1/14

Agenda: 1/28/11

1.     Approve Minutes

2.     Reports

3.     Guidance Counselor Evaluation Motion

4.     Common Ground Switch Motion

5.     X-Day Motion

6.     In-Class Assessment Motion

7.     Notes & New Business

Council Minutes 1/14/11

“I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.”

                                                                                                            - John Locke

1.     Approval of Minutes

2.     Reports:

·       [Mod]: Please respect the work that OEC has done. Let’s have more order this week than last week.

·       [A-Mod]: Great job to everyone in the assembly today.

·       [Secretary]: Junior 1^st alternate can vote.

·       [DSB]: Budget – going to go up .44%, Hanover tax rate going up by 2.47% and Norwich 2.79%, Hanover Educator Association has not met an agreement with DSB about teacher salaries, motion brought to have participation fees for JV hockey and swim/dive team go to those programs

·       [PR]: I’m working on the Council slideshow for 8^th grade parents/new staff/students. Let me know if you have any ideas!

·       [Admin]: MLK assembly went even better than we planned.

·       [Curric]: We are bringing back the 15% and X-day motions. 15% motion –raising it to 20% because of consensus of 5 major units in a course, X-day motion – there were concerns about short months, making progress with the co-curricular code

·       [OEC]: Worked on the bylaw corrections from last week.

·       [SA]: Dodgeball starts Tuesday after exams.

·       [COI]: Discussed if we had the money in the budget, what would we add? We came up with the technology portfolio and guidance support (another counselor).

·       [SSC]: All 4 candidates accepted full-day interviews.

·       [Dresden Athletic Advisory]: Discussed funding for all sports, how to handle the large number of soccer players, concussion care with DHMC, locker room supervision.

·       [Exec]: Remember that time sensitive issues are the only reason to continue the meeting into 5^th period. We need to respect the classroom and teachers’ time.

·       [School Climate]: We met for the first time two weeks ago and are looking to report to Council around April 15^th.

3.     Bylaw Revisions

·       Discussion

                        o   Staff representation

                        o   New/Tuition student representation

                        o   Clarifying highest vote getter as alternate in Dartmouth Class absence

                        o   Defining A-Mod’s new role and purpose

                        o   Agenda needs to be posted 24 hours before the Friday meeting

                        o   What makes a Council committee part of Council? Who should be on them?

Debate Closes

·       Motion (OEC): We move to adopt the changes made to the Council Bylaws.

Motion Passes

Meeting Adjourns

1/7/11

Agenda: 1/14/11

1.     Approve Minutes

2.     Reports

3.     Bylaw Revisions

4.     Guidance Counselor Motion

5.     Common Ground Switch Motion

6.     X-Day Motion

7.     15% Motion

8.     Notes & New Business

Council Minutes 1/7/11

“Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.”

                                                                        - Benjamin Spock

1.     Approval of Minutes

2.     Reports:

·      [Mod]: Forrest Miller (past mod.) – College is great, but happy to be back here.

·      [Secretary]: Junior second alternate can vote.

·      [DSB]: Tuesday is first budget meeting of the New Year, in auditorium @ 7pm.

·      [PR]: Figuring out procedure for Council Civitas presentations

·      [Admin]: Next Friday is the MLK assembly.

·      [Curric]: Still working on co-curricular code, got feedback from staff on 15% and x-day motion – bringing them back soon.

·      [OEC]: Looking into pros/cons of National Association of Student Councils.

·      [SL]: Trying to get more results from the printing survey

·      [SA]: Looked over bylaws, finalized more for Winter Carnival (sign ups soon), Hanover’s Got Talent results: openers - band who played Vampire Weekend song, closers - rap group, Dodgeball starting week after exams

·      [SSC]: We’re done interviewing – invited a few back for whole day interviews and community question/answer sessions

·      [Abidjan]: We’re taking our yearbook picture next week.

·      [Mr. Smith]: Status of Visitor’s Motion?

                       o   Admin – working on that after MLK assembly.

