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The Berkeley Board of Education will appoint six students to the city’s youth commission at Wednesday’s school board meeting out of the 13 that have applied to the district. 

The list consists of 12 high school students and one middle school student, said district spokesperson Mark Coplan. 

The Berkeley City Council and the school board are each responsible for appointing nine representatives to the youth commission. 

“Some are very young and they don’t have a lot of leadership experience,” Coplan said. “The board looks for any kind of previous involvement in the community and their reasons for becoming youth commissioners.” 

The commission’s principal role is to look at issues affecting youth in the district as well as the city. 

School safety plans 

The board will vote on whether to approve the school safety plans.  

State law requires that every public school in California have a safety plan which combines community, agency and school resources to respond during an emergency. 

Standard school safety site components range from emergency action plans to policies and procedures for sexual harassment and school and after-school disturbances, fights and assaults. 

Amer-I-Can 

The board will vote on whether to approve $20,000 in funds for Amer-I-Can, a life management skills curriculum, at King Middle School. 

Founded in 1988, the program has trained thousands of students and currently operates in 16 cities. It has proved effective in improving students’ grades while decreasing their absences and disciplinary incidents. 

Amer-I-Can will provides one-to-one counseling support to approximately 10 selected students who either need more intensive support or follow-up from earlier session. 

Public hearing 

The board will hold a public hearing to gather input about possible pay raises for bus drivers and custodians who are represented by Stationary Engineers Local 39. The public hearing is scheduled to start at 8:30 p.m.