Three Richmond County School System Students Selected for Superintendent Woods’ 2020-2021 Student Advisory Council
Monday, October 19th, 2020
Georgia School Superintendent Richard Woods announced the selection of three Richmond County school students to serve on his 2020-2021 Student Advisory Council. The students will meet with Superintendent Woods to discuss the impact of state policies in the classroom.
The three students selected from Richmond County Schools are
-
Swetha Ananth,12th Grade, Davidson Fine Arts School
-
Alexander Marshall, 10th Grade, Richmond County Technical Career Magnet School
-
Nasir DaJon Mosquera, 11th Grade, A.R. Johnson Magnet High School
“Engaged students make education better in our school system and across the state,” said Richmond County School System Superintendent Dr. Kenneth Bradshaw. “I am proud of these students for sharing their innovative ideas and their service to help improve our schools.”
According to the Georgia Department of Education, more than 1,400 students applied to serve on the council. Superintendent Woods selected 64 students from across Georgia representing every Regional Education Service Agency district. Students were chosen based on the strength of their essay responses, which focused on their ideas for public education.
"Now more than ever, it is essential that I receive feedback directly from students on their educational experience," Superintendent Woods said. "My Student Advisory Council has been an invaluable part of my decision-making process for the last six years, and I am looking forward to meeting with the 2020-21 Council soon."
“Learning Today, Leading Tomorrow”
Building a world-class school system through education, collaboration, and innovation
Submitted by Swetha Ananth
The quality of education not only depends on the administration of a school, but the mental health of the students itself. I want to focus on mental health and providing the proper support to kids in need. Many do not have access to therapy or the proper support systems when it comes to situations of stress, depression, and anxiety. I want to help create a program where students can get the proper therapy counseling they need whether it be to face issues of stress and anxiety from school, or just to have someone to talk to about issues at home. I want to bring ideas to the table about boosting moral and communication between students and faculty as it is a great way to boost mental health. Mental Health is something that is not talked about enough in our school system and I want to bring light to it.
If selected to serve on the Superintendent's Student Advisory Council what topics would you like to talk about?
Submitted by Alexander Marshall
If selected to serve on the student Advisory Council some topics that I would like to talk about would be less standardized testing, smaller class sizes, and more funding for public schools. Studies have shown that standardized testing places unneeded stress on students as well as teachers and takes away from valuable instructional time. Another thing that takes away from instructional time are large class sizes. Large class sizes minimize the amount of control a teacher has over their classroom meaning they will have to spend more time on discipline rather than instruction. A way to prevent larger class sizes would be to increase funding for public school instead of private schools. By increasing funding for public schools, we will be able to hire more teachers, build new school, and fund more programs in order to enhance the quality of education throughout Georgia.
Submitted by Nasir Mosquera
I would like to impact the overall quality by encouraging students that public education is
a necessity. With access to private schools, charter schools, and online K-12 education, I
would like to reignite the drive that students need to feel about walking the halls and being a
true believer that public education is the best education. I spent five years in private school
education, and my parents were deterred against sending me to public school, but they
thought it would be best for my transition into high school. Public education provided me with
something I was lacking, diversity. It allowed me to be among people from different walks of
life and to see how not all people think alike. This provided me with not only diversity, but a
true foundation, I could build upon.