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WHAT IS BESE?
The letters B-E-S-E stand for the Board
of Elementary and Secondary Education.
The Louisiana
State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education was established as a
constitutional body during the 1973 Constitutional Convention.
BESE became the administrative policy-making body for
elementary-secondary schools, and in accordance with the Constitution,
eight elected members from the eight BESE districts serve on the Board
along with three members-at-large appointed by the Governor. The Board
sets key education initiatives and strives to provide leadership in
setting an education agenda for the continuous improvement of public
education as measured by student and school achievement.
BESE operates
through a system of standing committees. Among these committees is the
Student and School Standards/Instruction committee. This committee
considers all matters relative to student and school standards. Any
matters, from the electives you are required to take to which
textbooks students are using in class, are looked at, researched, and
approved by this committee. Being that this committee considers
matters allocated to student standards, a student representative is
chosen to serve on this committee as the only student representative
to serve on the Louisiana Board of Education.
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SBESE Selection
Process
Every
year the Louisiana Association of Student Councils (LASC) selects one
student throughout the state to represent the students of Louisiana as
the student representative on the BESE board. The selection process
begins with high school juniors from each school in LASC to turn in a
resume. This resume consists of a picture, the student's transcript,
three letters of recommendation, student activity sheet, and an essay.
The LASC Executive board reviews these resumes and among them selects
six finalists. These six finalists must then attend the LASC State
Convention in January to be interviewed by the SBESE selection board.
This interview takes place on the first day of the convention. During
the interview the finalist is asked a series of questions ranging from
"Who are the members of the BESE Board?" to "What was your most
memorable childhood moment?". On the second day of the convention, at
one the general sessions, the student who was selected is announced,
as well as the runner-up who takes over the position if the other
should not be able to. The student then takes over the position at the
April committee meeting. |