How school boards benefit from student voice in governance

How school boards benefit from student voice through representation

Jill Holtz: Welcome to the Leading with Purpose podcast, where we share practical advice to help mission-driven organisations strengthen governance and lead with confidence. I'm your host, Jill Holtz from Diligent, and today we're talking about a topic that more school boards are beginning to explore. Not just how to hear student voice, but how to bring students meaningfully into governance itself. To dig into what that looks like in practice, I'm joined by Zachary Patterson, co-founder of the National Student Board Member Association.

Zachary is a former student board member himself and is now an advocate for equitable access to governance processes and stronger student voice in education decision making. In this conversation, we explore the value student board members bring, what separates a genuine role from a symbolic one, and how technology can help close the information gap. We also talk about a new initiative that Diligent NSBMA and COSBA are launching.

And how that will support student board members with governance education, leadership development, and more. If you're thinking about creating a student board member role or want to make an existing one more effective, this conversation is for you. And do stick around to the end where Zachary shares the one thing he'd want every board to do in the next 30 to 60 days to better support their student board members.

So today we're talking about a topic that more school boards are beginning to explore, not just how to hear student voice, but how to bring students meaningfully into governance itself. Because when student board members are included, they can bring valuable perspectives, strengthen decision making, and help boards stay grounded in the real student experience. But for that to work, boards need to do more than simply create a seat. They need to think about things like onboarding, access, expectations, and support.

Today I'm very pleased to welcome Zachary Patterson to the podcast. Zachary is a co-founder of the National Student Board Member Association, NSBMA, a former student board member and an advocate for equitable access to governance processes and stronger student voice in education decision making. That's a mouthful. You're very welcome, Zachary.

Zachary Patterson: Yeah, Jill. Thank you so much for having me today. It's really exciting to be on the podcast. Excellent.

What student board members add to governance

Jill Holtz: Well, let's talk first about the value that student board members can bring. So can I ask you, Zachary, in your opinion, what do student board members bring that adults on the board may not be able to see as clearly on their own?

Zachary Patterson: When I think about what a student board member does and the role of a student school board member in the education system, it's the idea of being in math class in the morning and the boardroom in the afternoon.

Policy is often made in society without consulting the groups that are most impacted by it. And what happens when that's created is the policy often doesn't work. And any good company knows that if you build a product that consumers don't like, the product won't sell. And the issue with the education system oftentimes is that we don't consult or bring in the consumers into the process of creation. And that's what the student board member does.

The student board member is this idea of saying, we understand that in order to build a more effective and coherent education system that works for students, our ideas need to be constantly scrutinized. What we understand, our conceptions of the education system, need to be understood, listened, and actually created by the people who are being impacted by the decisions being made. So when you include a student board member in the governance process, what you're doing is you're taking a step back and you're saying,

Let's have those that are closest to the problem, those that are being served, help be a part of the policy solution. And when you do that and you plug a student school board member in, not only are you gonna see students be more active and participatory in the education system, but you're also probably gonna see better outcomes. I love that. And I think it's really important that you started with policy and talking about policy implementation.

Jill Holtz: But it's wider than that, isn't it, Zachary? You know, it can also impact the strategy, the culture of the school board and school district, communication. There's lots of elements to this, the importance of a student being on the board, isn't there?

Zachary Patterson: Completely. So, my experience, I'm a former student school board member in the San Diego Unified School District. I created the role of student board member. So my school board had five members and then we added a sixth, the seats specifically reserved for students from a campaign that I led. And over the two and a half years, I really saw how district culture changed to be based on one that serves students in a different relationship, that saw students in a higher light. And it really is a wonderful thing when you incorporate different groups into the participatory process. When you go forth and you say, instead of us creating our perception of what you need, let's go take a step back and let's ask you what you need and let's have you be a part of that. You're right, that that does have policy implications, but it is a cultural change in the school district. It's a mindset to say that we believe in young people so much that we actually want you to be a part of the process. We're often told as young kids, and I'm not necessarily a young kid anymore, but at least when I was, I was often told, I'm the future, right? I'm part of the society of tomorrow.

But in reality, I'm a part of the society of today. My impact is important now, right? What's my expertise? My expertise is I am a student. I'm in the classroom. Maybe I don't have 30 years of educational experience, but I do have the thing that you need most. And that is the present experience right now. And that's really powerful when you incorporate that into the culture of a school district.

Why does student voice in governance matter 

Jill Holtz: Absolutely love that, Zachary. Can we take a step back and understand and think about why does it matter and why does it matter more now than ever? Why should boards be thinking seriously about student board members right now? And what are they missing if students aren't part of those governance conversations?

