{"id":66737,"date":"2026-05-23T20:10:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T00:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=66737"},"modified":"2026-05-23T20:10:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T00:10:26","slug":"lakeland-youth-council-to-shift-focus-to-eighth-graders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/05\/23\/lakeland-youth-council-to-shift-focus-to-eighth-graders\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakeland Youth Council to Shift Focus to Eighth Graders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Lakeland City Commission recently voted unanimously to revamp the Lakeland Youth Council as it enters its fourth year. Starting in the 2026-2027 school year, the council will transition away from high school students to focus entirely on rising eighth graders.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n

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Here is a breakdown of the changes and why the city is making the shift:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Changing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Age group:<\/strong> The council will now target middle schoolers (eighth grade) instead of high schoolers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Term length:<\/strong> Member terms are being shortened from two years to a single year to allow a larger number of students to participate over time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Open spots:<\/strong> There will be 10 or 11 open positions for the upcoming year. At least four current high school members who still have a year left on their terms will be “grandfathered in” to finish out their service.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Why the Commission Made the Shift<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • Curriculum Alignment:<\/strong> Mayor Sara Roberts McCarley noted that most students take civics in the seventh grade, but those classes focus heavily on state and federal government. Bringing students into the Youth Council in eighth grade perfectly fills the educational gap by giving them a hands-on look at how local government operates.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Fewer Schedule Conflicts:<\/strong> High school students are often overwhelmed by sports, honor societies, clubs, and general academic stress. Commissioner Chad McLeod noted that high schoolers had recently been struggling to attend meetings due to these mounting commitments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      What the Council Does<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      Founded by Commissioner Stephanie Madden, the program gives students an insider’s view of municipal operations.<\/sup> Members learn parliamentary procedure and get behind-the-scenes access to city infrastructure. Activities include touring Lakeland Electric, visiting the 911 call center, lifting fire hoses at the fire department, and seeing how the city manages cleanup after downtown events like First Fridays and the Christmas Parade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The new eighth-grade members will be sworn in at the city commission meeting this September, kicking off their term with a retreat before regular meetings begin in October.<\/sup><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      The Lakeland City Commission recently voted unanimously to revamp the Lakeland Youth Council as it enters its fourth year. Starting in the 2026-2027 school year, the council will transition away… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDVcL2Rvd25sb2FkLTItOS53ZWJwP2ZpdD0yNjUlMkMxOTEmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJMYWtlbGFuZCBZb3V0aCBDb3VuY2lsIHRvIFNoaWZ0IEZvY3VzIHRvIEVpZ2h0aCBHcmFkZXJzIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.28dyswFUXGvzPe3svz9vM4p_m9rhqMO4CStRTWCRQkoMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA1XC9kb3dubG9hZC0yLTkud2VicCIsInR4dCI6Ikxha2VsYW5kIFlvdXRoIENvdW5jaWwgdG8gU2hpZnQgRm9jdXMgdG8gRWlnaHRoIEdyYWRlcnMiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImRvaXMiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.HtZ8kJb0QbL_B-bxZXcHZBvVujFFamvgre1Y0DnKz-oMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[7591],"tags":[14694],"class_list":["post-66737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-city-of-lakeland","tag-lakeland-youth-council-to-shift-focus-to-eighth-graders"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66737"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66741,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66737\/revisions\/66741"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}