Students help set 'Aiea High policy

By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

High school students elsewhere may gripe and groan about dress codes, attendance policies or school calendars imposed on them by adults who just don't understand.

'Aiea students, from left, Michelle Rivera, Ariz Matute and Megan Sakamoto run the community based management council. Deborah Booker • Honolulu Advertiser

In what is believed to be a first in the state, public high school students at 'Aiea are taking charge of policy-making on campus.

The 20-plus members of 'Aiea High's School Community Based Management council, the group that brings together residents and school officials to collaborate on decision-making on campus issues, unanimously elected three students to fill the group's officer positions.

"We're the students and they're administrators and teachers," said Ariz Matute, 17, a senior and the vice president of the SCBM. "But when we walk into the SCBM meetings, we're equals. The SCBM really provides a great voice for students."

The council, which has made decisions this year on everything from dress standards to ways to implement academic standards, includes parents, teachers, administrators, community members, staff and a liaison with the Hawai'i State Teachers Association.

But it's the students who run the meetings now. And because at least one member of each group represented must agree on a proposal to move it forward, the students have equal authority to stop ideas they don't like.

Megan Sakamoto, 16, a junior, serves as president of the SCBM. She brings the concerns and opinions of students to the adult members, but also has gained insight on how complicated it can be to run a school.

"I like the respect we get on the SCBM," Sakamoto said. "I like that they don't undermine us just because we're students."

Michelle Rivera, 17, a senior, is student body president and has been involved in student government for years, but feels she has more impact as secretary of the SCBM.

"I think it's the first time you feel like you have an effect on the school," Rivera said. "You see your teachers and administrators every day, and you can tell them what you think. On SCBM, we can really make changes."

State Rep. Mark Takai, D-34th (Waimalu, Newtown, Pearl City), one of the community members of the 'Aiea High SCBM, said the students are the most involved, hardest-working members.

"Without the students, and without them leading us this year, the SCBM council would be a much different entity," Takai said. "We wouldn't be able to function without them. Everything we do affects them individually as students. Their participation provides a perspective in our decision-making process. That's the way it should be. Schools are for students. Our decisions should focus on the impact to the students."

The state began encouraging schools to form SCBMs in the 1990s. 'Aiea High School started its council in 1991. Last year, a student, senior Everett Kawano, served as president for the first time.

"We try to encourage the students to take leadership," said Principal Michael Tokioka. "They're being responsible for their own learning."

Tokioka said participation on the SCBM teaches students problem-solving, critical thinking, collaboration and other skills needed for success in college and business.

"They're very mature. They don't initiate things unless it is very valid," Tokioka said. "Megan conducts a very tight meeting. We always have an agenda one week in advance, and she keeps us on task."

Although Tokioka jokes that the three students spend more time on campus than he does, Sakamoto, Matute and Rivera shrug at juggling the responsibility of running the SCBM while holding other leadership positions on campus.

Sakamoto is captain of the girls golf and bowling teams and second vice president of the Student Association. Rivera is president of the Leo Club and secretary for band and NHS. Matute, who totes a briefcase and heads the National Honor Society, sits on the Hawai'i State Student Council and helps run the school's graphic design business.

But even Matute admits he was a bit unnerved at the prospect of telling teachers and administrators his honest opinions on campus policy. "I was really intimidated at first," he said. But now he speaks with the savvy of a legislator at the state Capitol. "There's ways to massage the issues so that everyone agrees," Matute said. "It's all about collaboration."

Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.