Twice a month, Mondays at 6:30 p.m. seven community members meet to volunteer their time to the Mount Pleasant High School School Board. The meeting can last from 1 hour to 4 and they cover a wide range of topics in their agendas. While most students know of the School Board, the majority are not aware of what members do in their positions or how they get there. Some background information about the School Board:
– Elected members serve for 6 years and appointed members serve up to 2 years
– The superintendent is not on the School Board but attends and contributes to the meetings.
– The 7 board members have different roles: 4 are trustees, 1 is a secretary, 1 is a vice president, and 1 is a president.
On Wednesday evening I called Jessica Jernigan, a School Board member since 2020. I asked her five questions to better understand her role and unique perspective.
Q: Can you explain your role as a board member?
A: “My job is to set policy for the Mount Pleasant Public School District and I am responsible for using the budget responsibly.”
Q: Why did you decide to become a board member?
A: “In 2019, I got a call from a friend asking me if I wanted to run for office. He said we needed people to run for [the] school board and I said yeah, I care about public education and that is something I could probably do. I am myself a product of public education, my husband teaches at CMU which is a public institution. I felt like even though I am not myself an educator, I care about public education enough to be able to serve in this capacity.”
Q: What are opportunities available to students that you’d like to see them take advantage of?
A: “I would love to make sure that we always have students on the sex education advisory board. We need to have students on the sex ed advisory board and their voice is so important to me. I think it’s important to the district, I think it’s important in terms of the kind of curricula we are able to provide. That is something I would really like to make sure we always have those students there.”
Q: What are your favorite parts of being involved in the school district?
A: “I really enjoy getting into the word by word analysis of what our policies are because I think it’s super important. Each school board member has a different school that they are assigned to [for one year on a rotation basis] and I have loved getting to know Pullen. I’ve loved taking part in their events, it’s really been super helpful to me as a school board member but it’s also been hugely rewarding and just a lot of fun.”
Q: Is there anything else you would like students to know?
A: “I would like students to know that [the] school board is there to serve them, that’s our job, our job is to serve students and they can talk to us at any time and they’re always welcome at school board meetings. They’re welcome to be in the audience, they are welcome to observe, and they’re also welcome to speak up. Because students don’t always know that they can speak up and speak to us, their voices right now carry a lot of weight because every time a student comes, it’s kind of special and so students should feel like they can talk to school board members, they should feel like they can come to school board meetings, and they should know that the job of a school board member is to serve students.”
Hopefully, her answers have helped you understand more about the MPHS School Board and School Boards everywhere. It is with the help of dedicated community members serving on and off the board like Jessica Jernigan that the school district is not only able to function but succeed and advance.
The public comment portion of a Board Meeting is set aside to provide any community member or student an opportunity to speak about what is important to them. Each individual must sign up at the start of the meeting and is given a maximum of 3 minutes. While board members are not allowed to answer or comment during this time, they are listening closely and taking notes.
https://www.mtpleasantschools.net/page/agenda-and-meeting-minutes
