In an effort to increase transparency around the policies and initiatives affecting Dublin Unified students’ lives, I spoke to Anika Yu, DHS’s student board representative, about equity within our district. Interview edited for conciseness and clarity.

Introduce your role as Student Board Rep! How do you make change within our district?

The baseline of my role is attending two school board meetings every month and participating to ensure that student perspectives are considered whenever the board makes decisions. Outside of that, I contact a lot of teachers and district staff to discuss topics like equity, discipline, curriculum for a better view of our district, and the work that still needs to be done! I’m currently working on two resolutions to put forward and updating my Instagram with relevant news.

For anyone who isn’t familiar, how are policies, including those on equity, decided on and implemented?

A lot of our policy change comes from the top—[the] California School Boards Association updates language every so often and our board usually holds two readings for every policy under review. After that, we approve language changes and staff implements the actions! 

What has the public reaction to policies about policies around equity, particularly standard-based grading, been? What do you have to say about said reactions?

Standards-based grading (SBG) was definitely a contentious topic over the summer, and from my experience, those whom I saw at the board room during our SBG meetings were middle school parents in opposition. I think we struggled to define what SBG truly was and I regret that we never reached widespread understanding of the process and the intent of it. I believe it had potential. 

In the future, what steps do you think our district and our board can take to improve equity?

Our district holds listening sessions for Black and Latino families to join and provide their input on equity; it would be great if more students knew about this and joined in! I also think that we need to do more outreach to students underrepresented in AP enrollment, and improve our peer tutoring program. 

What can students at DHS and EHS do to rally for accessibility on-campus?

If you see a problem, let someone know! It could be me or a member of admin. Change is easier than you think, and the first step is just alerting the right people about your intentions. There are so many avenues to improve school life through, from contacting staff, to writing a resolution, to founding your own club.