Student Council Gets Down To Governing

John S. Martinez School eighth grader Julieta Diaz and her fellow student council classmates had a decision to make: Should they donate the proceeds of a middle school recycling drive to a local homeless shelter, or should they throw their financial support to the city’s animal shelter instead?

That decision was up to the group of 20 students who make up the Fair Haven middle school’s student leadership body. 

The student representatives met on a recent Tuesday during their lunch period to handle several school-related matters, and to keep learning about government by practicing government themselves.

Diaz, who is the student council’s president, led the latest monthly hourlong meeting. The discussion and decisions made by the group pertained to everything from the school’s recycling club to organizing the upcoming Snow Ball Dance to getting ready for the second-quarter celebratory pep rally.

As students filed into the James Street school’s library for the monthly meeting, they were welcomed by the student council’s three faculty facilitators: STEM teacher Alyssa Basso, Band and audio visual technology teacher Jose Lara, and 7th and 8th grade social studies teacher Justin Aiello. 

“Welcome to the table, changemakers,” Basso said as she greeted the group. 

Before jumping into the three-part agenda, council President Diaz introduced her fellow elected members including the student outreach team, spokesperson, vice president, secretary, and safety patrol team. 

The third item on the meeting agenda focused on the school’s recycling club. The group came up with ideas for how to increase the club’s presence around school and started its list of what local charities it plans to donate to as the club collects funds from bottle deposits for recycled plastic bottles and cans. 

Diaz asked her fellow student council members what ideas they have for how to better encourage the school community to recycle and help the environment. 

“We need to make this strong. It’s not as strong as it should be,” Diaz said. 

Students suggested creating posters to hang around the school and digital flyers for social media, to give reminders during the school’s morning announcements, and to have student council members visit homerooms to discuss with all students the importance of recycling. 

“Do you like when people come to your homeroom to announce things?” Diaz asked the group to gauge the impact of homeroom visits. 

Several students agreed that homeroom visits are typically more impactful than announcements on the PA system. A small group of students volunteered to do the visits in pairs to each grade level. Another team of students volunteered to collect the school’s recycling bins during an extra ​“special” period and to sort the plastic bottles from the aluminum cans before bagging them. Aiello updated the students that the school’s poster maker had just been repaired. 

Basso suggested that students in her class and those in Lara’s audio visual class film a recycling promotion video to play around school. 

After deciding on how best to promote recycling and the process of collecting the recyclable materials, the group next had to decide where they would donate the funds they raised from the bottle deposits. 

One idea proposed was to support the school’s first-grade class in raising money for the New Haven Animal Shelter. Half of the council members present voted to donate to the animal shelter. 

Safety patrol officer Miguel Santiago suggested another option: Donating the money to a local homeless shelter. 

“That’s important too because it’s winter time and a lot of people around here don’t have coats and it’s really cold out there,” Diaz said. 

The other half of the group voted to donate to a homeless shelter. 

Diaz suggested that the group donate to one this month and the other next month, and then possibly to other charities for the remainder of the school year. The group agreed on this compromise then took a vote in support of donating to the animal shelter this month and a homeless shelter in February. 

Basso tasked the group with doing research on what homeless shelter they would donate to in February. 

"Their Voice Counts"

Social studies teacher Justin Aiello helped kickstart Martinez’s student council nearly a decade ago and has been overseeing the group ever since. Soon after, Basso and Lara joined the three-teacher team of facilitators. 

Over the years Basso and Lara agreed that the trio has had to lead the group less and less and has become more of a supporting role to the students. ​“You see how trustworthy they are and committed to making positive change in community,” Basso said. 

During the recent Tuesday meeting, Diaz and her fellow members led the meeting with very few moments when the facilitators needed to help. 

This year the school’s student council did agree to change its format. Previously, the group consisted only of elected members. Thanks to a recommendation from a teacher, the council nearly doubled in size this year by adding ​“general” members. That means the council is now open to students who are interested in participating in school government but who do not want to run for an elected seat.

“This helped a lot to increase the number of students we have and how many voices we hear from,” Basso said. ​“They have the most important opinion. If we want them to be the change we have to instill in them the morale to know how.” 

Basso highlighted key lessons students learn while on the council, like learning to respectfully share their ideas and opinions and understand a consensus vote. 

Lara added that being a part of the council has helped several current students feel more confident at school, and has even helped address some behavioral concerns. 

The council also has dedicated office hours for its members to remain connected to the school’s principal.

“We really want them to know that their voice counts,” Lara said.

In the last three years the student council has spearheaded school efforts like introducing special interest classes for students to learn to D.J., take up photography, and dance. Last year the council also led efforts like getting students access to lockers again and to the cafeteria for lunch periods to increase socialization after past Covid protocols called for students to eat inside their classrooms. They’ve also pushed for cleaner bathrooms.

The school council also succeeded in bringing back pep rallies this year. 

Second on the agenda was a discussion around planning for a second-quarter celebratory pep rally for all grade levels. The council hosted three separate pep rallies that celebrated kindergarten to second graders, third to fifth graders, and sixth to eighth graders during the first marking period. 

As the school’s second marking period nears an end next week, the council members talked about possible pep rally dates and whether it plans to host three separate rallies again or whether instead the school should condense the event.

The group debated between two possible dates of Feb. 3 or 10. Some raised concerns about the first week of February not leaving the team enough time to organize. Others asked if the second week of February would be too late of a celebration for the marking period that by then would have ended three weeks prior.

Lara suggested consolidating the plan of three pep rallies to two and working toward hosting one school-wide event for the final marking period celebration. The students voted in agreement and set a plan to host two separate pep rallies for K‑5 and 6 – 8th for the second quarter.

The group also agreed to do more outreach over the next week to hear more input from fellow students about how they can make the pep rallies more interactive and fun. 

At the half way period of the meeting students took a brief intermission to get lunch and then resumed for the remainder of the meeting over burgers and tater tots.

Council Prez: Looking To Build A "Closer Community"

Diaz was vice president of the council last year. She decided to run for president because of her love for her school and desire to give back to her peers. 

“I wanted to change the things that I saw and heard from students and teachers and make a closer community,” she said. ​“This school is so important to me. It has given me everything I need. It feels like home.” 

As president, Diaz said she has learned to get out of her comfort zone while learning skills like public speaking and advocating for student interests to adults and parents within the school community. She also talked about the importance of learning how to bring students together, be open to different opinions, and run a meeting.

“We’re all learning important leadership skills like working with people you don’t usually work with,” Diaz said. ​“Every school should have a student council because students’ opinions are very important to make the school better.”

Another agenda item for the meeting focused on the school’s winter Snow Ball Dance, which is reintroducing dances back to school after the height of the pandemic. 

The group confirmed the list of student and staff volunteers and their roles with decorations, food, and safety. 

Diaz asked the group about what its prices for the food that will be served at the event should look like. She also reminded the group that the money raised from the dance will be going toward helping to arrange a Lake Compounce trip and musical performance for Lara’s band class.

The students voted that pizza would be sold at a price of two slices for $1, and that the remaining prices for food provided by teachers and parent volunteers will be set by those who made the food. 

What about music for the school dance? Lara told Diaz he’s halfway through making a playlist for the event. For a ticket sale update, the council’s recording secretary shared that around 22 tickets have been sold so far. 

Aiello reminded the students that a safety plan is needed to be sure the event runs smoothly. ​“Depending on how this goes, it could be the last dance,” he said. 

With the help of Diaz and administration, Basso shared that the plan is to have a host of volunteer ​“monitors” outside of the event to be sure students are not leaving the event and that a bathroom system has been created that will have students get bathroom passes to leave the event. 

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