On Wednesday, March 11, Norwood High students gathered at town hall for the annual Town Government Day. Students split into the different committees or positions they were assigned to, learned about how the town government operates, and shadowed town officials. 

One of the committees, the school committee, took a bus to the savage center to discuss concerns that they had in the schools and perform a Mock School Committee meeting. The Norwood School Committee sets the budget and votes on policies governing teaching.

During the mock School Committee meeting, which was broadcasted on Norwood Community Media, students discussed several issues, like the lack of tissues in the middle and high schools, and problems in the lunchroom. 

Junior Dejvi Caushllari said that the students on the school committee during Town Government Day “basically got together and raised some questions about what they can do better in the school and then [they] had a mock [meeting] deciding on how they were actually going to do these things and make the school better. 

The students involved in the school committee brought their concerns to the mock Town Meeting and suggested solutions with funding propositions. 

Although the students didn’t get any funding for their concerns during the mock Town Meeting, in what Superintendent Timothy Luff jokingly called an “epic fail,” he made sure their voices were heard and concerns were met by gaining funding for $468 of tissues for the middle and high schools, and allowed the students to meet with Jason Morency, the Director of School Nutrition, to discuss possible solutions to problems they felt needed to be addressed in the cafeteria. 

Sophomore Wendy Bradley said, “it was exciting that they listened to our ideas and were able to actually do something with them.”

During the meeting with Morency, Luff, Social Studies Department Chair Jennifer Orlinski, and Principal Cindy Derrane, students advocated for changes they wanted to see at lunch. 

Bradley said, “we wanted to add more things for people with dietary restrictions and stuff.”

Students on the school committee also wanted to see a change in the amount of healthy options given to students and the rotation of school lunches on a weekly basis.

Caushllari said that they advocated for “healthier options because that’s a big point in America, because we want our children to be healthy. And also we talked about rotating the school lunches to give students more variety.”

After the meeting with Morency, Luff surprised the students with a large amount of tissues, showing that their voices were heard during Town Government Day. Students walked around the halls of the school passing out tissues to teachers who wanted them.

Sophomore Lexie Powers said, “Mr. Luff bought tissues for the teachers, which we handed out. It felt really good to see the impact it had.”