The student news site of Wayland High School

Wayland Student Press

The student news site of Wayland High School

Wayland Student Press

The student news site of Wayland High School

Wayland Student Press

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News Brief: Schedule changes this week
News Brief: Schedule changes this week
March 26, 2024
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Glovsky: Speeches and campaigns disappoint

I was very disappointed with the speeches given by this year’s student council candidates. Not a single one of today’s (Thursday May 14) speeches had any relevance to the school climate right now. They all stuck to the predetermined script of throwing out a bunch of promises for events that may or may not happen; besides, we live in tough times and money is tight. There are real problems that this school has to address before we waste time and money on a spring BBQ.

I have seen a disturbing lack of communication over the past year between the student council and the student body. I hate to badmouth such an innovative student council executive branch on their way out, but, with all their innovations, they have never been willing to use their resources, use WSPN, or use surveys to get some sense of the broader WHS community.

From field day, where they did not even have the notion to poll the students as to what types of games they would want, to Status Quo, which might not have insulted some students if the student body felt that they had had some say in the decision. We were not asked. We were not talked to, but told. As the past three years have gone by I have felt less and less connected to the workings of this school. I do not want another introspective Student Council, but none of these candidates told me flatly that they will be outward looking. None of them guaranteed that they would ask for my opinion until they were blue in the face.

Again we were offered innovation; Andrew Pilkington and Scott Smith even put their “new ideas” on a small pamphlet. But innovation creates rigidity. The truly ironic prose of the day was Lauren Jenny’s and Travis Downs’s promise for a “Battle of the Bands,” which just so happened to be a never-realized promise made by James Ivker last year. Jenny and Downs say that they have seen the way previous student council executives have done the job, but they said it in a way that suggested to me that they are going to follow these examples to the letter. They told me that they saw nothing wrong with, nothing to improve from, their potential predecessors. I do not want leaders who start off by saying that they have nothing to change, that they are not out to make good better and new newer. And as for Ryan Tuckerman and Derby Lawrence, well even if their speech was an irreverent waste of time, at least they were able to put a little cheeriness and intrigue into the presentation.

But how could these candidates talk about serious matters? Students do not vote on the terms of solutions, they vote on bonds of friendship and popularity. These candidates are running on images and icons, not policies and precedent. None of them told me a solid reason they are running, neither a concern nor a hope that compelled them to be on that stage.

So how can we get that out of them? Maybe it is time to implement a student council debate, a way for real students to ask real questions about their real concerns. Because we have concerns: “Why wasn’t I told about the Futures Team, I want to know what’s going on?” or “Field day was boring, it could have been so much better” or “Hiring an amateur youth hip-hop crew for the Student Council sponsored Winter Week opening event was a terrible decision.” Regardless of the questions, these views must be heard before it is too late, but for that to happen the students must be asked. Not a single candidate promised to ask — maybe listen, never ask.

So who is left to vote for? I don’t know. Maybe no one. Maybe you should vote for yourself, or your best friend, or you could vote for me even, but write in a name of someone who not only will listen to you, but will talk to you about ideas. Because we need student council members who are capable of sharing their ideas, and refining them, and accepting criticism. None of these pairs of candidates showed me that they could do that.

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Glovsky: Speeches and campaigns disappoint