April 17, 2024 – High school students joined Board of Education members to continue plotting the course for the future of the district during a Tuesday morning forum.
The students who met with district leaders on Tuesday were also present for a similar forum in October to discuss some of the priorities that they felt would make Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools a better place to learn. The plan was always to bring students back to share what conversations, plans, and deliverable outcomes had come from the first forum so that the district’s most important stakeholders could hold the board accountable. While the previous forum featured a simulated board meeting where students presented their questions in a public comment format, the most recent event was almost entirely conversational to make sure students felt as heard as possible.
“Today is a follow-up,” said Superintendent Tricia McManus. “We want to really hear if your concerns are being addressed and if you’ve seen them being addressed.”
In addition to further conversations with board members and breakdowns of how the district’s budgetary process for new expenditures works, students also heard updates from other district leaders about new developments on subjects that were prevalent in their past comments – relevant curriculum, security, and mental health services. Director of Personalized Learning Ashley McCormac went into detail on the recently adopted Portrait of a Graduate and its influence on durable skills in classroom lessons, and Chief Officer of Safety and Security Jonathan Wilson shared evaluative data from security measures like metal detector use. Assistant Superintendent of Student Services Fredericca Stokes had a lot of good news from this year’s wellness campaigns, including the success of the Health and Wellness Institute in February, which her team hopes to grow from its initial base of 250 students in the 2024-25 school year.
“For next year, we know that 250 was just a start,” Stokes said. “We know that we need to expand. We got very good reviews.”
Students were pleased to see their ideas in action, but they still had further feedback, particularly in terms of making the impacts of new efforts more widely felt. Many of them had never even heard of the Portrait of a Graduate, and programs like the Health and Wellness Institute, though poised to grow, are still limited in scope. One idea that came up was establishing a “Meet the Provider Day” that dedicates time to for high schoolers to meet with counselors and a variety of service providers to learn more about what the district can do for them.
“Our counselors chose us to be here, but what about the people that don’t have that opportunity?” said Mount Tabor High School Junior Arielle Andrade. “When you do Meet the Provider Day, you could ask questions, you could bring a parent, and you could learn more about the resources available to you.”
Middle schoolers are also in the process of going through multi-tiered forums with board members to make their voices heard. Across all grade levels, students know firsthand what it’s like to learn in WS/FCS, and theirs is the most important feedback the district can have when crafting educational strategies that meet scholars’ needs. Of course, it helps that WS/FCS has so many thoughtful young people who are willing to take part in the improvement of their district.
“You guys are incredibly brilliant,” McManus told the students. “You’ve got a lot to say, and we’ve got to learn from what you say to make our district the very best place it can be for learning. Your voice is very important.”