Zachary Patterson: Totally. One of the things that I think can be a misconception about the role is that it just goes to the student that's most affluent, most popular, kind of the this the shining star. But really, the reality of the position, especially when it's when the student board member is elected, chosen by peers, especially when the student board member receives what they need to be successful, you see a role that really transforms into something that serves a population that you often don't hear from. And I think that's what can be most exciting about the student board member position. We're facing disparities across the country in achievement, right? Between higher income students, lower income students, your neighborhood can decide your future. At least it can feel like that in some school districts.

And the reality is, oftentimes, yes, it's about funding, but it's also about understanding with the resources that I have, what can I do to be more effective? What can I do to better serve students? And what I love seeing is when a student school board member who has been adversely impacted by the education system moves into a school board chamber, a room, and gets up on the dais and says, actually that's not how it was impacted me. That's not how I remember it. Just off the top of my head, I have a memory where we were discussing a new grading policy in my school district and the school board members were concerned about new reforms coming in that might lead to increased cheating.

And I remember I got up there and I said, you know, that is not really the experience that students have seen. well, how can you decide that, Zachary? Well, I surveyed my peers. I talked to them on in the classroom and I'm seeing how it's being implemented. Just a few weeks ago I was at a meeting of our school district student advisory board and I saw a student go up to our superintendent and say, you know, you were hoping for this online course to be implemented in this way. And in reality, this is actually how it's been implemented. And I kind of saw the superintendent take a step back and show some surprise. And really when you look at those experiences and then you see another angle of how someone sees it, then you're really expanding the base of knowledge that's helping build the school board process and really helping refine and improve all the processes within the district. And make the better decisions. Of course, right? Exactly. It makes better decisions. What they're there for.

Meaningful participation for student school board members

Jill Holtz: So this seems like a good point talk about the difference between giving students a platform and giving them a real role. So Zachary, in your view, what does meaningful participation actually look like for a student board member? I'd love to hear your perspective about voting and non-voting membership and your answer as well, please.

Zachary Patterson: There's a lot of school boards across the United States that have students that serve on school boards. Our organization is working on coming up with an accurate estimate. It's difficult because it changes year to year, but my guess right now is there's over 1,500 student school board members of the United States, potentially over 2,000 student school board members. And when I look at the variation, it's pretty significant.

The majority of students that sit on school boards, they're often figureheads. They don't necessarily know how to contribute meaningfully. They're not given the platform and the resources to do so. And they get up there and it can feel like a checkbox sometimes, right? We put a student on the school board. We're good, right? I've heard countless school board members say, well, we gave them the platform and they, you know, they chose not to take it. Well, you know, it's a little bit more complicated than that, right? Sometimes you want to look at the system and ask ourselves, what did we do to receive a product like this? rather than blaming the student directly and saying, it's because they weren't participating. What meaningful representation looks like on the school board is when a student is a school board member.

First of all, they have the support of students across the school district. How do you do that? You do that by electing the student school board member. When they're a representative of students that students actually choose, it gives them a mandate to actually be a leader. And it also says that students are given the opportunity to be able to choose the leader that they think is most effective for them, right? It's that democratic process that defines the United States and defines what we see as modern democracy, right? Being able to choose your leader. It's a very powerful thing. And then when that student also has board support and resources, and that student has a big group of students like a student advisory board backing them and supporting them, it's hard to be a board member.

For many of you that listen to this podcast that use BoardDocs, what you know is that it's difficult, it's complicated to understand the nuances. How to survey the community, how to get the pulse of what's going on. And for a student board member, it's also difficult. They have that lived experience day to day, which is very, very powerful.

But you also want to make sure that they have the governance knowledge. In order to be able to be effective, you know how you have to know how to play the game. You have to know how to build the systems. So you ask me what meaningful representation looks like. It means that a young person, a student school board member is supported in the role and backed up by their colleagues. And is given the same resources as other board members to be able to contribute meaningfully in the boardroom.

Jill Holtz: There was a lot there in your answer. So just to recap, making sure that they're duly elected so that the students that they represent also feel that that person is their representative, that they're given the same access to resources, that they have maybe the backpacking room association like yourselves because it can be very lonely being the only student on the board with other adults. And then really given the resources and training and development to understand governance effectively so they can do that that role.

Onboarding student school board members

And so let's talk now about onboarding, because that's like your starting point. What should every student board member have access to from day one in order to succeed, do you feel?