3.     Bylaw Revision Discussion (See revised document for complete details)

·      Major Changes

                       o   Staff representation

                       o   Dartmouth class policy added

                       o   A-mod responsibilities

                       o   Agenda posted 12 hours before meeting time

                       o   Committee duties/responsibilities

                       o   Assignment of PR person and DSB rep. to committees

Meeting Adjourns

12/17

Agenda: 1/7/11

1.     Approve Minutes

2.     Reports

3.     Bylaw Revisions

4.     Guidance Counselor Evaluation Motion

5.     Common Ground Switch Motion

6.     Notes & New Business

Council Minutes 12/17/10

“Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

                                                                                                            - Mark Twain

1.     Approval of Minutes

2.     Reports:

·       [Mod]: Welcome Back!

·       [A-Mod]: I move to move agenda item 5 to above item 3.

Motion Passes

·       [Secretary]: Freshmen, Junior, and Senior alternates can vote.

·       [Admin]: Over halfway done planning the MLK assembly, January 17^th.

·       [Curric]: We talked about the CCCC and did our bylaw revisions.

·       [OEC]: Please revise your committee’s bylaws, remember each committee should have a “recorder”, working on associating with NASC.

·       [SL]: We worked on our bylaw revisions.

·       [SA]: Hanover’s Got Talent next Wednesday, shortened class schedule.

·       [COI]: Semester-long classes for social studies electives, “Street Law” course passed.

·       [SSC]: We have one more interview to do, discussing candidates so far tonight.

·       [NEASC]: We’ve discovered the mission statement is much more than what we have now on the plaques.

·       [DSB]:

                        o   Increasing class size by 1-3 students, save $300,000

                        o   We need to be making more big changes than little changes

                        o   Expected 3.2% growth of the budget each year

                        o  

CRC ideas/findings

Start new paycheck track system that’s 10-15% lower in scale

                        o   Bring in less experienced teachers, pay 10-15% less for them

                        o   Lecture style classes

                        o   Check out SAU presentation – remember some numbers are incorrect

                        o   Trying to balance short and long term problems

                        o   Remember all of these are recommendations

Other topics of Discussion

 

                        o   January big budget month, looking at teacher contracts this year

                        o   Motion to dissolve athletic fee motion - failed

                        o   NEASC looking at schools’ accreditation in the next few years

3.     School Climate Committee

·       Motion: I move to establish and approve an ad-hoc School Climate Committee.

                        o   Dmitry: Goals of 1) what is a good school climate? 2) What is our climate at HHS? 3) Reporting what can we do better, can we improve?

·       Clarifications

                        o   Made up of both council and non-council members

                        o   Parents/community members would have a chance to be involved

Debate Closes

Motion Passes

4.     100 Point GPA Motion

·       Discussion

                        o   [Mr. Glenney]: I’m discouraged by the discussion last week about how student work is judged, yet if it will really intensify pressure and stress, then I will let it go

                        o   Would support an A+ motion, a 99 student is different than a 93.

                        o   We try to be professional as teachers, don’t mischaracterize us

                        o   Teachers are fair even if some are harder than others

                        o   We should see the differences with 87/83 students in 97/93 students

                        o   A 4.3 system isn’t necessary, too specific

                        o   Use a accommodation in a student’s file to indicate exceptional work

Debate Closes

Motion Fails

5.     Honor Code Motion

·       Discussion on the amendment: I move to amend the motion to strike the “responsibility to report violations” section from this policy.

                        o   The word “bound” makes me uncomfortable

                        o   This change goes a lot deeper into the climate of the school

·       Motion: I move to amend the policy to strike “bound” and put “strongly recommend” in its place.

·       Discussion on the Amendment to the Amendment

                        o   We need to stop nitpicking

                        o   Honesty is honesty, there should be a blanket honor code

                        o   Natural consequences will have their way for the people who cheat

                        o   What message are we sending?

                        o   The policy is in place for a reason, we should just follow it

                        o   Sometimes we have to be harsh – no ands, its, or buts

                        o   We passed this code and now we can’t follow it?

                        o   We shouldn’t have something in our handbook that we don’t follow

                        o   Remember the June incident: what if someone had spoken up? We should be uncomfortable with being bound

Debate Closes

Amendment to the Amendment Fails

·       Discussion on the first Amendment

                        o   We want to better the community with our actions

                        o   Natural consequences may happen, but we want to help them succeed before then

                        o   If we can make this code “the norm” then it won’t be uncomfortable

Debate Closes

Amendment Fails

·       Original Motion

                        o   Let’s raise awareness! Make this code visible and act on it!

Debate Closes

Motion Fails

Meeting Adjourns