Often, the popularity of the primary student organizations at MVHS, such as ASB or Leadership, cause students to forget about about others that are imperative to school growth. One such overlooked group is the MVHS School Site Council (SSC) – a body composed of parents, teachers and students tasked with approving the MVHS budget.

Along with class trips and club events for students, SSC often approves teacher workshops and conferences. If a faculty member wishes to attend these events, they must present their plan, reasons for attending and estimated costs to the council. Senior and councilmember Shreya Kashyap recognizes the importance of giving teachers opportunities to learn outside of their jobs.

“We can pay for their flight or accommodations because they are bettering their knowledge, and they’re going to bring that back to MVHS,” Kashyap said. “We just want to make it affordable for them.”

According to Kashyap, the inclusion of students on the council provides a more personal perspective of how certain decisions may affect the school. In particular, many decisions made by the School Site Council impact students, so gaining student input helps the council make informed decisions.

“With respect to the bell schedule or mental health, we can provide a perspective of how things affect us exactly or what our views on it are,” Kashyap said. “Since a lot of the things affect students, we can provide some feedback on how that’s influenced us or any changes that we’ve seen.”

Additionally, the diversity of the people on the council proves to be advantageous in making decisions, according to junior and councilmember Dan Sachs. Parents and teachers often provide insight that a student may lack, and vice versa.

“It’s a good advisory group that has perspectives from all different sides of the community,” Sachs said. “The teachers know what types of resources they need, the parents know whether a type of event we’re funding will help students and our community as a whole and the students are in class with the teachers.”

With the combined efforts and opinions of its members, SSC has approved and helped fund several student opportunities, including the annual World Studies trip to Los Angeles, Chess Club’s national competition and annual yearbook and journalism trips. Vice Principal Nico Flores believes that SSC provides students with valuable opportunities while keeping things affordable, giving them the hands-on learning that they deserve.

Ultimately, Flores believes that the overall purpose of SSC is to create a better student and community experience. At the previous meeting, members discussed the importance of self-care, and tried to find common ground between students, parents and teachers. Flores believes insightful discussions like this is what makes SSC a special and unique organization.

“It’s those conversations that really keep us going and that are really thoughtful,” Flores said. “This year’s group on our council is doinga nice job of keeping that conversation alive.”