A Student Advisory Board of more than 25 students met with Hayes High School Interim Principal Rex Reeder Wednesday afternoon to discuss ways to improve the school.

Reeder invited the students to the library during the House period at the end of the day Wednesday and presented them with posters and sticky notes and asked them to provide feedback on four areas at the school. The areas were what students felt represented a good team; what are the core values of the building; what concerns do they have in the building; and what ideas do they have for improvements.

“Your ideas are important, and we’re going to do something,” Reeder told the group. “We’re not just going to sit on it. I’m not here just to talk and do nothing. I need your opinions. I want them, it’s important to us. This is your building, you’re a major stakeholder. My mission is excellence. I want that for you.”

Reeder asked the students to be honest and provide their perspectives.

“I want to know what you see in the building, give me some concerns,” he said. “That doesn’t mean you’re complaining. I don’t want parking lot discussions, I want them here so we can get better.”

Reeder said the meeting was open to any student at the school, and he invited the initial group of 26 students to invite any of their friends and classmates that want to be involved.

“It’s important that every student feels valued and heard and has a chance to give ideas and thoughts at any time,” Reeder said.

Eric Gitson, the district’s student board member and a senior at Hayes, said he thinks it will be a “fantastic initiative” to get student feedback and work on issues at the school.

“I think that it can be very beneficial to have a more loose format that’s going to encourage collaboration,” Gitson said. “(It’s good to be) getting all the ideas out and making sure everybody can be heard. I would be happy to work on anything that’s going to strengthen our school community.”

Gitson said he had many ideas to contribute, and his two main ones were getting a composting program for the lunchrooms at the school to reduce food waste and working to get vape sensors installed in the school’s bathrooms.

Vicky Chen, a junior, said she attended the meeting to “see if they were actually going to do anything” and was encouraged by Reeder’s presentation.

“There’s been a lot of initiatives done at our school where it started and was dropped,” Chen said. “Seeing Mr. Reeder come in … he was so passionate. (It made me think that) maybe it will happen and there will be changes implemented from it. That was pretty neat. I like feeling like my opinions are valued and listened to.”

Chen said one of the ideas she submitted during the meeting was improving introductions to mastery scales and making sure teachers are teaching the same way.

“I think it’s great,” Chen said at the end of the meeting. “I’m excited to see what comes from it.”

Nasir Ferguson, a junior, said there are many things at the school that he’d like to see changed, and Reeder “seems like he’s actually willing to put that in and take our input and give it to the (district).”

Ferguson said one change he requested is better regulation of food preparation and making sure that different types of meat don’t come in contact with each other.

Superintendent Heidi Kegley attended the meeting and thanked students for attending and providing feedback.

“I appreciated the opportunity to hear and see our students interacting with Mr. Reeder on their ideas for our high school,” Kegley said after the meeting.

Reeder collected all the posters and sticky notes at the end of the meeting and said he would let students know a few days in advanced when the board will meet again.

“It was a good start,” he said. “When you have that many students, that shows there’s an interest. The key to keeping them is we have to do action. I’m not about just talking, having a meeting, ‘here’s some concerns.’… I think the students need to see from us that they are being heard and something is going to be done.”

Reeder added he will be reviewing their feedback and distilling them down to a few key areas that he and students can work on improving.

“It’s very important for me to act on because if I don’t, it’s just wasting people’s time, and I’m not into that,” he said. “They have to see some action.”

Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903.