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Melissa: Welcome back to The Takeaway. With midterms and full swing around the country, we want to be sure that you are ready to cast your votes for all of the offices where you have a choice. Not just at the top of the ticket, but also down-ballot. All this week we're bringing you a whole series of conversations about these down-ballot races. Now, one of the elective positions you might see on your ballot, one that's been in the spotlight a lot lately, Local School Boards. Throughout the country, school boards are having to contend with what does and doesn't get taught in the classroom, what students and teachers can and can't say, and what bathroom they can even use. Most of the time these decisions are made by folks who frankly aren't going to class, but come with us to Idaho.

Shiva: My name is Shiva Rajbhandari, and I'm an 18-year-old member of the Boise School Board.

Melissa: Shiva is also a high school senior in the Boise School District, and he ran for election last month, the Feeding and Incumbent. Are there some 19 and 20-year-olds too, or are you really the truly youngest person on the school board?

Shiva: I am the youngest person on the Boise School Board.

Melissa: What made you make the decision to run for office?

Shiva: Gosh, I just think students belong really everywhere decisions are made, but particularly where decisions are made on education. I was part of a campaign to get a clean energy commitment and long-term sustainability plan in our school district, where over two years, we were reaching out to board members, and we were asking for meetings. We were meeting with our power company and turning up the heat on our board members, and it just felt like we weren't getting the engagement that we deserved as students from our board.

As if we as students weren't constituents of the board of trustees when really we're the primary stakeholders in our education. I set out to change that dynamic, and show just how much students can bring to the table when we're given a seat.

Melissa: Speaking of being given a seat, do you think that should be potentially standard on school boards across the country?

Shiva: Unequivocally, yes.

Melissa: All right. Talk to me, in your case, in your school board, what were the key issues?

Shiva: The number one issue is the mental health crisis. Idaho is one of the leading states in teen suicide, and we frankly just don't have the resources that we need in our schools to address this crisis. I know you've talked about it a lot, probably on national news, but even before the pandemic in 2019, 10% of Idaho students had acted on suicidal thoughts. It's unfortunate that this burden has fallen to our schools, but that's the case, and we can't just bear our heads in the sand and watch as our peers died.

It's not creating this positive learning environment that's conducive to the highest student achievement. My top priority is addressing mental health in schools, destigmatizing it so we can talk about it so students feel safe and included in our schools. Making sure that we have enough counselors and making sure that teachers feel comfortable talking about mental health. Number two is supporting our teachers. I think nationwide we've seen these attacks on our schools, really with the goal of undermining our teachers. Teachers are leaving the profession.

Boise schools made me who I am today, public schools made me. My teachers made me the person I am and they really deserve someone to stand up for them when we're seeing these really unfounded attacks, which really are starting here, right here in Idaho. Which is this testing ground for extremism when it comes to things like critical race theory and these attacks on LGBTQ teachers and LGBTQ students. Then finally my third priority is climate action.

We need to switch to clean energy in our schools. We can save millions of dollars and really improve the help of our communities, but worldwide youth rank climate change as the number one most important issue. The onus is on our schools to start that transition away from fossil fuels, and take real action on this crisis. It can create a really good space to talk about climate change too, which is really important to prepare the youth of today for this crisis that we're going to be facing our whole lives.

Melissa: Now, Shiva, did you won a full-fledged campaign, what does a campaign for school board look like, whether you're 18, 28, 58?

Shiva: It depends, Melissa. My campaign was certainly full-fledged. We raised over $10,000 from over 150 donors, so it was completely a grassroots campaign. We knocked on over 5,000 doors, hired 15 paid door knockers. I'm really proud that we were able to hire students and pay them for their work. We got endorsements from former Supreme Court Chief Justice in Idaho, Jim Jones from legislators, from city council members, from candidates, and I think we saw the results.

We run by 56%, 10,900 votes in the largest turnout election that the Boise School District Board has ever seen. Typically, these elections less than 7,000 people vote, this year almost 20,000 people voted. I think that it really is a sign that people are focusing on our school boards as they've come under attack recently.

Melissa: Now that increased voter turnout. I want to really resonate on that because this is part of our series on the question of down-ballot, and making sure that folks have the information capacity to make a decision. I know you were running against an incumbent, but is it a slate or is it a one-to-one, head-to-head race?

Shiva: It was a one-to-one head-to-head race. It was a special election because we've had so many resignations from the school board. Typically a school board term is six years in the Boise School district, but I ran for a two-year term to fill the remaining two years of someone who had resigned back in November and was replaced by that incumbent. It was an interesting election, there were five board members up for election and we did see some meddling from far-right institutions. I think honestly that really helped to increase turnout because Boise School stands strong against extremism.

Melissa: It can be really hard as a voter. You walk in and you're like, "I don't know who all these people are." How did you make sure that your constituents, your voters knew who you were and what you stood for?

