On Thursday, March 19, a board meeting was held with students and community members gathering to voice their concerns about the overall direction the Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) board was taking. The Chino Valley Students for Change student group had gone to this meeting with a student-led petition with over 300 signatures from Ayala students. 

Lucas Liu (11), who is the co-founder and current lead organizer of Chino Valley Students for Change, had gone to speak up about the current board. 

“We attended the board meeting to present our petition with over 350 signatures. This petition was to demand for fiscal accountability and proper student representation, and we just went there to provide a student presence as we presented the petition,” Liu said. 

The students that participated in the board meeting and who spoke up about the petition wanted to emphasize that the effort was about taking a proactive approach for improvement for the students of CVUSD rather than being reactionary. 

Don Kumar (11) had also gone to the board meeting and was able to point out one of the main topics that was revolving around the petition. 

“I think one of the main topics was about just student voice, because the petition was about having student representation in a school board,” Kumar said. “Because the CVUSD school board has traditionally not taken student input, and they are a board that’s in charge of making the decisions for schools, they’re  public servants that are supposed to serve the school and the community.”

The student petition appeared to play a big role in shaping the way the meeting’s discussion was going on. With the gathering of signatures, organizers were able to draw attention to the student voice and the concerns relating to the issues at school. Along with the topic of student voice being heard and student priorities being set straight, the meeting also mentioned one topic that has been a problem within the district.

During the meeting, one notable topic that was discussed was the special education department in schools. The speakers who spoke about this topic wanted to address a variety of issues that affected the special needs students and their families. Sophia Horan (10), who had also joined Liu, alongside many others, in this board meeting, addressed what was said.

“I want to say three people mentioned how students with special needs aren’t accommodated well enough, and it’s interesting considering that our district allocates extra money for high needs students,” Horan said. “That money might be going toward legal fees instead, and our district purposefully spends money to defend culture wars.”

The topic of special needs programs in schools being brought up constantly pointed out the ongoing concerns about the support system that was being set up by the district. Many were wondering if this current system was actually set up to better these families and support them, or if being more convenient for the board to manage is the priority.

Despite the volume and amount of public comments that were given, no resolutions were made at the meeting.

“There weren’t any resolutions made by the board on the petition, and it was mostly answered by silence, including board President Shaw walking away when the petition was brought up,” Kumar said. “Although it shows that the board doesn’t listen, I think it also shows that the students’ voices are making an impact, and that whether the school board is with or against the students, it shows that student advocacy does make a difference.”

The meeting heavily reflected how the active level of participation from students and the community about voicing our opinions and setting the district priorities straight makes an impact, even though it is not clearly shown. Although the meeting did not result in any immediate action, student organizers such as Liu hope to go back and continue advocating for students and the community at the next meeting in April.