So teach them already

It appears that Dr. Garcia wants to reinvent the wheel and seems to be doing just what he says needs to be guarded against.

Garcia is planning to start the Directors Student Advisory Council (DSAC), a youth council with student representation from all high schools in the Metro Nashville Public School (MNPS) system. Garcia said he isn’t getting enough feedback from InterHigh, a student group whose volunteer members meet after school hours to discuss issues affecting public school students.

and

“It is essential that the voices of our youth are not lost in the shuffle of reform initiatives,” he said. Nashville City Paper

And so adding another group of student voices isn't going to do that very thing?

I'm with Ms. Nevill on this one:

"If the director needs a student advisory group to report to him, so be it. [But] why re-invent the wheel when it already exists?” she asked.

If Dr. Garcia believes he must have a student advisory group (and we can argue the merits of these voices to his job performance) and he's not getting enough feedback from the InterHigh group I think he needs to put on his educator cap. He needs to teach those students how to do this better instead of abandoning them. Mentor them in this effort and you'll have created a group of leaders that can carry that skill into the rest of their lives and our community. Abandon them as 'not good enough' and you've given them the back of your hand and failed to to fulfill your first calling--teach. If the very man charged with educating them won't do 'whatever it takes' what hope do any of them have?