The Student Council held its first Town Hall of the 2024-2025 school year on September 30.
Last year, Town Hall, which, according to Agenda Chair Zach Saltsman, “focused on hypotheticals,” was replaced with Just Community Events.
Town Hall was brought back to institute changes and promote discussions. There will be two types of Town Hall– policy-based, where students discuss a school policy, and scenario-based, where students explore moral and ethical issues. Two years ago, one of these policy-based Town Halls changed the phone policy at NYHS. Previously, students had to turn in their phones at the start of the day, only getting them back at lunch. After that Town Hall, the policy was changed so students no longer had to turn in their phones.
In this first Town Hall of the year, students discussed a tweet posted by rapper Kanye West in October 2022 about going “death con 3” on Jew. Students then debated if West’s tweet fell under the protection of free speech, and discussed free speech in general and its consequences.
Students have mixed reactions to this Town Hall. Junior Esther Ekshtut felt that the Kanye West debacle is old news, and the tweet has had its fair share in the spotlight. However, sophomore Isaac Maimon found it interesting because many students still listen to Kanye West, and he is still relevant to their lives as is free speech.
In the future, Town Halls will be similar to this one. The Student Council has plans for student speakers, such as a StandWithUs representative, and policy-based Town Halls. These plans were made after reviewing feedback from a form regarding previous Town Halls.
“We’re gonna have a lot of fun this year,” said Saltsman.
