Students are supposed to serve on NYC’s Community Education Councils. Few are.

Speaking to Chalkbeat, few of our youth directors shared their views and affirmed our position about Mayoral control of NYC public schools — a topic that has received a lot of attention as communities rally to challenge the policy.

Veronica Morris, a 17-year-old junior at New Explorations into Science, Technology and Math in Manhattan and a member of Integrate NYC, took issue with the eligibility requirements to be seniors and to have prior experience in student government. Also, since life outside of school is busy and complicated for many students, Morris said, many potential student leaders wouldn’t be considered.
“If you have to take care of siblings or work to raise money for your family or whatever, that’s going to stop you from joining student government in the first place or if you’re in student government, [it will stop you from being] on one of these boards,” Morris said.

Maggie Handelman, a 16-year-old junior at LaGuardia High School and a member of Integrate NYC, said the lack of other students on education councils makes such spaces feel inaccessible.
“Walking into an all-adult space that is not made for you and you are one of like two youth feels very intimidating and not welcoming,” Handelman said.
Additionally, Handelman said that from experience advocating in adult-dominant spaces, she thinks that young perspectives are often “tokenized.”
“They’re like, ‘We love to hear from students’ but then they don’t take you seriously,” Handelman said.”
Handleman said that student representatives on education councils should have voting power.

“A lot of the times youth are looked down upon, like we’re not capable enough to make our own decisions on what we get to learn,” said Nazrin Nahar, spokesperson for the youth-led advocacy organization Integrate NYC and a 20-year old student at Baruch College. “We want representation.”
When she went to Forest Hills High School in Queens, Nahar never heard about opportunities to serve on education councils.
“I never knew about this opportunity until now,” Nahar said. “So there definitely needs to be more transparency, and students need to be told about this possibility.”