Some students at Dartmouth High feel their voices aren’t being heard and the process for selecting school representatives at School Committee meetings is unfair.

The arguments were laid out in a piece titled “Students argue for more free speech at DHS” written for the school’s newspaper The Spectrum. Since its publication last week, the administration is planning for a joint meeting between student leaders, administration and the superintendent.

The author, Amy Koczera, writes that student representatives are selected by the administration. She argues this process is in violation of Mass. General Law, which states that the representative should be elected by a student advisory board.

She also says that administrators are not giving students a venue to express concerns they might have – whether it’s at committee meetings or through school government – and that their opinions are being stifled.

“[Students] feel uncomfortable speaking their minds and don’t want to say the wrong thing and end up getting in trouble for it,” Koczera wrote in the article. “We’re elected to Student Council, and we’ve become members of Principal’s Advisory because it is our duty as student leaders to voice the concerns of our peers and the entire student body. The fact that almost every time we speak we’re cut off or interrupted leads us to feel as if our opinions don’t matter, and that we’re letting down our fellow students.”

Principal John Gould said he welcomed the critique and is open to suggestions and recommendations.

“I think you have to open yourself to that criticism as an educator,” said Gould. “You have to teach these students how to form arguments and answer open-ended questions as best they can.”

Regarding the way the district handles student representatives, Superintendent Bonny Gifford said that other districts, including her former district in Falmouth, have student representatives rotate through committee meetings. While the format doesn’t follow the letter of the law, the good intent was to give more kids a chance to express themselves, she said.

“I’d love to see if the kids had something to share,” said Gifford. “They can always speak at public speak time on the agenda, or they can always ask if there’s an item that could be put on the agenda. We’re open to that.”

Gould said he would be contacting the Massachusetts Secondary School Administrators’ Association for further guidance in reviewing practices.

As to what issues concern students most at Dartmouth High, Gifford said students haven’t spoken with her directly about problems. Gould said that pinpointing specific issues is challenging in such a large campus.

“We deal with a lot of different challenges. It’s hard to say what one thing they’re most worried about. You try to take it on a case by case basis and try to help each kid,” he said.

Bryce Boswell, who serves on Gould’s advisory group and is the senior class president, feels the biggest problem is being a factor in decision making.

“The administration does a fantastic job with a lot of things, but they need to hear the students more because we’re the biggest voice. We are the largest population at the school, so we should have a say in what happens at the school,” said Boswell.

He hopes the joint meeting next Monday will lead to more opportunities for the administration to connect with students.

“I hope that we create a new team that is made up of students, maybe elected by the students, that goes with the Mass. General Law so that we can have representation at School Committee meetings and we decide, as student leaders, what goes on the agenda for Principal Advisory meetings,” said Boswell.

Gifford suspects the meeting will be a good teachable moment for the district.

“I think we have the channels of communication in place,” she said. “I think, at this point, it’s a good step to move forward to hear if there’s a misunderstanding and clear it up.”