District board members meet with students on campus

Students listening during the campus meeting on April 27.

Held during tutorial and lunch, the meeting provided an opportunity for students to share their perspectives and opinions on how the school can be improved.

The three newest members of the Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District board have begun visiting campuses to get a feel of the two schools.

Four of the five board members held a meeting with students during tutorial and lunch on April 27 in the College and Career Center. Principal Greg Louie sent students an invitation to join the event through email to encourage them to share their perspectives of school life with the district’s leadership.

There were around 20 students who attended, as well as four board members — Steven Chen, Misty Davies, Alex Schultz and Katherine Tseng — and four district leaders — superintendent Bill Sanderson, assistant superintendents Deepa Mukherjee and Heath Rocha as well as executive assistant Tricia Zarevich. Chen, Davies and Schultz were elected in November.

The meeting began with Tseng asking what the students’ favorite classes were, and everyone took turns sharing their opinions. The staff members then asked students for feedback about what they think the school is missing, how to improve the monthly MOSIACs and how well they thought the school addressed mental health.

Throughout the meeting, many students expressed their love for the Media Arts Program (MAP) and the music program, as they enjoyed working with others in unit projects as opposed to just studying for tests. The students emphasized how having a variety of artistic opportunities, such as graphic design and creative writing, helped decrease their stress about grades because they didn’t have to depend solely on tests to raise their grades.

The students also voiced some negative opinions on the new addition of MOSAIC, which replaced last year’s weekly advisory lessons about mental health. Many said the monthly lessons take up too much of their tutorial time, and suggested condensing the time or even incorporating the lessons into English classes. Others mentioned that moving the session from the middle to the end of the week would be more convenient.

The meeting’s overarching theme of school stress continued into discussion about community colleges. Some students brought up how teachers often remind students that community college is a viable option for post secondary education. One student suggested that bringing in guest speakers who attended community college and went on to have successful careers or teachers at community colleges would help promote community colleges for academically competitive students who are intent on getting into top rated private universities.

“I think the meeting was a good platform to voice concerns with how the district is run,” said sophomore Aarushi Sharma, one of the students who attended the meeting. “The board members seemed very open to listening in on what students had to say and made sure that we had a voice.”