Why and How to Form a Student Advisory Council
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I’m trying something new this year and so far, it has been wonderful and well received by our school community.
I have formed a Head of School (HoS) Student Advisory Council. I have also formed a HoS Pastors Advisory Council and a Senior Leadership Team (SLT) Diversity Advisory Council. I’ll share more about why and how I established the pastors and diversity councils in subsequent articles.
In this post, I will focus on the why and how of establishing a student advisory council. In my case I formed a HoS Student Government Advisory Council comprised of 9th-12th grade officers of the Student Council. However, an advisory council can be started for older elementary and middle school students as well, not just high school students.
Why
I had three reasons for starting the HoS Student Advisory Council:
to give students a voice in developing school policies and to advise me on matters affecting our students
to give students an opportunity to exercise genuine leadership, and
to give me an opportunity to mentor students on leadership principles.
Specifically, the purpose statement for the student advisory council is to “share input and insight with the HoS for making the school better and how the HoS can help support student leaders.” The verse for the council is fitting and familiar: “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” (1 Tim. 4:12)
It is important that our students’ perspectives and ideas be taken seriously. They are, after all, the ultimate consumer of the service we provide. They also have a keen sense of the desires, perspectives, and concerns of the student body. Giving them a voice encourages them, gives me greater insights for making better decisions and/or providing clearer and more effective communication, and gives me an opportunity to share what I have learned from many years of leadership.
How
I invited all of the senior class officers and the presidents and vice presidents of the 10th-11th classes to participate. The council meets with me four times each year (once a quarter) from 8:15 to 9:30 during our late start Thursday morning. I purposely use my conference room for the meeting to reflect the seriousness with which I take this council. We also provide a Chick-Fil-A breakfast during the meeting.
The Experience and Impact
While it is too early to measure the impact, I can say that the first meeting was extraordinary! The student leaders are taking this seriously. As you can see in the photograph, they dressed-up for the meeting (which was on their own initiative) and came prepared with an agenda for the meeting (also on their initiative).
Student Advisory Council Meeting in my Conference Room
This was the agenda they shared with me.
Questions
What can STUCO (Student Council) improve upon?
What do you think STUCO has done well so far?
How is this school year going from your perspective?
How do you balance multiple responsibilities and roles?
How can we best serve you?
Which areas should we focus on this year?
How can STUCO Reach Higher (Reaching Higher is the school’s theme this year) as leaders of the school?
How have you grown as a leader?
What have been the biggest challenges? What has been the most rewarding?
How to lead effectively when facing criticism?
Topics for Discussion
Better communication to students about major policies, changes, special schedules, community messages, etc.
A place for students to study/work/read/eat during lunch since no digital devices are allowed in the cafe.
Allowing students access to their phones at 2:10 during Spirit Week for the opportunity to take photos with friends, their performances, and memories.
I also took this meeting and the Council’s input seriously. If I don’t, a student advisory council has no integrity and its formation is disingenuous. Accordingly, I took each of the topics for discussion and have assigned them to members of my SLT for follow-up. You can see the SLT assignments in this screenshot of the SLT agenda in my project-management software.
If you have not done so already, I encourage you to start a student advisory council. How it is structured will depend on the grade levels provided by your school. Forming a student advisory council is one more opportunity for life on life transformation and for making our schools better!