News Briefs: Seniors speak in Speaker Series held by SMEF; PV City Council funds new sustainability grant program to reduce homeowners’ carbon footprints; Supreme Court grapples with case over student rights of speech

East

The Shawnee Mission Education Foundation held their virtual event Distinguished Leaders Speakers Series: Senior Portraits on April 29, where seniors Reilly Kenney, Lee Marshall, Kathryn Ortiz, Sophie Rice, Luke Tsaur and Ava Yun spoke.

As a part of the annual event, the Senior Portrait segments included topics such as going to school during the pandemic and a senior’s experience in a learning program by SMEF, with a goal to “inspire [people] with their personal stories of strength, hope, resilience — and their best advice for younger students,” according to their website.

“I think that if I heard some of the advice I could give now to freshmen, it probably would’ve sent me on a path to be more productive and more proactive about finding weaknesses,” Rice said.

To be selected to speak, SMSD seniors submitted a 60-second video of themselves sharing their inspiring stories from a list of prompts. Judges then selected the winners and their videos were featured in the presentation, and winners were each given a $100 Amazon gift card. The hour-long event was live and open to the public for free on SMEF’s website.

“A lot of times young kids are made out to be stupid or not fully aware of the world around them, but we’re humans too,” Kenney said. “The way we grow up in the world and experience it is unique and different and that perspective’s important to be seen.”

Click here to watch the Distinguished Leaders Speaker Series put on by SMSD.

Local

The Prairie Village City Council approved a new sustainability grant program to encourage homeowners to reduce their carbon footprint in a council vote on April 19.

With a $20,000 budget, the program will reimburse the homeowners who improve the energy consumption of their homes to meet the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code requirements. Applications for the grant are open and will remain accessible until the funds have been used up.

Between $500 and $2,500 can be obtained in grants from the program at a 20% match of what the property owner paid. Eligible improvements include solar power, wind power, geothermal heating, cooling and other upgrades that meet the requirements of the 2021 IECC. 

While environmental education teacher Russell Debey believes that encouraging homeowners to make eco-friendly improvements to their homes is progress for Prairie Village, the grant won’t cover much of the total cost.

“The problem with the geothermal and solar panel [home improvements] is expense,” Debey said. “$500 or $2,500, depending on what system you get, is…small. But you’ve got to start someplace, and I’m all for them starting somewhere and pushing it even more.”

The sustainability grant, like other city projects and improvements, is funded by money collected through property and sales taxes paid by Prairie Village residents. Councilmember Sheila Myers, one of two council members who voted against the grant, believes the funds should be used for property tax relief — an issue that has received more requests by residents — instead of subsidizing and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“I don’t think we should be subsidizing sustainability grants for people in $500,000 homes with money we’re collecting from elderly people who barely can afford to pay their property taxes,” Myers said.

While Myers still believes that reducing greenhouse gas emissions is important, she notes that the council is already working to create a program that will measure the baseline of greenhouse gas emissions in the city and inform residents of their individual carbon footprints and how to reduce them.

“I think that we’ve got our priorities in the wrong place right now,” Myers said. “While I see the importance of encouraging residents to look at these improvements in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, I don’t believe this is a time for the city to be subsidizing them for affluent households.”

National

In the Supreme Court’s recent case, they’re deciding whether the off-campus activities of public school students are protected under the First Amendment, which claims free speech. The case involves Brandi Levy, who was suspended from her high school cheer team in Pennsylvania when she was 14, after posting a Snapchat story after not making the Varsity team, saying “F— school, f— softball, f— cheer, f— everything.” 

Her parents sued with the claim that her First Amendment rights had been violated, but Levy’s cheer coaches claimed her Snapchat post went against the team rules prohibiting the use of slander she’d agreed to, and the case has now made it to the Supreme Court.