Adam King, of Asheville, North Carolina, spoke to the Buncombe County Board of Education about adding a student advisor for the third time on Thursday, June 1, 2006.
Joel Burgess, of the Asheville Citizen-Times, was there covering this story and other stories taking place that night. After King had to sit through a two-hour meeting, he delivered his speech during the public comment session.
When King finished, board members did not have any comment. According to King, the chair simply asked if there were any other comments from the public, and there was not any, so the board adjourned.
After the meeting, King talked with board members Dusty Pless and Richard Greene, two informal supporters of the proposal. They asked him about the organization he is involved with – NYRA, and they told King they wanted to do more research to try to convince other members on the board. They want to develop a consensus before making it an agenda item, but they did say that they do not understand why the other board members are against it.
Burgess wants King to write a 350- to 450-word guest column for Sunday’s education section of the Citizen-Times sometime within the next week or so.
King will not be able to deliver any more presentations until August, the month of the next normal board meeting.
In the meantime, however, King will contact the student councils of the other high schools in the county school district, and gather support from teachers and students from those high schools. If time allows, he may also propose a similar position for the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners this summer. One commissioner, David Gantt, has expressed his desire for a student advisor on the board.
“The school board has an unelected legal advisor who provides his perspective of the law,” King says. “It is time for the board to include a student advisor to provide a perspective of the nearly 26,000 students who are affected every day by the decisions the school board makes. It is time to give this proposal a try.”
