Innovative Student Leadership

A common complaint amongst educational leaders these days is that we are so consumed by the administrivia of running schools that we do not have enough time to pay attention to what goes on in our classrooms.

I am not disputing that there are certainly times when it can feel as though the three "R's" of education - "reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic" - have been usurped by the three "B's of education - "budgets, busses, and bathrooms, when it can feel as though the role of educational leader has more to do with economics, scheduling, and management than it does with inspiring students to learn, teachers to inspire, and communities to support the missions of schools.

But the vast majority of time I spend in my job is focused on students, teachers, and communities. I feel blessed to be in my position; there is little to whine about and much to celebrate. Such a celebration took place a couple of weekends ago in the guise of Lake Tahoe School Student Council's role in the success of our 2nd Annual Yard Sale.

Our first Yard Sale was initiated by students as a vehicle by which they could raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Each teacher class helped her or his class organize a part of the Yard Sale, and, while it was vaguely chaotic, the school raised over $1800, half of which we sent to the Red Cross and half of which we sent to Maddie's Fund (a national pet rescue organization that was especially active in Katrina's aftermath).

While it continued to be student-initiated, this year the Yard Sale was run entirely by the Student Council. We had a couple of teachers who assisted the Council, but ultimately the success of this event was due to a group of 4th-8th graders who are pioneering a new type of student leadership.

For instance, there is no limit to the number of students who can serve on the Student Council. In fact, just the opposite is true: the students who make up the Student Council are neither appointed by their teachers nor elected by their peers; they volunteer to serve the Lake Tahoe School community. In addition, the Student Council is noticeably bereft of titles - there is no President, no Vice-President, no Treasurer, etc. - students work collaboratively and each embraces a variety of roles and responsibilities depending on the project in which the group is engaged.

Of the eight students who currently comprise the Lake Tahoe School Student Council, a couple took on the tasks of collecting, cataloging, and pricing items and of organizing students, teachers, and parents. Other students took responsibility for publicity, and they were the ones who organized the making of signs and ensured that advertisements in both English and Spanish ran in the Bonanza. And still others tackled the task of doing the bookkeeping and of figuring out how much initial cash they should have on hand and how best that amount should be broken up into different bills and change.

Finally a couple of students researched a handful of worthy charities to which the Yard Sale proceeds might be donated. These students narrowed the choices down to three and then went from classroom to classroom extolling the virtues of each charity and asking each student to vote on where they would like the proceeds to go.

The students overwhelming chose the John Stephen Klacking Foundation for Childhood Cancer (www.jskfcc.org). As many of you no doubt know, John was a local kid, a former Lake Tahoe School student, whose story of his three- year battle with leukemia tugged at the heartstrings of our student body and inspired them to donate the $2329.81 raised at the Yard Sale to the foundation his family established after John's passing.

So almost two years to the day after John ultimately succumbed to his cancer, there is much to celebrate: the initiative of students, the guidance of teachers in nurturing innovative student leadership, the role of school community in fostering service-learning, and how the courage of one young man's indomitable spirit in facing his own mortality continues to inspire his peers to do good for others.

--Steve McKibben
11/5/06