The Boys State Program is incredibly valuable for students

John Dick, board member from the Monroe County School District, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM yesterday morning to talk what’s been going on in the district.

Tomorrow, the Boys State Program will take place in the Marathon High School. It is run by the American Legion.

Dick said, “This is a national program. It’s run in all 50 states. But each state American Legion handles it. Here in Monroe County, students from Key West High School have the option to go. That’s done through the American Legion Post 28. Here in Marathon, the students have the option to go from Marathon Post 154. Then in Coral Shores they go from Islamorada Post 145. All of these posts have consistently sent boys to Boys State. The Girls State, also run by the women’s auxiliary of the legions and that’s done in all the areas too. So it’s not just boys. But what it is, is I’m going to be interviewing three juniors tomorrow for the position of going to Boys State.”

For one week in June, the chosen boys will go to Florida State University in Tallahassee and will take over the government.

Dick said, “They stay in the bunks at Florida State, but they take over the state legislative building and they actually act out as state Senators, state Representative, as a governor. They have to elect amongst themselves a governor. They actually mirror the state government. They go through and make bills and how the debates go for moving forward a bill through the legislature. It is really a very fantastic program.”

For students who will be juniors next year, talk with the guidance counselors for information about next year’s Boys State Program.

Dick said, “It is such a great program. It’s a one week program. It doesn’t cost anybody anything.”

A number of governors, sports stars, actors and even former presidents have participated in Boys State.

Dick said, “It just shows you that this is a great start for people and I’m telling you, movers and shakers have come through on this program. I would really recommend parents that have sophomores this year to look forward to getting involved in this program next year. It is such a big deal. The transportation is provided by the American Legion. There’s fees that we pay on it. Because I’m also a member of the American Legion post. So it costs us some money, but we will send two students, depending on the size of your Legion, how many positions you can get, we can send two, but sometimes we can get borrow another position from another post. Key West usually send about four or five and, and Coral Shores sends a couple of people.”

When it comes to Monroe County School District, the website is a great resource.

Dick said, “I’d like people to go and look at keysschools.com. In there, there’s a there’s a rotating, I guess, pictures with information about what’s going on in schools. I’m so proud of what I see in our schools from Key West to Key Largo. They celebrate the holidays, the Veterans Day. Our students are involved in things on Thanksgiving, and Christmas season, the holiday season, they’re involved. There’s so much going on, so many great things in our school district and you get to see it, which I am so proud of. Here in Monroe County, we are teaching our students to love this country, the love the life and enjoy their life, become productive people and good citizenship and patriotism. We do push that here and I am so proud to see it. As people in the community, pay taxes to us, get on that on that website and see all the great things happening in your school district. There’s also a survey there. It’s an important survey for parents, right up in the front of it, you’ll see and you can click through there and fill out the survey and give your input to the school district and what you’d like to see, what you think and what you’d like to see done better. Just go through and look at all the great things that are happening in our school district.”

Board Member Andy Griffiths announced his retirement from the school board. He has served since 1992.

Dick said, “He’s still on the board. He will be there until next year. In other words, there’ll be an election and I think one person already filed for his position, and I think there might be others. So his position is open. School board elections are in the primary. So probably sometime in August, every once a while it might push into the beginning of September, but at that time, there’ll be an election and then his last meeting will be in October of next year. The November board meeting is when new board members seat. It will be a big difference for the school district. As long as I’ve been involved, Andy’s been on the board. It’ll be a big change for him. I mean, I can imagine the first meeting when he’s not there. I would publicly thank Andy for the great service he’s done. He’s seen a lot of changes in the school district, surely in the physical changes of the buildings and the improvements we’ve made. The student outcomes has really improved greatly. I am proud of our students. They go away to college, and they go away with a sense of pride coming from the school district.”

For more information on upcoming events at the district, click here:  https://www.keysschools.com/