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Schools

HHS Student Reflects on Her Year on the BOE

Hamden High School graduate Sara Winnick was the first student to hold a student representative seat on the Board of Education.

When Sara Winnick graduated from Hamden High School Monday, she left behind not only the school but the board that oversees it and the rest of the town's schools.

Sara, a member of the Hamden High School class of 2011, spent the past year as the first student representative on the Hamden Board of Education.

After spending her junior year as a member of the Superintendent’s Advisory Committee, Winnick became the only senior to sit monthly with the Board of Education to “provide a student’s perspective on relevant issues,” Winnick said.

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“As a student representative, I receive and have access to the same material as the board members, but I do not have a vote on the Board,” she said. But her lack of a vote did not deter Winnick from playing an active role in the board and its committee meetings that she attended.

“It was incredible to ask why Styrofoam trays were used in the high school cafeteria, and have a full report from [board member] Mr. [Adam] Sendroff,” the chair of the Operations Committee, she said, “on the costs and re-usability of lunch trays the next month.”

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Regardless of her inability to vote, Sara said that board members listened actively to her contributions.

“I asked questions more often than I gave my opinion,” she said.

"She is a superstar," said board president Michael D'Agostino. "We will miss having her presence on the Board. Sara always provided is with unique insight and commentary." 

"Sarah has had significant impact on BOE perceptions and understandings of student life in Hamden schools," Supt. of Schools Fran Rabinowitz said. "Sara has offered reflective, honest and insightful comments on policies and processes that are proposed by the administration and/or the BOE.

"Sara is a person of her word-she makes things happen for her school and community," Rabinowitz said. "I am a better superintendent for having had Sara's input and insights over the last two years. I will miss her and wish her the very best at Brown University. I know that she will make Hamden proud."

After serving on the board for a year, Winnick has only praise for its members.

“I was blown away by how deeply the board members and the Superintendent care about Hamden and the future of its children," she said. "They put so many hours into ensuring Hamden students an excellent education, and truly think through each and every policy they chose to implement.”

Winnick said she would suggest adding a teacher representative to the board to “close the gap that exists currently between the policy makers and the policy implementers.”

This fall Winnick will be headed to Brown University with a major in Education History and Policy, which she hopes will lead her to a career teaching high school English eventually becoming an administrator. But, she said, she'll miss the BOE.

“I will miss everything about the experience, but mostly the feeling of having a direct impact on the school I attended,” she said.

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