Cassidy Thompson was a Hoggard High School junior when she helped take the lead in getting New Hanover County Schools ‘Student Voice’ policy off the ground back in October 2022. Fast forward to 2024, she’s still one of the group’s leaders, advocating for student input in both the administration’s and school board’s decisions.
Thompson is going to Duke University in the fall to study English and said her time working with the student ambassador team, which is a part of Student Voice, has significantly grown her communication, writing, and leadership skills.
Hoggard High Junior Aparna Dhulipala, who wants to study environmental public policy in college, said she’s learned a lot being a part of the group.
Student Voice studies 'section Z'
In mid-January, Dhulipala gave Student Voice’s presentation to the board’s policy committee on the data they collected on Section Z of the proposed controversial professional standards of conduct policy. Critics of the section say it could be used to intimidate teachers who want to discuss racism and discrimination, and the context surrounding the founding of the country and its major historical inflection points.
“I first heard about this issue just through reading local news outlets, and once I saw it, I was like, ‘Wow, I think this would be a really good thing to discuss with Student Voice’ because this is a policy that directly impacts education in social studies and English classrooms,” she said.
Student Voice researched how NHCS students felt about the proposed policy, getting feedback from 60 middle and high school students.
“Most agreed with the intent of Section Z that, yeah, of course, we want teachers to be inclusive and to make sure they're being careful with their language when they're talking about these things, but I think a lot of the concern was just in teaching history and having to explain that some of these things did happen,” Thompson said.
After conducting student opinion polls of Section Z, the group suggested that the board revisit several policy points that forbid teachers to “profess belief” in the following concepts: a meritocracy is inherently racist or sexist; the United States was created by members of a particular race or sex for the purpose of oppressing members of another race or sex; the rule of law does not exist, but instead is a series of power relationships and struggles among racial or other groups.
However, school board members Josie Barnhart and Pat Bradford, who both sit on the policy committee, had the majority vote to move the policy unamended to a full board vote in February, not taking the students’ recommendations into account. Board member Stephanie Kraybill’s motion to strike Section Z out of the policy entirely failed.
At the board’s last agenda meeting, before the policy meeting, Barnhart told Student Voice member Samin Bhan that they were still gathering input and addressing issues with the policy; however, Barnhart didn’t bring this feedback into the conversation at the official policy meeting. Barnhart also tried to disband the committee altogether, rather than hear the students’ presentation.
Thompson said of the move, “I think it was a little surprising and discouraging to us, but we do look forward to continuing to work with them and work on their potential edits to our policy; we always want to be improving what we're doing.”
Despite the outcome, Dhulipala said this was the first major research project the student ambassadors undertook.
“Even just the experience of going through the motions of collecting this data was such a good learning experience, being able to read and analyze policy and understand its nuances, and [...] learning how to present this information to the board in a respectful and informative manner,” Dhulipala said.
Both Thompson and Dhulipala said Student Voice hopes to continue presenting further research to the board. Topics include student mental health, overcrowding in schools, class rank, and book bans. Thompson said there are about 25 students who constitute their Student Voice leadership team; they’re the ones researching educational topics important to them.
Students on the 'indoctrination' question
While Student Voice does have a broad range of interests, they’ve had to tackle topics revolving around allegations of ‘liberal indoctrination’ that have been put front and center by conservatives around the state and here in New Hanover County.
North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, now running for governor, produced a report in 2021 that accused the state’s teachers of indoctrinating students with liberal ideologies. The following year, Barnhart, Bradford, Pete Wildeboer, and Melissa Mason ran successfully on a slate of issues including allegations of inappropriate teaching and materials in the district’s schools.
On the topic of book removals, Thompson said, “So that is something that our team is interested in researching more, but I think, generally, our what our team has discussed is, a lot of people didn't agree with the book [Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You] being banned [for use in classrooms], but, again, we don't represent all students, we try to bring in as many voices as we can.”
During the August hearing to ban the book, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, parent Katie Gates, who asked for the book’s removal, and board members Barnhart, Bradford, Wildeboer, and Mason, called into question how certain teachers are educating the district’s students.
“I think it's unfortunate that people view teachers that way because I've had nothing but positive experiences with my social studies and English teachers; the vast majority of them are like just here because they care about students and want to educate them,” Dhulipala said.
And both Dhulipala and Thompson spoke of the need for the adults who advocate or make decisions on their behalf to engage in more logical thinking, rather than emotion – or even virtiol.
“I think even just watching, Call to the Audience, in the board meetings, you just see a lot of emotions there. Some of them valid, some of them like way over the top. And we really just want to be a calm voice through the storm, just presenting the truth, but also in a way that helps build up our district leaders instead of tearing them down,” Thompson said.
Barnhart has also called into question the value of Student Voice when compared to parents and other adult decision-makers. And the day after she attempted to disband the group at the January agenda review, she wrote an email to Bhan, “As you know the 3 board members you had been working with [Stephanie Kraybill, Stephanie Walker, and Hugh McManus] are not seeking re-election. Coming into my role I chose to open dialog and concerns, and suggested a variety of changes as well as inquired about the processes such that student voice policy has a path that in [sic] maintainable for incoming students.”
However, recently committee assignments show that Vice Chair Melissa Mason will now chair the policy committee.
Barnhart is leaving it altogether. Kraybill and Bradford are staying on.
Thompson responded to this by saying, “Teachers, parents, district leaders, all of them are very important in making educational decisions, but I do think students are the primary stakeholders of our education. We are the ones that education is for. We're the ones going through the school day,” she said. “So I do think our voice is really important and should be really important to listen to while making decisions.”
Moving forward, Thompson and Dhulipala are excited about exploring the possibility of creating a student communication hub – one that would share information about the district’s specialty programs and other educational opportunities.
Prior reporting on NHCS Student Voice
- NHCS's controversial professional standards of conduct moving forward to a full board vote, January 2024
- NHCS students to weigh in on controversial employees' standards of conduct policy, January 2024
- NHC school board approves school calendars, debates future of Title IX Committee, November 2023
- Despite policy, NHCS students still lack a voice in decision- making process, August 2023
- NHC students find representation on board's agenda, governing committees, October 2022
