49 Voices: A D49 Podcast | Season 5, Episode 3 - Now Available

Meet the Student Board of Representatives - S5 E3 

In Colorado’s competitive school choice environment, understanding family and student perspectives is essential. D49 goes straight to the source, inviting high school students to sit on the Student Board of Representatives and provide deep insights that help guide decisions about culture, programs, and priorities. 

Much more than a focus group or traditional student council association, the SBOR creates a formal role for students in district governance, putting them in the same room with district leadership and on the school board dais with the D49 Board of Education. 

“The Student Board of Representatives is a homegrown model that we built right here in D49 that facilitates two-way dialogue with the most important people in the district, our students,” said Peter Hilts, D49 superintendent. 

Mr. Hilts welcomed Vivienne Barr, a senior at Pikes Peak Early College, and Lauren Stuart, SBOR faculty advisor, to give listeners a deeper understanding about how D49 elevates the voice of the student. 

“When you're not a student in our schools, you forget what it's like to experience that,” Vivienne observed.  “So it's really valuable for us to be able to express to the board and to the adults around us how the decisions that are being made are affecting us positively, negatively, and what our perspective on that is. It gives us an ability to represent what the experience is like.”

The full episode explores the SBOR, what they’ve accomplished, and reports what leaders in D49 have learned: When students are invited into the conversation, they do more than speak. They help shape the system designed to serve them. 

Listen to the full episode today!