Students gain democracy

On September 11th, John I.Burton High School had student elections for each individual grade from eight to twelve. A reporter from the Burton blog recently sat down with Mr. Aaron Williams, the school principal, to get more information about these elections. Mr. Williams said that this election was the first John. I Burton had in five years. He also said that he initiated the idea to let students "get representation"and "have a voice" in major decisions that affect the school. Mr. Williams feels that "the more the students have ownership in their school, the more pride they will take and the better our school will be." The school leadership council, consisting of seven teachers and the school guidance counselor, decided to support Mr. Williams' idea on September 3rd, and the election was scheduled for September 11th.

The structure was an open election, where students voted by show of hands to nominate three people for an office. These offices were a President, Vice President, and a Secretary of Treasury. Once the nominees were out of the room, students voted for who they wanted to elect for that office. The elections were held in five different rooms, one for each different grade. The seniors were in the library, the J\juniors in the auditorium, the sophomores in the gymnasium, the freshmen in the cafeteria, and the sub-freshmen in the band room. The criteria for eligibility to hold office was based on three different things: Students must have missed no more than 40 days of school, they must maintain a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.2, and they must have 1 discipline referral or less.

Mr. Williams says that this structure will not be the structure for future elections. He said, "Next year, after the SOLs are complete,  we will hopefully have time for students to campaign." During these campaigns, Mr. Williams hopes that students will get to express their ideas about how they will aid the future of John I. Burton High School. He also hopes that students will get to have speeches that further express these ideas. Mr. Williams's purpose for having these elections is to hopefully show students how leadership works and to be involved and listen to problems and situations in their school and their community.

Our principal's advice for the current group of elected school representatives is: "Be a good listener and have your voice heard." His advice for those who want to run in the next elections is to, "Take it seriously and think through what they want to accomplish to help every student in the school." Mr. Williams would like to send a special thank to Mrs. Adams, the sponsor for the student council, for volunteering to lead the student council. The full list of elected officials is below.

Grade

President

Vice President

Secretary of Treasury

12th Grade

 Sam Shortt

 Robert Beauchamp

 Reichert Price

11th Grade

Alex Pritchard
Isaac Shortt
Alexis Stanley

10th Grade
Eric Fletcher
Mazzy Tomko
Kira Sturgill

9th Grade
Caleb Williams
Derek Allen
Nate Sadler

8th Grade
DeAndre Carlton
Lydia Blair James
Maggie Robinson 

Written by: Cody Messer