Student Member

For the second straight year, a Meade Senior High School student is the choice of his peers to serve as student member of the Anne Arundel County school board."

Every other Monday night during the school year, Fallston High School senior D.J. Sigworth attends the Harford County school board meeting. Like the other eight board members, he sits through jargon-laden curriculum discussions, debates over budget cuts and a string of Power Point presentations. Then, when the talking is done, the other eight members cast their votes. Sigworth, the board's sole student member, cannot. He is prohibited by state law from voting. And he wants very much to change that.

Paul G. Rudolph, president of the Anne Arundel County school board, was appointed yesterday to a second five-year term, as Gov. Parris N. Glendening followed the recommendation of a committee of local citizens. Also yesterday, Brandon Van Bibber, 17, a soon-to-be senior at Glen Burnie High School, was named to a one-year term as the eight-member board's student member, the only student member in Maryland with the same voting privileges as his adult counterparts. Rudolph was the choice of the School Board Nominating Convention, and Van Bibber was chosen by the Chesapeake Regional Association of Student Councils.

As a third-grader, Adejire Bademosi didn't hesitate to contact then-Superintendent John R. O'Rourke with concerns about the suspension rates of her fellow students. In middle school, she approached state Sen. Allan H. Kittleman about the dangers of Internet predators. That overture resulted in her speaking to teachers throughout the county during Internet safety training sessions. And Kittleman introduced legislation dealing with the issue during the recent General Assembly session. As the newly elected student member of the Howard County Board of Education, the 16-year-old sophomore at Marriotts Ridge High School hopes to continue to have her voice heard by adults.

Four new members were appointed yesterday to Baltimore County's Board of Education by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., along with a student member who will serve a one-year term. In making the appointments, the governor passed up two board members who had sought reappointment. The appointees are: Luis E. Borunda, president of The Signman Inc. and past president and co-founder of the Baltimore Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Borunda served on the county board's Southeast Advisory Council and founded the U.S. Hispanic Youth Entrepreneur and Education Foundation, a program for high school students, according to the governor's office.

Julie Grossman says she may study international relations in college. But the student member of the Baltimore County school board already seems well-versed in diplomacy.It was her compromise for making up five snow days that the rest of the board finally agreed to at its March 22 meeting. And she'll undoubtedly be hearing about it from fellow students who will have to get up 30 minutes earlier as a result.After a public hearing and inconclusive polls, long discussions and a tie vote on an earlier proposal, the board quickly embraced Julie's variation on Superintendent Stuart Berger's recommendation to lengthen the school day by 45 minutes for two months.

Centennial High School junior Josh Michael has been appointed by the governor's office to serve as the 2005-2006 student member on the Maryland State Board of Education. "I was really excited," said Michael, 17, recalling the message left on his cell phone from Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s appointments office Friday. "It's a great opportunity for me to really make a difference for Maryland students." Michael and Gabrielle Wyatt of Carver Center for Arts and Technology in Baltimore County were finalists for the position.

She didn't say much at her first meeting Wednesday, but that will change quickly, promises school board student member Linnea Pagulayan.Linnea, 16, a senior at Westminster High School, knew six years ago that she would be the student representative to the board someday. At the time, her brother Randy had that post."We're pretty close, and pretty much most of the things that he did, I followed up on," said Linnea, who was elected to the nonvoting position on the school board by her 150 fellow members of the Carroll County Student Government Association.

Nearly a year ago, the Carroll County school board weighed the possibility of giving its student member partial voting rights. At that time, the resolution failed to gain approval. But for students - particularly the state Board of Education's student member - the issue remains very much alive. During Carroll County's regular board meeting last month, student member Maggie McEvoy brought the item up again, hoping the board would reconsider its position. The resolution calls for the board to support partial voting rights for its student member and that member's pursuit of a change in state law. "The students have an incredibly unique perspective," McEvoy said.

Wilde Lake High School has built a reputation for success in county and statewide student government. Recent graduate Jamie Martin, whose term just ended as student member of the Howard County Board of Education, for example, was the fourth Wilde Lake student member on the board as many years. And rising senior Demo Adamolekun is a finalist for the student seat on the Maryland State Board of Education. He is bidding to become the third Wilde Lake student to win the statewide post since 1998.