On February 10, 2016, the Board of Trustees seated Elias Nepa as their first official student 
board member. The Aptos High School student had submitted a petition to the board to have a more official role in the Board. Along with the petition, Elias had to submit 500 signatures from his peers supporting his efforts and those were received by the board at their December meeting. Elias’ petition included the following:
“Over the past couple of years, I have had a growing interest in school policy and management…. [A] voice, a student voice, is necessary to make sure the right decisions are made to ensure success for all students. I want to be your voice.”
Encouraging student voices has always been the intent of this Board. Each year, the Board reaches out to each of the high schools to express their appreciation for the participation of a student board representative from their site at board meetings; this has been a practice for many years. To better illustrate this commitment, here is an excerpt from the policy:
Student Board members shall be seated with regular Board members and be recognized at meetings. They may participate in… discussing issues and shall receive materials presented to Board members except for those related to closed sessions.
The District looks forward to the continued contribution of Elias Nepa in this more official role.