- April 25, 2024
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A total of 20 students attended the first Teen Town Hall, held on Jan. 21 and organized and moderated by student School Board members Brianna Whitfield and Kyleigh Ruddy in coordination with the Flagler Youth Coalition and the school district.
The one-hour virtual event was held over Zoom and divided into thirds by topic, with the first 20 minutes devoted to student concerns about the district’s student code of conduct, the next 20 to a discussion of vaping on campus, and the last 20 to an evaluation of the event and suggestions for future ones.
“All of the kids participated, which was just awesome,” said School Board member Cheryl Massaro, who’d suggested the creation of a town hall event to Whitfield and Ruddy and helped oversee it along with two district staff members. “I was really proud that they were Flagler County students.”
The student attendees had expressed concerns about consistency in the district’s dress code, and were interested in what could be done to assist student caught vaping, rather than simply penalizing them.
For the last 20 minutes, students were asked how they liked the Town Hall session.
“The overall consensus was yes: They loved it,” Massaro said. The students said they’d like to see more involvement from other School Board members, and that they hoped Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt would attend in the future as well. Whitfield and Ruddy hope to make the town halls a monthly event.
“The two School Board liaisons did a fabulous job,” Massaro said. “They really listened.”
The next Teen Town Hall will be held at 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 25. The event requires registration, and space is limited. To register, students can email Ruddy at [email protected] or Whitfield at [email protected].
