The Commack School District’s Legislative Advocacy Committee (LAC) presents issues to government officials in Albany, by involving students to advocate for local needs.
“The district felt like what better way to actually communicate that information [about local needs] than to have the kids who are actually using the resources of the school district [to] be able to bring some of their ideas and feedback to the community and what they want to say, so they decided to do this committee that would go and advocate for things that students believed in,” said Curriculum Associate Dr. Jennifer Santorello, co-chair of the Legislative Advocacy Committee.
The Legislative Advocacy Committee consisted of 19 participants this year, and the group’s preparation for the trip to Albany in March took tremendous efforts.
“We start working on this in October. We typically do a meeting that’s a ‘brain dump’ where everybody brings all their ideas […] So from there, after December break, we [came] back and we [started] meeting once a week. We call them working sessions, so basically everybody shows up ready to work. It’s almost like writing a term paper and giving a presentation, but it’s a lot of data collection,” said Dr. Santorello.
There are several platforms students can advocate for, such as Agricultural Education, Blue Ribbon Standards, Facilities and Infrastructure, School Safety, and Student Well-Being and Mental Health, according to Dr. Santorello. With new members and current events, each year the platforms and the students’ outlook change.
“I worked on the Mental Health platform, and I’ve worked on it for the past three years, and every year we’ve taken a really different perspective on it,” said junior Grace D.
The platforms search for new ways to expand Commack’s developments.
“I worked on the Mental Health [platform] and we brainstormed ideas of how we can improve the school’s [student’s] mental health,” said junior Alexandra M.
According to Alexandra, the mental health platform acknowledged and discussed mental health support accessibility.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, and the years following, the Legislative Advocacy Committee was impacted.
“So for the COVID years we didn’t travel to Albany for obvious reasons. […] What really shifted was our platforms after COVID were really focused on […] post-COVID recovery. I would say probably the last two years we’ve really gotten away from [the pandemic]. The only [platform] that still holds on a little bit is mental health,” said Dr. Santorello.
The trip to Albany allows the LAC students to communicate directly with government officials based on their respective platforms.
“We go up to Albany, and we talk to two different groups of people. We start the day by going to the Capitol building. The Capitol building houses all of our elected officials. We talked to three different locally elected officials, Assemblyman Brown, Assemblyman Fitzpatrick and Senator Matera, and we talked and advocated to them,” said Dr. Santorello.
According to Dr. Santorello, the State Education Department tends to be excited about the LAC students’ arrival, since department workers don’t get to interact with students and this allows them to see their point of view. This year, LAC members met with Dr. Anael Alston from the Office of Access, Equity, and Community Engagement and Associate Commissioner Elisa Alvarez from the Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages.
Presenting directly to officials brings about many emotions from the LAC members.
“It’s very stressful. It’s kind of scary to have to talk to these big politicians and everything. But it is a positive experience,” said Alexandra.
Students sharpen many skills through this experience.
“I would definitely say [students learn] public speaking, […] communication [skills], […] hard-work, and dedication,” said Dr. Santorello.
Students can apply to be part of the Legislative Advocacy Committee.
“They have an open invitation. I believe English or History teachers in the beginning of the year will post something in the Google classroom, and then you fill out a form of interest,” said Grace.
In the past, LAC has helped advocate for the courtroom, which was built in 2024.
“The courtroom was actually dual funded by two different people,” said Dr. Santorello.
Former Senator James Gaughran and Senator Mario Mattera were key sponsors of the new addition.
As of April 2025, the outcome of the Legislative Advocacy Committee’s trip to Albany has not been announced. ◼️
