Kicking off the new school year with a packed agenda, new Student Member of the Board (SMOB) Eric Guerci is planning to take full advantage of his term as the representative of middle and high school students from across the county.
The Student Member of the Board deals with serious responsibilities as a voter on all matters of the Board of Education, excluding boundary changes, capital and operating budgets, collective bargaining, negative personnel matters and school closings.
This important job is unpaid, but offers a $5,000 college scholarship, SSL hours, and an honors-level social studies credit.
A hotly contested SMOB campaign last April between Guerci and RM’s very own Rachit Agarwal, culminated in one of the closest elections in SMOB history. Ultimately, Guerci beat out Agarwal, receiving 52% of the popular vote.
Soon after his inauguration, the Bethesda-Chevy Chase junior began assembling his SMOB Advisory Council (SAC), a committee directly under the SMOB that works with him throughout his administration on hot button issues and student outreach. The 25-student committee will be helping Guerci implement these objectives throughout the county.
The topics became part of the SAC’s published list of 2015-2016 priorities, an agenda that includes a wide range of issues: encouraging the Board to analyze qualitative student data in decision making, ensuring efficacy of the grading and assessment, and advocating for health curriculum additions such as mental health and consent. Guerci plans on reaching most or all of his objectives before his term ends on June 30, 2016.
Guerci’s plan to expand the health curriculum to include such topics as mental health, suicide awareness, and informed consent is something new to the curriculum. These topics are sensitive and have been controversial in recent years, especially the concept of informed consent and its exact definition.
“I think it’s great that someone is finally acknowledging the mental health of students, especially at such a vulnerable age.” sophomore Irene Park said. “It’s nice to know that someone associated with the Board finally has our backs and knows that wellness comes first.” Park added.
Guerci’s overarching objective is to expand the student voice. Increasing student input on Board decisions and the number of Student Town Halls are other crucial parts of his bold agenda. With the motto “working for you”, the 38th Student Member of the Board has aggressively used a number of student communication tools, including his website, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
“The thing I value most in a SMOB is having someone who’s relatable and approachable on the surface, but, whether subtle or not,…that works tirelessly every night and every day and refuses to sacrifice the interests of the students,” Guerci said. “They make decisions that may not necessarily be what all the board members think, but what the students [of the county] agree with.”
Guerci recently uploaded the first episode of the SMOB Minute (shown below) on YouTube through the MCPSTV channel, the first in a series of minute-long video updates centered on sharing the the work accomplished by the SMOB on the Board.
The pilot focused on the new MCPS assessment strategy for high school students, with the Board replacing final exams with more manageable quarterly assessments effective next school year. It also highlighted Guerci’s first visits to schools to discuss bell times and other topics directly with the students.
Guerci has also reached out to many student leadership groups across the county, hoping to foster a better connection between organizations such as MCR.
Some RM students view these efforts as commendable. “He’s doing an awesome job getting student input,” said Agarwal, “I’m definitely seeing more people involved in the discussion through his website and social media.”
Despite his loss in the SMOB election, Agarwal continues to maintain his strong friendship with Guerci, who recently helped promote Agarwal’s RM’s DECA club. “I’m ready to see his Vineyard Vines tie collection at some point, too,” joked Agarwal.
RM students are looking forward to the changes Guerci’s term will bring. “He and his team have radically increased the SMOB’s visibility by expanding his efforts to communicate with students online and in person,” said MCR-SGA President and RM junior David Edimo.
“I think it’s great how Eric Guerci uses his Facebook page and social media like YouTube to keep students in the county informed of what he is doing as SMOB,” added sophomore Esika Savsani, “he hasn’t reached out to me personally but his interactions through the internet and the work he and his SAC do look like he works very hard as SMOB.”
With MCPS greeting the largest high school and middle school enrollment in history this year, Guerci has an especially tough expectation to meet as the collective voice for more than 78,000 students. But his drive to engage the student community may be enough to accomplish just that.
