Putnam: Wrong lesson when teachers pick class leaders

HASLETT – If the goal of student council is to teach students about democracy and leadership, Haslett High School gets a failing grade.

Teachers, not students, chose the officers of the schoolwide student council this year. And their choices raised eyebrows.

The student who lost her bid for senior class president, Jackie Duckett, was put in as president of the student council.

And Emily Littleton, the daughter of a teacher who advises the student council, Diane Littleton, was named vice president, even though she didn’t run for a class leadership position. Her mother abstained from voting.

Traditionally, those choices have been made by members of the council who were elected by their classmates as president, vice president and representatives of each class.

Not surprisingly, it’s caused some sore feelings and confusion at the high school.

 “When you have teachers picking who the student voices are, that’s just wrong to me,” said Ridge Weston, 18, the senior class president.

As class president, Weston said he was the most likely candidate to be the student council leader – until the teachers intervened at the very end of last school year. He said he and others have been confused about the process.

Diane Littleton and Rachel Wawro, the two teacher advisers to the council, referred questions to their boss, Principal Bart Wegenke. Jackie Duckett also referred questions to Wegenke.

Wegenke said six teachers, not including Littleton, chose the leaders. The pool was made of students who had previously worked on student council for a year and who filled out forms.

Though Wegenke said the selection was blind — teachers didn’t know the students’ names who applied for the positions — Weston said it would be extremely easy to deduce the students’ identities.

His, for example, identified him as class president. He wasn’t sure why he had to fill it out at the time.

Weston’s been trying to raise the issue all school year, succeeding when the student newspaper, the Viking Longboat, wrote about the controversy in December in a story titled "New voting system leads to confusion, questions."

“The whole reason I joined student council is that I wanted students to have a voice in what goes on at school,” Weston said.

He ran on a platform of improving the schools’ bathrooms. He said they need repair.

Wegenke said in the past, some student council leaders haven’t been willing to put in the time to do the needed work. The teacher selection process was designed to ensure they would get things done, including planning homecoming and charity fundraisers.

When I first contacted Wegenke, he said he wanted to focus on the process going forward, not this year’s selection. Then he relented and answered more about what happened.

Wegenke said he was not part of the decision to have teachers instead of students choose the council leaders, but said he didn’t think it was a mistake. He said a similar process is used to select National Honor Society members.

He added that the student leaders this year have done a “tremendous job.”

He’s fielded a few complaints, including those from Weston and his parents. He agreed that students should be more involved in the process and has encouraged student input into a committee to review how it should be handled in the future.

“OK, let’s learn from it. If we need to work to improve it, let’s do that,” he said he told them. “The adults help to guide the process, but ultimately as I told Ridge and three or four of his friends, it’s your process. It’s yours to decide what you want to do. We’ll acknowledge that on the front end.”

Weston, the senior class president, said the principal also tracked him down at school recently to explain how the choice for council leaders took place. The clarity made him feel better, Weston said.

He's headed to the University of Michigan with the goal of becoming a doctor, but he said he’s also interested in government and policy.

Senior Adam Krause, 18, a friend of Weston’s, said he attended a student council meeting in December to lodge a protest about how it was handled. He agreed there was a lot of confusion.

“It seemed as if nobody understood. Even members of the student council didn’t know what was going on,” he said.

Krause said students need to speak up.

“I care because student council is pretty much the only avenue that students have to actually have their voices be heard and have a say in events that are planned. I think it’s very important that is kept as purely student elected and led as possible, “ he said. 

Judy Putnam is a columnist with the Lansing State Journal. Contact her at (517) 267-1304 or at jputnam@lsj.com. Follow her on twitter @judyputnam.