Cobb students push to speak to school board without parent permission – The Atlanta Journal Constitution

Hays, a self-described policy wonk, had wanted to share his thoughts about student mental health in the district and score some extra credit in his government class. He returned to a meeting a month later with his parents and more than a dozen classmates to ask for change in another area: the boards public participation policy.

Every communitys different and our community, our sense is I think parents would want to know if their child is speaking and what the issue might be, board member Randy Scamihorn said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The courts have generally leaned toward granting more participation for students, not less, according to Richard T. Griffiths, president emeritus of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation. He said its entirely appropriate to allow students to speak without a parent present.

If we want to raise people who will be thoughtful, smart participants in our democracy, we need to be able to have kids participate early in that process, he said.

Thats what it came down to for Hays and his friends. They were interested in exercising their rights after learning about them in class.

To hear that he was just turned down immediately was kind of, it felt like it was almost undemocratic, said Emma Riser, another Lassiter High senior who addressed the board.

The students hope the district will create student advisory councils on topics such as academics, mental health and school district policy. They plan to keep speaking at board meetings and emailing district leaders.

The more input we can get in the decisions being made at the county level for the students, Hays said, the better the system will be and the more the students will thrive.

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Cobb students push to speak to school board without parent permission - The Atlanta Journal Constitution