Wilmington Friends School offers many opportunities for student leadership and participation.  But to what extent does the school legitimately value the opinion of the students? When asked whether they feel the student body has a voice value, an anonymous WFS upperclassmen declared, “No.  Nothing actually seems to ever get done; it’s good in theory but it hasn’t worked well in real-life recently”  It would be an exaggeration to describe students as being in a state of uproar, but there exists without doubt a small feeling of dissatisfaction in students regarding some WFS policies and the students’ voice.

Students in the past have popularly expressed concerns about issues such as the late board policies, dress code, and more recently, the designated ‘eating areas’.  Although many have been frustrated by seemingly confusing and inconvenient policies at WFS, little action has been taken in recent years to address any policy.  It is possible that this is because the current generation of students generally find it to be not worth the effort, or maybe students feel like they don’t have enough voice to make meaningful change at WFS, especially when it relates to the rules and policies.

Business meeting is a place for students to express their concerns.  Furthermore, it offers clubs and organizations access to a healthy six-hundred dollar budget, certainly an aspect of student-involvement not to be taken for granted.  Business meeting also gives students a unique and special opportunity to voice their concerns.  However, there has been little to no change to school rules in Business Meeting over the past few years despite popular but minor disapproval of policy.  Is this at the fault of the students or the school?

The involvement of the students is a vital part of the WFS school education and to answer the popular frustration regarding the policies of the school, Lynn Puritz was willing to sit down to discuss this issue …

Whittier:  Do you personally believe that the student body should have more of a voice?

Puritz: I wish that the student body were more vocal about the changes they’d like to see in the community, and more active about making those changes happen.

Whittier:  Do you think it is possible for student classes in the immediate/ near future to have more of a voice in the governing process?

Puritz:  I truly believe that the students could have as much power as a force for change as they desire here. Agenda and Business Meeting are effective means for change and enrichment in the community- right there for developing new ideas- but students need to be willing to use those venues fully in order to affect change.

The last policy we revised, over the summer, was the Academic Probation Policy (now described in the Handbook as the Academic Alert and Support Policy). Our former policy established the criteria of two C-s or below in two semesters or three rolling semesters as indicating probationary status. The Student Support Group, or SSG, which is made up of an assortement of school officials, felt that since a student may be working as hard as he/she can to earn a C- and that the grade of C- does indicate adequate mastery in the course, the criteria should be changed to earning a grade of D+ or below.

Whittier: Do you believe that the students have been rather lackadaisical when it comes to their involvement in Business Meeting and Agenda Committee in recent years?

Puritz: I feel that Business Meeting has incredible potential to affect change, but it has not done so in recent years.

Whittier: What is the biggest change to the school policy or most momentous proposal you have seen passed in Business Meeting in your career at WFS?

Puritz: The last major policy change that we implemented that came directly from a Business Meeting proposal was that we allow students in the Upper School to wear sandals and open-toed shoes (yes, there was a time when they could not!)

Furthermore, Puritz recommended another opportunity for students to more directly address their concerns in a more formal environment saying that “SSG would welcome suggestions regarding the Expectations of Student Behavior portion of the Handbook”.

Puritz responses are insightful, but are perhaps representative of the disparity between the teachers and students when it comes to understanding and overall approval of the rules at WFS.

Perhaps Puritz’s interview suggests a new problem- that the student body has not taken full advantage of the opportunity for self-governing already presented in front of it. Although, kindly enough, Mrs. Puritz has still provided the student body to get more involved by encouraging us to speak up in meetings and the access to speak with the Student Support Group.