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The Cambridge School Committee granted the two student representatives on the school committee a non-binding vote on any business that comes before the committee during Tuesday night’s meeting.
Over the last few years, student representatives have not been able to vote despite an amendment to the School Committee rules in October 2021 that meant to allow students to cast non-binding votes. According to the motion passed on Tuesday, the practice of student voting was “inadvertently stopped” due to “transitions of Student School Committee membership.”
The procedure allows student representatives to cast a symbolic vote to express their position on all committee issues without directly influencing the outcome. The vote is not counted towards the four member majority needed to pass a motion.
Eva Asraf and Zihaam Jama – students at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School serving as the current two student representatives – spoke positively of the proposal during the meeting.
“I do believe that these non-binding votes are definitely a step towards including more student voices in our committee and our policy making,” Asraf said.
Urbana Barua, was the student school committee representative for the 2024-2025 school year, said in an interview that allowing non-binding voting was a powerful step forward to uplifting student voices but that one day she hopes it can turn into greater voting power.
“Just moving forward, the student representatives will definitely have a bigger voice, bigger power, and just a bigger position in that room to be able to speak on student experiences and amplify their voices more,” Barua said.
Pending approval from the district's legal team, the student committee members’ first votes will be Oct. 7. In early October the School Committee also plans to make its long-awaited vote on a permanent superintendent.
Also during the four-hour Tuesday meeting, the committee debated the district’s guidelines on AI use for the coming year and its program for reporting student bullying, Speakfully.
The district is required to update the committee biennial on any changes to its reporting policy for bullying and misconduct. This year’s updates included changes to staff position titles, additional professional development programming, and recommended new family outreach efforts.
There, CPS Chief Equity Officer Manuel J. Fernandez reiterated that serious incidents will be reported to parents, while smaller ones may be withheld per the student’s preference when reported through the Speakfully platform.
“Caregivers are not notified if a student makes a report to Speakfully,” Fernandez said. “Speakfully was actually selected by students as a way of reporting incidents, concerns that they might have, that they felt were not being addressed either at all or quickly enough by administrators and teachers.”
Fernandez added that the platform was set up not to immediately notify parents when an incident is reported.
Last month the School Committee moved that the superintendent and district staff work to develop districts on AI in schools. This week, members discussed the National School Board Association’s guidelines and called for guidelines that served both students and staff.
Addressing the districts developing AI policy Elizabeth C.P. Hudson said that she “ would like to see it apply to faculty, not only and staff, not only not just students.”
— Staff writer Claire A. Michal can be reached at claire.michal@thecrimson.com.
