Student board trustee takes office
Quinton Baldis, a student at Scripps Ranch High School, was officially sworn in as a student board member on the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) Board of Education on June 25. Only two students in the entire district are elected each year to serve on the board. His duties began July 1, and he will serve a one-year term.
Baldis was elected by a vote among his high school peers throughout the district. He will represent high school students district-wide at board meetings, weighing in on agenda items and helping to shape San Diego Unified policy.
As it stands now, however, the student board members may voice their opinions, but their vote on policies is not officially counted.
“We are actually referred as a board member and we are paid the same as other board members,” Baldis said. “One thing I am going to push for this year is to have the student board member vote count (the same as other board members).”
The position requires a big commitment, but Baldis said he is motivated and up for the challenge.
“I feel I can advocate for a large majority of students in our district, and there are a lot of policies that … I want to get reformed and changed,” he said.
Addressing mental health issues for students is one of his priorities.
“I think the district is very reactive to mental health when student mental health issues are already in crisis mode. But what I want to focus on is implementing programs that get students involved with their school … so they will feel safe on campus as part of a community,” Baldis said. “This is important to me because I have seen so many of my peers and so many of my friends struggling with this.”
Board meetings are Tuesday nights and workshops are held every other week. There are additional workshops and visits to different school campuses to learn about the students’ experiences.
“I know previous student board members have put in from 20 hours a week to 30 hours a week. Honestly, this is something I’m very passionate about, so I think I’m going to be somewhere within that time frame,” Baldis said. “I’ll be relying upon support from my teachers and administration. The biggest thing that helped student board members in the past is having assignments and work getting sent to them so that when they have down time when they are not in school, they can be working on their assignments.”
At SRHS, Baldis is president of the school mock trial team and is on the varsity soccer team. He founded a charitable club at SRHS called Equal Kicks that collects soccer gear which is donated to under-funded communities. He is working on getting a 501(3)(c) nonprofit designation for the club. Baldis is also participating in two internships with elected officials this summer.
He hopes to study political science in college and eventually work in government at some level afterward. He said he does not have a targeted university at this point, but would prefer a UC school such as UC Berkely or UCLA.
“After I get my political science degree, I want to go to law school and then get involved with government, civics and politics,” he said. “So, that could be anywhere from statewide to federal government.”