Zachary Patterson: Well this is probably a perfect transition also and segue to what we do and why I'm here, right? So I'm a former student school board member, and we mentioned I'm a co-founder of the National Student Board Member Association. So we are an organization that supports students that sit on school boards and student advisory boards across the United States. We're focused from a perspective of former student school board members and current. We work to provide the programming and development that we see most fit to being able to help a student get jump started on the school board.

We talk about a one-year term being really short. For many of you on the school board, I'm sure your first meetings, your first six months, even your first year was challenging. It was a learning curve. Well, imagine after that first year that you get kicked off the board, right? It's difficult. It's hard to think about God, how would I be effective in one year? And we kind of wrestle with that question and we designed an entire organization and training program about thinking about how you can be most effective in that one year. Our whole modus operandi is we think that student school board members are a key facet of being able to improve the education system by improving outcomes, improving policy, and then also being able to move toward more democratic representation. So we invest in this position and that student advisory board to be able to move the system forward and achieve those goals. You asked me what you're thinking about at the beginning when you start an onboard in the onboarding process. What we talk about a lot is our start conference, our student trustee action readiness training, where we work to train student board members on the basics of board governance. What is parliamentary procedure looks look like or Roberts Rules of Orders? How does the budgetary process work? How do you negotiate with colleagues? What is the what are the different facets of the education system? Where do I get funding? What are my what are my titles from the federal government? What is the role of the state government? What's the agency that I have on the local school board?

All of these are really fundamental questions to be able to actually participate in the school board meeting. I remember my first experience being on the school board, like we went over the term COLA. I just didn't know what a cost of living adjustment was. Right. And I asked and I figured it out after a little bit, but how awesome and incredible it is to be able to walk into your first meeting and you know what's going on and you can participate at the beginning. It's awesome, right? And we know we're acronym city, right? If anybody who goes on a school board is just it's like, what does this mean? Like, right, you're I'm I laugh. I was a COVID student board member and I just remember ESSER funding, right? That was a funding stream coming in from the leave from the federal government. And everyone's like, What does this even mean? Right? Well, that's what we do. We help you understand what these things mean and how to be effective within the system.

Common barriers and mistakes made by school boards when it comes to student school board members

Jill Holtz: That's excellent. In your experience, Zachary, what are some common mistakes that other the adult board members make when they're bringing in a student board member? What do they tend to assume students understand, but often yet don't have that experience, don't have that background, or indeed the access to navigate?

Zachary Patterson: Absolutely. The big mistake is assuming that the student board member is just going to be there to give live feedback on initiatives and that's their only purpose. And that there are certain initiatives that pertain to students and that don't pertain to students. The mentality that I have when I think about this role is that this person is pretty competent. This person was chosen by students. This person can learn the same as any of the other school board members. They're probably 16, 17, 18. Again, they're an individual who's motivated, who says, I want to represent my peers. They should be a part of all discussions on the board in the boardroom.

Don't just assume that their expertise is in a conversation on cell phones or AI in the classroom or dress code. They can participate in discussions on school infrastructure. They can participate in discussions on funding allocations for different school systems. It's hard to say that, this is what a student board member does and this isn't what a student board member does. In reality, you should just see them as a member of the governance team, right? They are the duly elected representative from students. They are serving as a member. You should look at them like that. In terms of kind of the nuances, you should probably give the student board member your phone number. You should probably give them your email. You should be prepared to have dialogue and converse with them. When you create a big separation between the school board member and the student board member, it makes it harder for the student board member to be able to be integrated into the governance process.

And if you're a superintendent, the same thing goes, right? If a school board member has your phone number and can reach you, then you should let the student board member do the same and communicate with them. Yes, there are making sure you have appropriate channels. There's some more complicated things when people are underage, but those are all things that can be dealt with. You can put people in if you need three people in a group chat, if you need to have open lines of communication, that can all be arranged. But the key facet is being able to make sure that

The student school board member has access to adult board members, the superintendent, and resources that allow them to understand what's going on. Practices, I find that meeting with the student board member on a weekly or monthly basis is really important. You want established open lines of communication and you want to make sure they understand the school district at large. If you don't provide these baseline resources and help the student board member get a  broader understanding of how the district operates, it's gonna be harder to expect them to be able to contribute meaningfully.

Representing the wider student voice today

Jill Holtz: Love that. Very good tips there. Zachary, you were on a school board and you obviously work now with student school board members through the association. What are some of the big issues that student school board members are contributing on right now?

