'Want to be a good representation': Requirement to add students to school boards

Governor Kathy Hochul aims to give a voice to students, signing legislation requiring schools to establish a process to include one non-voting student member to their board of education.

Meet Rayhan Rashid from Buffalo and Maxim Hazard from Lake Shore, two seniors in high school taking on the role of school board members in each of their school districts.

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“I want to make sure I do something impactful for the next generation to come. I have siblings in Buffalo Public Schools. I want to make sure something I do will actually benefit them,” Rayhan said. “I feel like a lot of the times what actually goes on in the students' lives never gets to the board of education.”

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“I love Lake Shore, been here since kindergarten. I want to be a good representation for the student body,” Maxim said. “I think it’s important, so [the school board] understands from a student’s point of view what’s going on and their opinion.”

This law will be a change to several Western New York districts, but not all.

There are a few that are already including students on their school board including Niagara Wheatfield, Orchard Park, Hamburg, Rayhan’s district Buffalo, and Maxim’s district Lake Shore.

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Their voices are just as important to their fellow board members, Lake Shore superintendent Daniel Pacos and Buffalo School Board president Sharon Belton-Cottman.

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“It has given the board the student perspective on a lot of issues that you don’t ordinarily get or you wouldn’t get without having a student at the table,” Pacos said. “It’s important to train our next generation. Somebody has to take over these jobs. It’s difficult to get good, dedicated people to run for the school boards.”

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“We want to make sure they have more say in everything that they’re doing,” Belton-Cottman said. “What we want to do is to make sure we are preparing students to lead, so we want to make sure they have a voice in the things that are going on.”

The newly signed law requires districts to have a process to include at least one ex-officio, non-voting student member in place by July 1, 2025.