A conversation with Evelyn Reyes, student rep to the School Committee
How she became the (non-voting) student representative, how the Boston Student Advisory Council can get stronger, and why their student rights app isn’t an app.
Student representative Evelyn Reyes is a junior at the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science.
Q: How did you get involved in the Boston Student Advisory Council (BSAC)?
Reyes: It was word of mouth. Somebody who was in BSAC last year told my friend, my friend told me, and I knew Maria [Estrada, the BSAC program manager] from before. So I asked her what BSAC was about. She told me to come in and participate in some meetings.
I worked with BSAC for a year. Keondré [McClay, who preceded Reyes as student representative] was graduating, so they asked for applications and I applied.
I went through a series of interviews with Maria, Abraham [Osorio], and Keondré — the BSAC manager, BSAC coordinator, and the former student rep. Then I had an interview with Monica Roberts [BPS Chief Engagement Officer] After that, one last conversation with Maria and Abraham.
Then I was chosen.
Q: So you weren’t chosen by BSAC?
Reyes: No. I’m technically the student representative. That’s the title. But one of the requirements is that the student is also a part of BSAC. And BSAC is consulted in terms of what do we want the student representative to bring to the table.
Q: What’s it been like on the School Committee?
Reyes: It’s definitely a learning experience. It’s very interesting to see from the other side, to be, not the person who comes to public comment — “I need this from you” — but to be sitting at the table — “Fellow members, this is what we need.”
And it’s interesting to see the work the School Committee does. And then, because I’m here [at BPS Bolling Building headquarters], to see the work that’s happening upstairs. I’m thinking, “Hey, we talked about that last week at the meeting. And that’s why you’re doing that project.”
Talk becomes action
Q: What’s an example of that?
Reyes: The BuildBPS community hearings. I heard a lot of discontent, comments like “That’s not happening at an accessible time, it’s not in a place that we can actually get to.” Somebody brought it to the School Committee, and the School Committee talked about it: Maybe the places they chose weren’t accessible, or the times. How are they going to make sure everybody had a chance to see the information they need?
A week later, I was upstairs and I heard a group of people talking: “Okay, these three schools are available. Let’s find out the times we can get them for. Let’s see who can get there. Let’s call the communities of those schools.”
So I sat there thinking, “Wow, that’s exactly what we talked about! Here it is getting fixed.”
What people may not know about BSAC
Q: What do you want people to know about BSAC that they may not already know?
Reyes: I think it’s crucial for the school community to hear that we don’t fully represent the whole district. We have a little bit more than half of the high schools. We are missing students from alternative schools and we don’t have students from Charlestown or East Boston.
That’s because they’re very far away [from the Bolling Building where BSAC meets].
Also, their schools get out later. Our meetings end at 6. We are a program for young people, who can’t end at 8. Everybody needs to go home. Many of us have countless hours of homework to do.
How BSAC can become more representative
Q: What do you think can be done about it?
Reyes: We are talking about Monday meetings just for Steering Committee. It’s not completely out of our capability to do a bigger meeting 5 to 8, maybe once a month.
Also, sometimes we struggle with having schools actually commit representatives to BSAC. We want schools to actually have a process that results in a BSAC member from that school, to nominate or vote for BSAC members. But that doesn’t always happen.
For me, for example, I didn’t hear about BSAC from my school, I heard about it through a friend of a friend. I came to BSAC as myself, not as the person from the O’Bryant.
Then I went back to my school, because we do headmaster meetings every year. So at the headmaster meeting, I was like, “Hi! I’m your rep.” And they’re like, “Oh! Okay.”
Q: Do you have a student government at the O’Bryant?
Reyes: We do, but they probably aren’t aware of BSAC. We would like them to become part of the process. We are working on an election tool kit to help schools move their elections for student government to the end of the year so people can hit the ground running in the fall.
And we’re also suggesting that they do BSAC elections on this side of the year, so that we already have it set up for the beginning of the year. That helps us also hit the ground running, not just the student government.
Q: What does it take to make that happen?
Reyes: It takes a full partnership between the school administrators who receive that toolkit, and they have to work with the students at their school. Does everybody know about BSAC and how it works? Who’s going to be our rep?
The BSAC student rights website (not app)
Q: BSAC is probably best known for the student rights app, right? How did that happen? And how is it being used?
Reyes: It’s no longer an app. It’s not on the Google Play Store anymore. But it is a website and you can put it on your home screen. But you need wifi or access to the web.
A couple years ago, BSAC decided, after looking at the code of conduct, that it was too inaccessible. Nobody understands what the rules actually are. Teachers don’t, students don’t, parents don’t.
Suspensions are happening for reasons that aren’t supposed to happen. For example, all schools are supposed to take alternative routes before suspending a student. Sometimes they don’t do that, they go straight to suspension.
So BSAC sat down with a lawyer and said, “How can we shorten this? How do we make this accessible?” We wanted to make sure the simpler language was exactly the same as the code of conduct, just fewer words.
Then we built a website that has the simplified code of conduct, it has suspension rates and all the policies. And it has a button you can press to report to the Office of Equity any situation where something happened to you or to another person that shouldn’t have happened. It can be anonymous.
The Office of Equity has to respond within two business days, and they deal with the situation.
Q: How much has it been used?
Reyes: I don’t know, but we did just reach over 20,000 views on the website.
Q: Did you think it’s made a difference?
Reyes: I hope so. I do know that teachers look at it, because it makes sense, it’s so easy to read. And plenty of students have looked at it to make sure that they weren’t suspended for something that they shouldn’t be suspended for, or whatever situation they may have. Students have looked at it to explore and see what their options are.
BSAC and stopping gun violence
Q: A year ago, BSAC was deeply involved in the March For Our Lives campaign for gun control. We posted your speech and those of two other Boston students at a packed rally in the State House, which dozens of legislators decided they should attend. I remember you got a standing ovation. A week later, tens of thousands of students rallied on the Common. You pushed through a “red flag” bill that lets family members go to court to temporarily take guns away from someone they feel is likely to hurt themselves or others. How did you get involved in that?
Reyes: Gun violence has always been something that BSAC has talked about because it’s something that a lot of our students come into contact with, being from Boston. But after the shooting in Florida, we started to talk about it more, and we started communicating with people from March For Our Lives, the Boston chapter. They’re the ones that organized the rally at the State House. And I was asked to speak.
Q. How do you feel about it a year later? Are you happy that the red flag bill passed? Are you disappointed that not enough has changed?
Reyes: A year later, I am disappointed in our country’s lack of adequate response. The ERPO [Emergency Risk Protective Order] bill is a step in the right direction, but it is not the only thing that needs to happen in order for there to be less gun violence. We need to do more than change or add policies. We need to strengthen the infrastructure of the country, from education to gun laws and everything in between.
Next on the agenda
Q: What’s the next big push for BSAC?
Reyes: The next move for BSAC is to expand our representation while we secure a vote for the student representative on the School Committee.
