Metro Nashville Public Schools is welcoming one new face and returning another to its Board of Education this fall.¶
With students returning to school on August 11, senior Ava Dakash from Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Magnet High School will serve alongside junior Hannah Said from Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet High School as board members for the 2026-2027 school year. The district has been allowing two students to serve on the board for more than four years, each appointed by a district selection committee.¶
Dakash and Said represent over 82,000 students, and although student board members do not vote on issues, they can advocate for their peers during board debates and discussions and offer opinions before every school board vote. The only board activity they are exempt from is executive committee sessions.¶
The Tennessee Firefly conducted an exclusive interview with both board members to get their perspective on why student voices are needed in education decisions, as a new state law encourages other districts to add student board members.¶
Ava Dakash Enters Second Year of Service
Ava Dakash was appointed to the board last year, and she emphasized the importance of student representation.¶
“These policies that ultimately are being created are about students,” Dakash said. “It’s really important that they have a voice somehow.”¶
Prior to her leadership position as a student board member, Dakash was an active member of the National Beta Club, was involved in projects within her church, and served as social media manager for MLK High’s National French Honor Society. Through the Rhizome Civic Service Fellowship, she led civic engagement projects and served as a senate delegate at the Youth in Government Capitol Conference.¶
Dakash said that after serving one year on the board, the most important thing she learned was that policies can affect everyone across the district, but her goal has remained the same.¶
“Making sure that every student feels comfortable in their schools is ultimately why I do all of this,” Dakash said. “Because I was once a student who did not feel comfortable in school.”¶
For this upcoming school year, Dakash said she hopes to make policies more accessible to students.¶
She wants to highlight how to communicate information about their schools to students in the best way possible, whether it be through email or social media. She also wants to address student comprehension and advocate for neurodivergent students in schools.¶
“I’m trying to figure out what works best for students so students can understand what’s actually going on inside their school and why policies are being enacted,” Dakash said.¶
Dakash said that she and Said are currently working to share more information on their social media account and to prepare students for what the next school year brings.¶
Hannah Said Enters First Year on the Board
The 2026-2027 school year will be Said’s first year on the MNPS board, replacing Dakash as the junior appointee. Dakash will take the senior position, succeeding Hannah Nguyen, a John Overton High School graduate.¶
Said said that before Nguyen graduated, she was the one who encouraged Said to apply for the board position.¶
“I thought that it would be a great opportunity,” Said said. “It’s such a great honor, and I’m so thankful for the school board for choosing me.”¶
Drawing on her leadership experience within the American Muslim Advisory Council, Said expressed that her experience as a religious minority at her school has inspired her to advocate for and address the issues she sees in her community.¶
“It sort of pushed me to be more involved in trying to reach people and make actual valuable and reachable solutions to a lot of people’s problems,” Said said.¶
One of Said’s main objectives this school year is to emphasize student safety. Amid metal detectors in schools and other existential threats, Said said she hopes to address this with the school board to push for additional measures and conversations to better protect students.¶
“It’s so hard to be a high school student and especially a student with MNPS and having to worry so much about your personal safety,” Said said.¶
Said also stressed to students the importance of voting and understanding local politics, saying that if students like herself or Dakash can help other students care about local government, “a full collaboration of students, faculty, and teachers can make a real community-led solution.”¶
Each board member's term will run from August 1 of their junior year to May of their senior year, until they graduate, with Dakash’s term ending in 2027 and Said’s in 2028.¶
