St. Mary’s County Board of Education student member Sarita Lee

Leonardtown, MD — St. Mary’s County Superintendent of Schools Scott Smith has announced the formation of a Student Advisory Council. It will be made up of two students from every grade in every middle and high school (grades 6-12). The council will have its first meeting with the superintendent Monday, Oct. 19. Student school board member Sarita Lee will co-chair the meeting with the superintendent.

Smith told the school board at its Oct. 14 meeting that the council is an attempt to learn what’s going on in the student’s world, not only within the four walls of the schools but outside as well. “We will also talk about risky things going on in their lives and how we as partners can help them make the right choices,” Smith said.

Smith told the school board that he has already heard online through a Google chat room from some of the students who have expressed excitement about their participation. They were chosen by the principals and school staffs based on their leadership ability in having other students look up to them.

The school board at the Oct. 14 meeting also heard presentations about two risky types of behavior–substance abuse and texting while driving. In a presentation on National Teen Driver Safety Week (Oct. 19-23)  the board was told by Director of Safety and Security F. Michael Wyant that special guests would be appearing in the schools next month to talk about texting while driving.

Liz Marks was severely injured (including being blinded in one eye) in an accident while texting and driving. She and her mother Betty will be speaking at the schools in November to give a first-hand account of the consequences of that very risky behavior.

Wyatt said that car accidents are the number one killer of teens in the United States.
Several school board members attested to the problem of texting while driving. Cathy Allen noted it wasn’t just teens. She was almost in an accident recently in a parking lot due to an adult driver who was texting and not paying attention to driving.

Rita Weaver, who is an emergency room nurse, said, “It is heart-wrenching to have to tell a parent that their child has died.”

The school board also recognized National Red Ribbon Week, which recognizes community efforts to address substance abuse through school-based education and awareness programs such as the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program.

National Red Ribbon Week is Oct. 26-30. The sheriff’s department’s D.A.R.E. program has special events in the schools during that week.

Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com