[projekktor id=’11697′]
It was no ordinary day for the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board.
Students were given the opportunity to dish about the pros and cons of school life, with teachers and board members listening very closely.
“At the school we want to make sure that everyone has the most opportunity to learn the best way they can – so here we’re getting everyone’s voices and opinions on how they learn best to hopefully maximize the education they’ll receive in high school and in elementary school.”
Ashley Kaye is the student co-host of the event known as Student Voice. More than 450 kids were involved from all across the district. This year’s theme was “unleashing creativity and innovation.”
HWDSB education director John Malloy directs the event. “I’m really excited because we’re not telling the kids how to talk to us. We’re giving them all kinds of different options. They can do video, they can do new podcasts, they can talk to me, they can do graffiti walls, they can talk with one another, they get to choose how they want to communicate, what will make our schools great.”
Students were able to use iPads provided by the board so they could record their complaints or ideas.
Technology was a popular subject: “One of my concerns is that we don’t have much technology in the Hamilton-Wentworth School Board and I feel like we need more to help us learn better.”
A sentiment echoed by Malloy. “The second thing they say to me often times, and they’ve already begun this morning – we want to be sure the program and the technologies actually allowing them to really excel in the world as it is today.”
Bullying was another hot-button topic. “Bullying is one of the worst things – that’s one of my complaints, like they don’t treat each others as equals.”
Weather-related school cancellations were also on the table. “I don’t like how they did their snow days, it can be -40 degree weather and they still make you go to school and it will be like a perfectly nice day and they make you stay home.”
Others saw the event as a chance to socialize with peers. “It’s a really fantastic opportunity to just gather students together and just be able to hear what students have to say about their own schools. I guess before this, there was probably just – most of the info was coming through parents or teachers.”
The forum seems to be working: Malloy says several ideas from last year’s event have been turned into reality.
“Students wanted more choice with their course selection in high school – instead of us creating an option sheet for what the kids could study, from that forum we are now piloting in four schools and moving to all our high schools where the students actually help us actually create the option sheet before they tell us what they want to study.”
Kaye: “I think that board members that are here are really listening to what’s going on. There’s a reason why they put this all together. I think they’re going to make use of this.”
Event officials say consultants will look over all student suggestions, and from the data collected they will determine what issues need to be addressed.