Zachary Patterson: The hot topics, it's funny, I just mentioned them in the previous example, right? Cell phone bands and AI usage. It's then really interesting the AI usage component. It's something that we're all dealing with. What is augmenting student learning rather than taking away from student learning? I would say that the association has moved in its opinion over time. I of course don't speak for everyone, but I saw a really strong openness among students to AI to begin with. It's supporting, it's augmenting. What I'm seeing now is more support for restrictions in the lower grades and seeing definitely amongst elementary and middle school students a move towards saying it's important that they gain the foundational skills without having AI necessarily augment or touch them in the same way that you use a calculator in upper grades, but you wait to take the calculator until you reach that point just so you can develop those fundamental and foundational skills. I'm seeing student board members say that a lot.

And I'm also seeing a concern on making sure that responsible is the key word in the usage, right? How do you make sure that you're still practicing your writing skills, that you're writing that essay, that you're solving the problem? What does it mean to struggle in something? Is it good? Do you want AI to respond to you immediately? I think I've seen our association move towards saying we believe in it, we need to know it, we need to be competent in it, but we want to make sure that we are still that there are restrictions on it so it doesn't completely overtake our initial learning. So that's AI. That's a big one.

And then the cell phone bans, I would say I've seen honestly I've seen the other direction in that one. I've seen a more division amongst our association. Some saying it makes sense not to have cell phones at school throughout the day. The majority saying, especially in high school, it probably makes sense to give those students agency to be able to decide when they want to use their cell phones and what that looks like, especially in free periods and outside of the school classroom. We see a lot of conversations around that. besides that, we've had conversations around what school funding looks like right now with budget cuts coming from the federal government. And we've seen where a reallocation of general funding looks like.

I still hear a lot always on classroom ratios. Anything teachers can do to lower classroom ratios and make the student-to-teacher ratio better definitely impacts experience. So just on a top level, those are some of the big issues that I hear about.

Role of technology in supporting student school board members

Jill Holtz: That's really interesting. Thanks for sharing those. So here at Diligent, obviously we sell technology. We're very passionate about how our technology diligent community can support stronger governance for school districts. So from your perspective, Zachary, how does technology help close the information gap for student board members and support them in their role?

Zachary Patterson: Totally. My experience with Diligent, we were a school district that used BoardDocs. And what I found was having access to the draft agenda and being able to have the back-end login allowed me to know as the board meetings were being planned, potentially weeks in advance. That allowed me to see the items, ask questions, and study up on material.

When we talk about knowledge and as power, technology is providing the facet to be able to have that information. And when I walked into the board meeting, especially on complex items, if I saw them on the agenda two weeks in advance, I was ready when I walked into the boardroom. And the cool thing about it is you don't need to do a lot to make that happen, right? If you provide access on the back end of board docs to be able to see its development to the student board member in the same way that many of you probably provided to your board members, then that student board member can read up, can be prepared and know what's coming. No surprises, they're ready, they're prepared.

And when I served on the school board, it was that program that allowed me to be able to come to the board room more prepared.

Jill Holtz: That's really interesting. Cause now, you know, we're evolving from BoardDocs into a kind of more modern solution Diligent Community, also as well, letting the actual community see that. So not just the student school board member, but be able to see the agenda and see the attachments as well as well. But also I think an important point and you touched a little while ago on kind of being able to talk to other people on the board, but doing that in a compliant way so that you don't you know, you have to follow open meeting laws and you can't do things on email. So one of the nice things about using software like Diligent Community is it keeps all those conversations in a in a compliant way so you can meet your regulations as well.

The Edvance Cohort Program

So there's clearly a growing momentum behind supporting student school board members more intentionally. Obviously, NSBMA has been founded. And one of the reasons you're here today is because Diligent, NSBMA, and COSBA are launching a broader initiative focused on student board members with themes including governance education, leadership development, mentorship. onboarding and technology support. I just love this program. So my question to you is why does that wider collaboration matter? What gaps is it helping to address? What are you hearing from school student school board members nationally that they need?

Zachary Patterson: Yeah, just in a broader sense, right, we're so excited to be working with Diligent and COSBA to launch this cohort. It's called the Edvanced Cohort and is working to support student school board members across the country, we're going to take a cohort of 15 to 20 student board members. And throughout the year, we're going to be committed to working with them to build a policy solution and to walk it through in their school district. We're going to make sure they have the support they need. And then we're going to look after a year and we're going to say, when we more meaningfully engage with student school board members, how did it meaningfully impact outcomes? You all have the opportunity to send a student board member into this cohort. We want you to do it. Go on to Diligent's website. Go onto our website at the National Student Board Member Association and look for the Edvanced Cohort. Ask your student board member if they want to participate. Register. If you don't have a student board member, you can also reach out to us and we're happy to help with that. On your broader sense, why does this collaboration matter? Bringing together, bringing together the technology solution in Diligent, the national organization and convening in the Consortium of State School Board Associations and us as a provider and a support for student school board members, it makes a statement that we care about student voice and we care about student representation. And when we all come together and we say that student representation matters and we want to prepare, train, and support the student school board member through their journey to be more effective, what we're saying is that we believe that youth voice meaningfully impacts the education system and the processes around it.

