By Dana Sternthal
Staff Writer
Mira Costa’s decision to implement the Student Leadership Council two years ago after student complaints over being left out of the decision-making process was a wise choice. However, it has become ineffective due to its lack of overall communication and organization.
Student Leadership Council consists of students that hold leadership positions at Costa, and in past years the group theoretically met with Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale to discuss issues concerning the student body on a biweekly basis. But, the group hasn’t met regularly at all this year, and the channel of communication between the administration and the council clearly has been broken. This disorganization eliminates much of the influence of the council and the efficacy of faculty-student communication at Mira Costa.
In the past, the Council met every other Thursday, giving structure to the program and a way for the students to express their opinions. According to Hoofprints Editor-in-Chief Meghan Burns, this year the members have only met once, in September, to meet the Costa faculty and talk about the construction of the new building.
Recently, there was a meeting scheduled for Jan. 10, but it was only posted on the school’s official website under events and was not mentioned in the daily bulletin, leaving many Student Leadership Council members unaware of the planned date. However, it’s not the sole responsibility of the administration to inform the students of upcoming meetings, and the SLC should take responsibility for ensuring meetings are publicized and attended.
In addition, a meeting was scheduled for yesterday, but one successful meeting in an entire semester is hardly sufficient.
According to Dale, all the students who were “passionate” about the council have graduated, compared to an indifferent attitude taken this year. Dale encourages students to come to him individually, but this system is inefficient and does not allow students to build a consensus between their fellow council members.
The SLC student members should not be the only group responsible for facilitating discussion between themselves and the administration. With this being said, however, not all responsibility can be placed on the administration. Taking proactive measures to meet is part of the duty of the Student Leadership Council to work with Dale to plan and execute meetings.
Students who wish to participate in formal councils should take it upon themselves to organize consistent meetings by utilizing Facebook, placing announcements in the daily bulletin for times and locations of SLC meetings and sending out reminder call slips to members. Despite SLC members’ busy schedules, which have conflicted with meetings before, Council members should put their commitment to the group above other prior obligations and commitments, especially for such infrequent meetings.
Student input should be an integral part of Costa’s functioning, and the SLC members should effectively be acting as the representatives of the student body.
Clearly, students will be affected by the upcoming Advanced Placement policy changes, yet because of the lack of organization that has plagued this year’s SLC, no student input was offered in a formal, consolidated way to the administration on the issue as the new policy was developed. Such is the case for many happenings on and around campus; input from those who feel the results of changes is undeniably necessary for Mira Costa’s administration in order to function well.
This year, the SLC has become an empty gesture with little real impact on school policy. If members do not start to coordinate and the administration does not make more of an effort to hear students’ opinions, Mira Costa will continue to under-utilize an integral component of its identity.
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