Following Severe Delays, Walls Inducts New Student Government

VIA @SWW__SGA ON INSTAGRAM

Last spring’s SGA elections were supposed to be held via a Microsoft Office on June 14th, but technology malfunctions delayed them until the new school year.

The SGA, or Student Government Association, is an elected council of students from every advisory across School Without Walls. They advocate for student's needs and organize events for the student body. Students can run for a variety of positions: president and vice president, secretary, treasurer, historian, and more.

On June 14th, a few weeks before the end of the school year and following weeks of campaigning, students voted for SGA elections through a form sent by school administration. In the preceding weeks, candidates passed out candy, printed flyers, and hung posters to advertise their initiatives.

When it was finally time for the election, technical difficulties led the link to be sent out three separate times. Assistant Principal LaToya Grant, one of the sponsors of the SGA, declined to comment on the cause of the problems. The final form did work correctly, though, and everyone’s votes were recorded. 

The SGA members planned to hold the elections in the spring of 2024 rather than the fall of the next school year. This would give the candidates time to prepare over the summer. However, there was no exact date mentioned for the release of the results.

Despite the plan to release results before or soon after the end of the school year, the candidates heard nothing about their positions for several months. Carlotta Rother (‘25), the SGA president for school year 2023-2024 said, “We were expecting to hear something during the early weeks of summer, and a lot of us were texting one another trying to see if we just missed the email.”

The silence continued until mid-July, when they received an email stating that, due to some severe technology malfunctions, all of the votes had been lost. Ms. Grant declined to comment on the cause of the problems, and administration offered candidates no further information on the issue.

The whole saga produced a mix of student responses. One junior who asked to remain anonymous commented that the situation was “very confusing” and called it “another example of the administration failing to communicate well.” She added that she “would really appreciate it if the administration could be more transparent about what actually happened.” 

Most students seemed to share her concerns. Multiple students stated that they felt like they did not have enough information to “make a judgment.” One was not aware that an election had taken place last year at all, underscoring the lack of clarity in school-wide communication about the vote.

On Monday, September 23rd during the advisory period, the school held a new, analog vote.  Students filled out paper ballots to choose from a list of candidates [President: Carlotta Rother (2025), Elijah Lott (2025); Vice President: Felicia Ogundimu (2026), William Mabey (2025); Secretary: Joelle Barksdale (2025), Jacen Blalock (2027), Haniyah Syed (2027); Treasurer: Claire Campbell (2025); Historian: Teagan Lynch (2027); and Public Relations Officer: Amirah Bunn (2026)] and placed them in a cardboard box. 

Results were finally released Friday, September 27th over the morning announcements: President: Carlotta Rother (2025); Vice President: Felicia Ogundimu (2026); Secretary: Joelle Barksdale (2025), Treasurer: Claire Campbell (2025); Historian: Teagan Lynch (2027); and Public Relations Officer: Amirah Bunn (2026).

We look forward to an amazing year with our new student government!