The Student Senate is working on focus projects, such as a trial of participatory budgeting and a guide to Schoology, in middle and high schools across the SRVUSD school district.

     27 student senators, three from each high school and two from each middle school, meet at the Monte Vista Student Center on the day before each meeting of the SRVUSD Board of Education. They talk about their progress on different focus projects, such as a trial of participatory budgeting and a guide to Schoology.

     Senior Elizabeth Popovich, junior Sitara Sorkhabi, and sophomore Elizabeth Tak are the student senators representing Monte Vista. The student board member is senior Ronit Batra from Monte Vista, and the senate chair is junior Risha Jain from Monte Vista. 

     “We took a survey across the district and found that the four main problems were mental health, social equity, increasing student voice, and, because of the pandemic, transitioning from online to in-person school,” Jain said.

     The Student Senate’s subcommittees are correlated to each problem. They are the Mental Health Committee, Social Equity Committee, Student Voice Committee, and School Conflicts Committee respectively. The subcommittees mainly work on focus projects dealing with the four problems.

     “The senators choose which focus project they want to focus on—they’re split pretty evenly among the four—and one of the senators takes charge of the subcommittee. For example, for Social Equity we have Evelyn Ramos… from Cal [High],” Jain said.

     The student board member and senate chair are also part of the senate, and go to senate meetings, but have different jobs than senators. 

     The senate chair, Jain, is in charge of the meetings. She 

     During board meetings, the student board member, Batra, sits alongside the five board members. He gives updates on what the Student Senate has achieved, and shares what he notices when talking with students from Monte Vista, as well as other schools in the district. The Board of Education is responsible for making decisions across the whole district, so having a student on the Board is very valuable.

     The Senate sometimes works with district staff, such as Executive Director of Educational Services Jon Campopiano, Executive Secretary of Educational Services Tami Castelluccio, and Director of Educational Services Chris George, on specific issues as well. 

     “Now that students have access to technology given by the district, the district has to follow laws … [requiring] them to monitor our laptops,” Jain said. “Students who are closeted … when their parents are getting transcripts of their search history, they’re being outed to their parents. Issues like that are what we focus on.”

    Successful focus projects include a trial of participatory budgeting at the Cal High library, and the installation of the social justice art banners in the Monte Vista Student Center. The Senate was also involved with the promotion of mental health resources, such as the therapy dogs and Wellness Center.

     Participatory budgeting is a way for communities to have a say in how money is spent. 

     “What’s really crazy about the Student Senate is that it’s our first platform that’s district wide,” Jain said. “It’s being used … very well. I think that it’s achieving its goal, it’s achieving its purpose, and I’m just really excited to see how far it can go beyond my time at Monte Vista.”