DeAngelis, is wrapping up a rather unique senior year at Narragansett High School.

DeAngelis, like a potential student member on the Warwick School Committee, does not have a vote on committee matters. Still, though, she has managed to have an influence.

She first heard about the opportunity to become a student representative last March, and decided to apply after deciding the application process wouldn’t be too tough. Three weeks later, she was officially offered the position by Narragansett High School Principal Christopher Fiore.

From there, the adjustment period for DeAngelis mostly consisted of paying more attention to everything going on around her.

“I have to really just have my eyes open to what is going around in, what’s going on in school,” DeAngelis said. “Now that I’m in this position, I’m really looking to see what can improve, what’s doing well, things like that.”

Menzies said that DeAngelis “exceeded any expectations” as to what he was hoping a student representative could bring to the table.

“Not only is she coming to the School Committee with goals and a want to institute change, she’s also sending out surveys to her peers and providing us with those results so that we can transfer that into policy and decision-making on our end,” Menzies said.

Among the work that DeAngelis has done was helping change when the high school’s senior essays were due. Previously, they had been due at around the same time as most college essays, which DeAngelis said negatively affected students’ performance on both.

“These are two very big things that we’re juggling at the same time as seniors, it’s very stressful and I feel like we weren’t doing as well as we could have on the senior paper because we were focusing so much more on the college application,” DeAngelis said. “But I brought that to the committee, and I basically said I feel this paper either needs to get minimized a little bit or moved to a later time in the year so people can focus on applications and then the paper.”

Narragansett Public Schools is currently in the process of reworking the essay, which DeAngelis said made her proud to be able to help students in the future.

Fiore, who helped select DeAngelis, said that she had done a fantastic job at connecting the School Committee more with the student body.

“It combines all her skills and talents together,” Fiore said. “She’s extremely active in the school community, she’s involved in student government, she’s a leader athletically on the teams in which she participates. You see her constantly in the halls and in her classes, where she’s even a leader amongst her peers in so many different ways. This is a perfect storm for Maya.”

Asked what advice she would have for her Warwick counterpart, DeAngelis said that no issue was too small to bring to the attention of the committee.

“I can already tell that, with my position, changes are in the process of being made that I brought the attention to, and hopefully anything that I bring up in the future continues to do so,” DeAngelis said. “Just be excited about it, and anything that you think needs to be brought up, bring it up. They want to know what your opinion is- that’s why you’re there.”

The policy’s future

So, how soon could it be before we see a student bringing issues to the Warwick School Committee’s attention?

Leah Hazelwood, School Committee vice chair and a member of its policy subcommittee, is in favor of implementing the idea.

“Students should be a part of what’s happening in our schools, and they should have a voice,” Hazelwood said.

Hazelwood noted that the previous subcommittee that she served on- the Health and Wellness Subcommittee- already had two student representatives, who she said were great to work with.

Hazelwood said that she sees the student having influence over matters that would affect the student body.

“We have fantastic students in Warwick, and we have principals that know their student body very well,” Hazelwood said. “We’d look to get input from both schools as to who they feel would be able to best represent the student body.”

While Testa said while introducing the discussion that there was “no need to rush this,” Hazelwood said that a policy would be coming up in front of the entire School Committee in their March 12 meeting.

As for advice, Menzies said that Warwick should find a way to involve students from both Pilgrim and Toll Gate each year, although he said any student representation is better than none.

“Any School Committee member would say the same- that we act on behalf of students, for students,” Menzies said. “To hear from students directly- that is something that’s unmatchable.”