PEABODY ― Everyone deserves to have a voice in the decisions made in their own community — including students.
That’s why the Peabody school system has the Student Advisory Board. This gives students a voice to express their thoughts directly to the School Committee, as well as to the community as a whole.
The student advisory chairperson also has the unique opportunity to attend every School Committee meeting. They can speak on any issues that they are concerned with, similar to members of the School Committee.
“They work closely with the high-school administration and the student body to bring concerns and solutions to the forefront, ” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Josh Vadala. “They are an integral part of elevating and amplifying student voices, so they can share the successes, as well as some areas they would like to see improved.”
School Committee member Beverley Griffin-Dunne was part of the first-ever Student Advisory Board in Massachusetts, back in 1974.
“Student Advisory Board is near and dear to my heart,” she said.
Griffin-Dunne said that it means a lot to her to be able to hear from the students.
“Over all of these years, some of the best and clearest information and thoughtful analysis about so many things has come from the Student Advisory Board,” she said.
Currently, the students’ main focus is dealing with a problem that has plagued Peabody Veterans Memorial High School for a long time — traffic concerns, specifically traffic concerns in the student parking lot.
“They are actually working on it and I’ve given them some information on who to contact,” Griffin-Dunne said. “Traffic is always an issue at the schools, and they are working very diligently on it. I’m very proud to see how they are doing it. They are very organized, and at the last (School Committee) meeting I asked them some specific questions on how they were going about the work on improving the traffic, and they had very good plans and very good points they were making.”
This year’s board consists of all new students, as elections were held this past fall. The board was unable to meet in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and is now able to resume.
