A student school board group has been created, consisting of four people per grade, and is utilized to help the district and the school gain feedback from the perspective of students.

Principal Dr. Emily McCown said the board meetings had been customary before Covid-19, but they have decided to pick it up this year with superintendent Dr. Curtis Cain.

“Other superintendents have done it, to my knowledge going back to [former superintendent] Dr. [Eric] Knost. It probably fell off during the pandemic, but typically we get a group of kids, [about] three to four from each grade level. Grade level principals will shoot me some recommendations and [we] try to get a good mix of kids who are involved in different activities and in different aspects of school,” McCown said.

At his fall session, McCown said he asked the students about what was going on in the school.

“He took some notes, but he asked how are things going, how is everybody feeling about the school year, how did they feel their teachers were doing, asked about some of their habits with homework and sleep, just kind of your typical teen topics [such as] how is lunch, how do they balance their activities and their schoolwork,” McCown said.

McCown said the group will meet semiannually to discuss with Cain, but she aims to utilize the student board for school feedback as well.

“For right now it is just for him to learn a bit and hear from students. He usually comes back to visit twice a year, so he will probably make a visit in the spring. My hope is to use this group for our purposes here at school to continue some of that conversation and use it as a soundboard for other things here,” McCown said.

Junior Arun Halder said he appreciated the meeting because it gave him the chance to get to know the superintendent and share their ideas with him.

“I thought this meeting was very great, we got to discuss our opinions and thoughts, got to put a face to a new name as he is the new superintendent and got to represent our grade levels at this meeting,” Halder said.

Senior Matia Puljic, who is also on the board, said she thinks the meetings are a really great tool that the school can utilize.

“I thought the school board meeting was really informational and it was supportive because the students got a say in the school policies. So, I think over time [the meeting] will be really beneficial for all of us and I think it is a good thing Dr. Cain is implementing this in our school,” Puljic said.