By Danessy Auguste, Staff Writer

Student government at Norwood High is a great opportunity to serve and give back to the student body and the school community. The real question that must be asked, however, is: Is student government at Norwood High effective and working for all students? 

Well, the answer is we wouldn’t know if student government is effective and here’s why:

Student government at Norwood High fails to do one thing as a body and that is to inform students about what they are doing. They fail to communicate effectively with students of their agendas and future plans for the school. 

I understand there is an issue with students randomly coming up to officers to tell them they are not doing anything for the grade which is not professional at all. That then raises the question of where are students supposed to address their concerns?

There are no forums, no digital suggestion sites on the school website, not even a box in guidance where students can fill out slips for what they need to change or improve in our school. How are students supposed to appropriately voice their concerns if there is no place for them to express them?

Class officers only inform students when an event is happening and when they need students to buy tickets. Other than that, students deserve more than just being approached by Student Council officers when they are needed to buy tickets for a fundraiser. 

The main issue is communication. Students are not kept in the loop. There is no clear platform where students can voice their concerns for student council to address them. 

There need to be ways for student government to communicate with students. There should be bi-weekly or once-a-month emails to each class with a report from every member of Student Council letting their peers know what is going on between them and what their future plans are. 

It can be as easy as saying “Hey we hear complaints about x,  so to fix that we are working on y.” There doesn’t have to be a solution to every single problem right away but students deserve reassurance to know these problems are being worked on and that they are being heard. A report from the treasurers on where the money from class fundraisers and events are going would also be beneficial. 

If this is claimed to be a democracy then the voters deserve to know what is going on or else students will not feel motivated to even try to support our school and peers. In order to continue to grow as a school, we need communication.

Students elect class officers to lead us but instead, it feels it feels like the general population of students is being left in the dark.