For our #DOWNBALLOT series, we're looking at the role and importance of school board elected officials. Here's a highlight from today's interview:

Folks were very supportive of my campaign. I think people realized that, hey, it's a no brainer to have a student on the school board. You know, we're boots on the ground in the classroom. We know what our peers are facing. We know what's going on in our schools. So, it doesn't make sense not to have us included in the decision making and the policy making process in our schools. So that was the number one thing I heard was, yes, we should have a student on the school board. - Shiva Rajbhandari

Shiva Rajbhandari is a high school senior in the Boise School District who won an election in September to serve on the Boise School District Board of Trustees. He now serves on a school board who makes decisions which affect his own high school.  We speak with Shiva about his experience as a student serving on the school board, why he believes students should have a seat at the table in school boards, and explore the importance of school boards as an important downballot elected office.