We’re sure there are some who thought it was a waste of time for New York state to require school boards to include student representation.

To its credit, the Jamestown Public Schools District was ahead of the curve with student board members, incorporating them long before the state began requiring schools add students to the board earlier this year after the state Legislature passed legislation requiring each school district and BOCES board to incorporate at least one student board member in 2024.

A discussion last week at the Jamestown Public Schools Board of Education is a good example of what students can add to meetings. Isaac Rosenfeld, Jamestown Public Schools Board of Education student member, told the other board members that because of the current cellphone policy students wait in the morning outside. According to the JHS cell phone policy, before entering school, students have to have their cellphones secured in a pouch and checked by designated staff members. The process, Rosenfeld said, takes time to complete, and some students don’t dress for the cold temperatures. He is looking for a solution, so students would not have to wait outside in the cold.

It may be an issue some Jamestown High School officials had considered, but the fact Rosenfeld broached the subject at the board meeting tells us it hadn’t yet been solved.

Dr. Kevin Whitaker, district superintendent, told Rosenfeld that he would discuss the issue with JHS administrators so the students were kept safe and warm during the morning check-in process.

It’s an interesting reminder of the different lenses through which adults and teen-agers view issues and, when it comes to a school setting, the importance of having a different point of view represented on the school board. Board members and administrators came up with a way to meet Gov. Kathy Hochul’s bell-to-bell cell phone ban that meets the letter of the law. It works perfectly on paper. It’s outstanding for fall and spring mornings. But a tweak is needed in the colder winter months.

Student perspectives can be an important part of the mix, especially when it comes to having firsthand knowledge of how policies affect the student body. As we said, Jamestown has been ahead of the curve in getting students involved in the Board of Education. There are obviously some parts of board discussions that students shouldn’t be involved in – contract talks or teacher discipline issues, for example – but they can be valuable assets for adult school board members who last spent regular time in a high school during the Reagan administration.