BROOKSVILLE — School Board Member Shannon Rodriguez doubled down April 28 on her push to change the student delegate program, telling a room full of supporters of current delegate Jaserah Abdul-Rahim that student safety has to come first, even as the board agreed to keep talking about the program’s future after the school year ends.
The April 28 meeting drew speaker after speaker urging the board to leave the position alone. Rodriguez, who first moved to eliminate the delegate role at an earlier meeting, said she still believes students should have a seat at the table. But maybe the table needs to be moved.
“The times have changed,” she said. “As much as that’s wonderful and that’s heartfelt, the world was different.”
Elected officials take “heavy hits,” she said, and the impact on a child is strong. Placing youths on the dais creates safety, operational and liability risks the district cannot ignore.
“I was put here as a leader, and being a leader requires us to make hard decisions and hard calls,” she said. “Ultimately, the safety of the student is our main priority. That’s what I have to lead with.”
Rodriguez noted that only 10 of Florida’s 67 school districts have a student delegate. The debate grew heated at one point, with Rodriguez asking the audience to respect her views as she referenced the recent attack on President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Other board members voiced support for keeping the delegate position. Public commenters and Rodriguez largely repeated the arguments aired when she first made her motion, and neither side moved the other.
The board agreed to revisit the issue after the school year. Abdul-Rahim, a Springstead High School senior who plans to take a gap year, said she wants a seat in that conversation.
Crowd of admirers
After the meeting, supporters surrounded Abdul-Rahim and her father, Yusuf Abdul-Rahim, praising her courage under social media attacks targeting her and her faith. She said she’s holding up well.
“I do not believe that it should be removed from the dais,” she said of the delegate position. “I don’t even think there should be a discussion of removing it from the dais.”
Every student delegate from fifth grade up has watched what she’s been through and still wants the role, she said. Today’s students have been exposed to more than past generations and can learn to handle themselves.
“I think that removing this position would remove another chance and ability to handle themselves well,” she said. Delegates should be offered counseling and the option to step down if they need to, she added, and the decision should rest with students and their families.
She pushed back on the suggestion — at times implied by Rodriguez — that delegates are “babies” or “children,” noting they are on the verge of leaving the K-12 system for college.
Yusuf Abdul-Rahim said he’s proud of his daughter and called her intelligent and well-spoken. “She’s going to make a difference in this world,” he said. Safety matters, he said, but so does making sure future voices are heard.
Jaserah Abdul-Rahim said she plans to take classes at Pasco-Hernando State College or Florida Southern College before pursuing musical theater and possibly politics. Theater, she said, can make people feel deeply and change lives in a single performance.
“I think that if anything, this year has taught me even more that I can handle the political atmosphere,” she said, “and I think that there’s a lot of stuff that I can do in this world.”