And the message that I want to send that we all hope you all see as school board members and educational professionals is that we are here to provide the support for your student school board member to be successful and effective. I get it, it can be scary to bring a young person into the governance process. There's a lot of fear, are they going to be irresponsible? Are they going to act out?

But what I've seen, what I've experienced is that when you ask young people to take the mantle and do the job, they always step up. And you have to take the risk to go forward and say, I believe and I'm going to take the leap of trust and I'm going to go and try these young people in this role. I guarantee you that if you create this student former position, if you empower it more than you already have, you will be happy with the results. We're all here to help you be a little bit more comfortable in taking that step.

And over the next year, we're very excited to work together to be able to develop this out. So we hope that you all are interested in the Edvanced Cohort and you consider sending your student school board member. And we all want to work with you at NSBMA to empower your student board member and your student advisory boards to be the most effective they can to improve district governance.

Jill Holtz: Absolutely. And obviously there will be a closing day and which is available and I'll put details in the show notes and links. But even if you're listening after that to hear how this Cohort is working, to keep in touch on the social channels for NSBMA and COSBA and Diligent as we go through that first cohort, it's going to be so exciting to see the impact it has.

Advice on supporting student school board members

So Zachary, I'm very conscious of time, very busy. I have one final question for you. If a board listening today were to do just one thing in the next 30 or 60 days to do better to support their student board members, what would you want them to do first?

Zachary Patterson: Get your student board member trained and send them to student board member training, whatever that might look like. It really matters. When you put a student board member up and you say, you know, go take on the world, and then you don't provide any support. You can't be surprised when they're not incredibly effective. When you send a student board member to train, and not just your school district training, not just a little onboarding session, but when you send them, especially do the training that we provide where you have other past student school board members who know the challenges of serving on a school board, it's a different experience to be a young person in a room full of adults. And that is really what we specialize in, how to handle those interactions than how to be effective.

But regardless of if it's us or whatever you want to provide, please go forth and make sure your student school board member is getting trained, is getting the knowledge. Once you do that, you'll be able to see how impactful the position is. And bigger conversations, like should the student school board member be able to make motions? Should the student school board member be able to vote? Those things become a lot clearer once you realize how competent and strong this position can become. It's getting to become an institutionalized role in so many places. And as it does, the confidence and the competency increases. The more you invest in something, the better it becomes. That's always the way it is. When you invest in the student board member position, you will be shocked to see how poised, how effective, and how meaningful it is to bring a student into the governance process.

Jill Holtz: Absolutely love that, Zachary. Thank you so much for joining me today. And for sharing your experience and perspective. I think for me, one of the clearest takeaways has been that if boards want the student voice to be meaningful, they do have to build the conditions that make that meaningful participation possible through access, onboarding, trust. You mentioned giving them trust and seeing that that student blossom then with the right support.

And for listeners who want to learn more, the initiative that Zachary has been talking about, that Diligent is working with the NSBMA and COSBA to support student board members through structured learning, mentorship, and leadership development, is called Edvanced Cohort. And I will put a link in the show notes for more information on that program. So thanks again, Zachary. It's been a real pleasure to talk to you today. Thank you. Pleasure to be on. Thank you for listening to this episode of Leading with Purpose.

Jill Holtz: I hope today's conversation with Zachary gave you a clearer picture of what it really takes to bring student voice into governance in a meaningful way. As Zachary reminds us, giving a student a seat at the table isn't enough on its own. Real participation depends on election and mandate, access to the same information and resources as other school board members, ongoing training, and maybe most importantly trust.

When boards invest in preparing their student board members rather than simply placing them in the room, the results speak for themselves, stronger policy, a healthier district culture, and students who step up when they're given the chance. If you'd like your student board member to take part in the Edvanced Cohort, the joint initiative from Diligent NSBMA and COSBA, which is focused on governance, education, leadership, development and more, you'll find details and a link in the show notes.

And if I could ask a special favor, if you enjoyed listening, please rate and review this podcast wherever you listen, as that does help other leaders find out. Thanks again for tuning in and I look forward to bringing you more practical advice for purpose-driven governance on the next episode of Leading with Purpose.