BROOKSVILLE — Hernando County School Board Member Shannon Rodriguez moved April 14 to eliminate the student delegate position, saying social media attacks against 17-year-old student representative Jaserah Abdul-Rahim have made the role too dangerous for a minor.
The board voted 4-0 to table the motion after an outcry from the audience, fellow board members and Abdul-Rahim herself.
“In light of recent incidents involving social media activity directed at our student delegate, the student has been subjected to public scrutiny and treatment as if they are an elected official,” Rodriguez said at the April 14 meeting, where she served as chair in the absence of Kayce Hawkins. “This is not an elected adult. This is a student. We cannot expose them to the same risk as an elected official.”
Rodriguez said a young man in Hernando County has spent roughly two and a half months firing unproven accusations against Abdul-Rahim on social media regarding her faith and her election and has attracted followers.
“It has been really severe,” Rodriguez said.
She said this isn’t about silencing student voices and that she’d rather see the position eliminated than risk possible dire consequences from continued attacks.
“Many districts have eliminated the position for the safety of the child,” she said, adding that Abdul-Rahim would remain in the role until her current tenure ends.
Board Member Mark Johnson seconded the motion to bring it to a vote but said he wasn’t sure it was the right time to discuss removing the position. He made the motion to table, saying he had not had time to fully digest the situation.
Board Member Susan Duval said she would never vote to eliminate the role.
“The student voice is important, and it remains for us to support our student representative,” she said to applause. “This program was started 14 years ago. I was a part of it then and have remained a part of it ever since.”
Board Member Michelle Bonczek said she didn’t like that Abdul-Rahim was attacked and that no child should endure that, but she supported tabling the motion.
Student voice
Abdul-Rahim addressed the board directly.
“As the student representative who was attacked, I do not believe that removing this role would do anything positive,” she said. “I think that it would also diminish all of the hard-working junior delegates that have spent their entire year working toward this goal.”
Audience members stood in support of Abdul-Rahim, pointing out that she works hard and makes strong presentations about what’s happening in the schools from students’ perspectives.
ESE teacher Deanna Earls spoke about Abdul-Rahim’s character, recounting how she once helped a crying third-grader on his first day at Suncoast Elementary School.
“Jaserah was the first person who was nice and kind to him and let him know that it was going to be OK,” Earls said. The boy is now a senior in Earls’ class, and for a public speaking assignment he cited Abdul-Rahim’s kindness as one of six examples of character that helped him go from a scared child to a graduating senior.
Duval read a letter from former student delegate Tori Hunt pressing for retention of the position.
“Silence in this moment sends the wrong message,” Hunt wrote.
The board then voted 4-0 to table the matter.
Contracts approved
The board approved 4-0 several contracts on the consent agenda, including a $1,216,500 bid using half-cent sales tax funds for parking improvements at Spring Hill Elementary School, awarded to T&C Underground Inc.; an estimated $500,000 annual contract for audiovisual solutions and services through OMNIA Partners, awarded to B&H Foto and Electronics Corp., Best Buy Stores LP and AVI Systems; and an estimated $250,000 annual contract for threat and weapons detection software and equipment through OMNIA Partners, awarded to ZeroEyes.
In other action
Students from Weeki Wachee High School led the Pledge of Allegiance. Principal Ed Larose highlighted the school’s rise to the top of the ratings in Hernando County and its programs in digital media and game design.
Board chair Hawkins was absent for a trip to Washington, D.C.