Brooklynn Stevens, a senior at RA Long High School, and Paige Wirtz, a junior at Mark Morris High School, will give reports on their respective student groups and provide input on the board’s decisions.

“I joined because there’s a lot going on in our schools, especially these days, and I want kids to feel like they can be excited to come to school, be safe when they come to school, and make it a place where kids actually want to go to to,” Wirtz said.

Principals at each high school selected their representative from a pool of applicants. The board adopted the policy allowing student representatives in September, because board members said they felt they were missing a student perspective when making decisions.

“We’re excited,” said board chairman Don Wiitala. “We will learn from them and they from us.”

The board intends to continue to have one student from each high school, one junior and one senior, who will serve until they graduate. New representatives will be re-elected every two years when the seniors graduate.

At least twice a year, one of the representatives’ reports will be replaced by a report from a Discovery High School student who has not yet been elected.