SDAC welcomes new executive board
The Student District Advisory Council (SDAC) swore in a new executive board for the upcoming school year led by Chairperson Catherine Xu, senior at WHS, and Vice Chairperson Michael Lindroth, senior at NPHS.
SDAC provides a forum for students at their school sites to transform their concerns into solutions and recommendations for reform. “SDAC is basically an advisory committee to the Board of Education and to the entire school district,” Xu explained. “Our job is to represent students.”
In its third year, the board developed an effective transitional protocol. “The transition from the past board to the new board has been great. Last year, what I tried to do was to form a relationship between the past board members for SDAC and the new board members,” Xu said. “I set up meetings in between every single position…They were able to gain some knowledge and experience through conversation.”
Lindroth, who serves as the NPHS executive on the board, echoes this sentiment. “I really admire the work that the previous board has done, and I want to continue that legacy that SDAC has developed over the past several years,” he said.
Brian Mercer, Director of High Schools for the CVUSD, generally oversees SDAC as the superintendent’s designee for the council. “If there’s one word that I can use [to describe them], it would be ‘driven.’ They are very global minded. It’s not just about their school; they understand that this is a district and that each individual school site has needs,” Mercer said. “They’re very driven to make positive change.”
Mercer has full faith in the new heads of the council given their past experience on the executive board. “[Xu and Lindroth] were representatives on the SDAC [last year], and they really had a deep involvement in some of the committees and some of the initiatives,” he said. “It’s really just kind of like picking up where they left off, and really working hard to make our schools a better place.”
SDAC is currently working to establish subcommittees for the year. “Last year we had– some examples– our Publicity Committee, our Reopen and Redesign Committee, our Mental Health Committee,” Lindroth said. “Each of these committees work towards separate goals based on their title, and this year we’re trying to figure out which ones, which areas, we want to focus on in terms of improvement in our district.”
Lindroth and Xu strive to fulfill the core goals of SDAC and represent students in CVUSD. “I think SDAC is a really great outlet for students to share their concerns, and I think that it’s not limited to those specifically in SDAC,” Lindroth said. “Anyone [is welcome to] share their thoughts or concerns at our meetings.”