Shiva: It's all about grassroots I think. I am so qualified to be on the school board. There are so many students who are qualified to be on the school board, even if I wasn't 18. I've been an advocate for climate education, for voting rights. I'm well-known in my community for my work on Salmon and Steelhead Recovery. I served on the Boise School District's Sustainability Committee, so I'm very involved in our Boise Schools community.

The way I got my name out there was with yard signs, was with door-knocking, and was through interviews like these. It's really important that elected officials are available to the media and to members of the public.

Melissa: You said you were knocking doors, when you or your paid campaign workers, I also love that point, were showing up and knocking on doors. What were they hearing from folks? What were they telling you about what mattered to them in making this decision?

Shiva: Folks were very supportive of my campaign. I think people realize that "Hey, it's a no-brainer to have a student on the school board." We're boots on the ground in the classroom, we know what our peers are facing, we know what's going on in our schools. It doesn't make sense not to have us included in the decision-making and policy-making process in our schools. That was the number one thing I heard was, "Yes, we should have a student on the school board."

Then secondly, really that these attacks on our teachers, these attacks on public schools, which have happened all over across the country, but particularly in Idaho with the Idaho Freedom Foundation. Doxing teachers for really unfounded allegations of teaching critical race theory, or talking about LGBTQ+ issues. Those are repulsive to the majority of the Boise School District Community, and I think we really saw that with my election.

Melissa: Now, not only it would be easier I think to focus exclusively on you being such a young member of the board, but you're also the only person of color on the Boise School Board. Is that right?

Shiva: Yes, that's correct.

Melissa: Talk to me about sitting in at that intersection, both of youth and then also of being ultimately what Z Gen is, which is more racially diverse.

Shiva: You're right. It is hard. It is definitely like I am carrying this burden, not just of proving myself but proving this whole concept of what it means to have a student on the school board. Proving this whole concept of, "Hey, we do have a diversity problem in our schools. Let's address it. Let's talk about it." It's certainly hard, and every one of my actions I have to think about how is that reflecting on my community. How is this supporting the long-term vitality of having a student on the school board and the value of diversity in our schools.

I think also it's a really great opportunity just in the last month and a half being on the school board I've heard from so many constituents who I think previously really felt left out of the process. So many students have reached out and said, "Hey, these are some things that I want to see in my school." If I can't address them from the board level, typically refer them to their principals or their section matters to see how we can make our schools a better place for those students.

Thinking about equity, and how that plays in, and how we can build a more inclusive school community. These are things that I think just weren't at the forefront of a board without a student and a board without a person of color. It definitely is representation matters. It matters so much.

Melissa: Are you applying to colleges right now? I remember my daughter as a senior in high school, she's now a junior in college, and I am trying to imagine her having one more thing on her plate. If you get in somewhere or are you planning to stay at a school that would keep you on the school board or might you end up running off to Princeton or Stanford or some other place that would mean that you couldn't finish out your term?

Shiva: I am applying to college right now. I don't really know exactly where I'm going or what my plan is, but that's certainly a big time commitment. I do not plan on staying on the school board for the full length of my two-year term. I have said from the beginning of my campaign that I want to be replaced by a student. Once I graduate, it doesn't make sense. Voters elected to have a student on the school board and I hope that my fellow trustees will honor that choice from the voters because we have so many qualified students on the school board. There's nothing special about me except that I was the first person to see that, hey, we can run for school board and we can't win an election.

I really do want to see my position be replaced by a student once I go to college. It's certainly difficult, but it's not something that any student couldn't do. You have to remember all other members of the school board, they hold jobs, and they're community leaders. They're doing all the same stuff that I'm doing. I have so much respect for them and I'm learning quite a bit from them as mentors and as teammates, but it's certainly something that any student could do regardless of their commitments.

Melissa: Then the very last question, is this where your political career ends, or are you imagining someday running for other offices?

Shiva: [laughs] That's a good question. After I said I have no clue what I'm doing next. [laughs] I'd be open to running for future office. I think it is really rewarding to be a leader in my community. What's important to me is that our elected officials are qualified. As I said, I'm qualified to be on the school board, but I don't know if I'm qualified for much else. [laughs] Yes, I hope to study public policy and pre-law in college and hopefully become an environmental lawyer and fight for communities that are disproportionately ravaged by the climate crisis.

Melissa: Oh, Shiva, I assure you are 100% qualified for many, many elected offices. [laughs] I've talked to all.

Shiva: Well thank you, Melissa. That means a lot.

Melissa: I've talked to a lot of candidates and a lot of officeholders. [laughs] You're qualified. Don't worry about that, but also take some time, enjoy a little bit of college, skill up, and think about political science as a major. Shiva Rajbhandari, 18-year-old member of the Boise School Board. Shiva, thank you so much for joining us on The Takeaway.

Shiva: Thanks for having me. [music]

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