by Jenna Bloom ‘21

On April 22, Councilmember Tom Hucker held a virtual Student Town Hall, where student advocacy and leadership organizations were invited to share their priorities, constructive ideas to achieve them, and also discuss how they are continuing to move their priorities forward during the Covid-19 shutdown. Additionally, student leaders also shared their perspectives on MCPS’ distance learning – their experience of what’s going well, what could improve, what gaps they see, and constructive ideas to enhance this new learning model.

One of the big issues covered on the Town Hall was the possibility of a semester-wide Pass/Fail system. Andrew Soijka from the DMV Student Alliance of Immigration Advocacy said that “more work needs to be done to ensure that all students have equal chances to succeed during this closure.” Sonya Rashkovan from Students Towards Equity in Public Schools (STEPS) shared that supporting semester wide Pass/Fail is a big goal of theirs. One of the club’s members began a petition in support of a semester wide Pass/Fail that has gained a lot of attention county-wide. Almost all of the student leaders came together on this topic and agreed that a semester wide Pass/Fail system, as opposed to just the 4th quarter, is the most fair and equitable to those students who lack resources and access to the internet. 

Next, student leaders were focused on expanding access to resources for all students. Sachi Sakaniwa, the MCR SGA Chief of Staff, explained that they plan on holding a fundraiser to donate supplies or food for those in marginalized groups. Lauren Raskin, the President of the DMV Student Alliance for Immigration Advocacy, shared that “existing structural flaws and barriers facing communities of color facilitates immense learning loss,” and that her organization is working to “ensure that black and brown students don’t fall through the cracks of inequity.” 

When the topic of student’s mental health came up, Nikhitha Balijepalli from MOCO4Change discussed that “MCPS has a huge responsibility to its students to help with mental health.” She continued to say that “home is not always the best place for students. We have to be careful in addressing their family situations, some students might not feel safe at home, and some students might not have the best relationship with the members of their household.” 

Helena Aytenfisu, from MCR SGA, spoke on how to make SMOB elections more equitable and fair. While elections were originally supposed to be held on April 22, they were pushed back to May 20 to give time for adjustments. “Every student through their mcpsmd.net account has gotten information on all of the candidates, and how to vote in the election,” explained Aytenfisu. “We’re gonna be heavily pushing on social media to encourage high voter turnout. We’re using every tool we have.”

In total, 13 student leaders came together from eight different clubs across the county. While they all shared their various priorities and perspectives during this pandemic, they were all united by one overarching topic: they are all working tirelessly to make MCPS a better place for teachers, students, and families.