Policing-Free Schools holds a rally against Ontario's Bill 33 at Queen’s Park in Toronto on Aug. 27. Bill 33 mandates the return of School Resource Officers, among other changes.Laura Proctor/The Globe and Mail

The authors are all student trustees for Ontario school boards currently under provincial supervision. Lead author Anya Guo, and Nieve Xiao, are with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, Ahnaaf Hassan is with the Toronto District School Board, Anushka Bist the Thames Valley District School Board, and Ruben Da Silveira the Toronto Catholic District School Board.

When we were each elected as student trustees for some of the largest school boards in Ontario, we envisioned stepping into a democratic system designed to uplift student voices. We expected to have a platform to advocate for our fellow students, who trusted us with their votes. The provincial government’s Bill 33, passed by a majority vote in Queen’s Park last week, has taken that platform away.

Earlier this year, the Ontario Ministry of Education placed all of our respective school boards under provincial supervision, replacing locally elected trustees with a single supervisor under the guise of

© The Globe and Mail