The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly is considering whether to designate a time during each meeting to hear from high school student councils.
Assembly members will consider Tuesday whether to give initial approval to an ordinance that would add to each assembly agenda time for high school student council representatives to give a 10-minute presentation during a meeting. Presentations would be scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis, with priority given to student councils that have not already presented to the assembly.
Assembly agendas already provide two opportunities for public comment in addition to two 10-minute blocks of time for presentations scheduled ahead of the meeting.
The ordinance being considered Tuesday is sponsored by Assembly Vice President Tyson Cox and assembly member Ryan Tunseth.
Cox and Tunseth wrote in an April 25 memo to assembly members that setting aside time for the assembly to hear from student councils would boost student participation in meetings and give students an opportunity to practice their public speaking skills while experiencing the public process.
“Participation in local government meetings is a great way for students to experience the public process while discovering the significance of civic engagement within their community,” Cox and Tunseth wrote.
Both the Kenai and Soldotna city councils have a student representative, who casts advisory votes and who update council members on things happening at their school. Cox and Tunseth note that it is difficult for the assembly to accommodate a student representative because assembly committee meetings happen during the day ahead of their regular Tuesday night meeting.
As currently written, the ordinance does not limit presentations to student councils from schools on the Kenai Peninsula. Cox said Wednesday that the intent is that only student councils from Kenai Peninsula Borough School District schools be allowed to present.
If approved for introduction Tuesday, a public hearing on the ordinance will be held during the assembly’s June 4 meeting.
Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.
