Diagonal student’s input goes to state level

DIAGONAL - A small Iowa school girl gets to take her experiences and observations to a bigger stage. Much bigger stage.

Diagonal High School junior Alaina Whittington, 17, was appointed to be the student representative for the state board of education. Her terms begins in May and lasts through April 2023. She will attend the monthly state board of education meetings in Des Moines.

As the student representative, Whittington will inform the board of her opinions and observations to the board. She will not have voting privileges.

“My mom knew I was interested in this,” she said. Her mother Amy is an elementary principal in the Central Decatur district. Amy said she saw the opportunity in a newsletter intended for school administrators. Alaina submitted her application in January. She was one of about 90 applicants. As part of her application, Alaina had to write an essay explaining what she thought where needs for schools and describing some educational philosophies. Not only is her mother in education, her father, John, is on the Diagonal school board.

She was informed of her acceptance in February.

Alaina said she is preparing herself for a different school board. During her time in school she has made presentations to the Diagonal board about projects. But what she will do in Des Moines will be something entirely different.

“I have started showing up at school board meetings in the area to see what issues are being brought up so I won’t be showing up to the state blind,” she said.

One of her issues is just having students show up.

“I see a lack of participation in small schools,” she said. Alaina defined small schools as those with no more than 1,000 students.

“There is just not enough drive and motivation to keep going or try new things,” she said. “And it’s across the board from sports to clubs.”

Alaina is involved as she plays volleyball, basketball, runs track, softball, archery and is in FFA.

Adding to the challenge of getting more students involved is the number of students to begin with, especially at schools like Diagonal. Diagonal has about 150 students from kindergarten through 12th grade.

“We struggle with people to come back after a graduating class leaves. Five leave, three come up. You’ve got declining numbers,” she said.

She said she remembers more FFA students in Mount Ayr’s program when she was younger compared to her high school years.

Whittington said the trick may be how the sports and clubs are presented to students with the intent of getting them to join.

“It’s all about how you market it. This is a fun activity. We need to have more people involved and I tell people to get involved in the activities,” she said.

Amy supported her interests and sees them too.

“We do talk a lot of school stuff. Kids are not engaged the way they were 20 years ago,” she said.

She also wonders about the stability of Iowa’s small schools in the first place but still shows her support for Diagonal.

“Small schools are getting pushed to close,” she said. “We have been open for a long time and plan to be open for a long time.”

Alaina is doing more than just attending school board meetings in the area to prepare for her one-year term. She is taking some online courses about the state board of education. The monthly meetings are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. She will miss some school days because of her involvement.

It will be her time and term to say something.

“I remember when the state toured the school a couple of years ago. ‘Why don’t they understand this is a great place. They do. They wanted elevators. We put in elevators. The even asked me a question. It’s come full circle. Now I can ask them questions.”

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