3/2

Agenda: 3/2/2012

1. Approval of Minutes
2. Reports
3. Class Withdrawal Motion
4. Notes & New Business

"If you really want to do something, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse." ~Jim Rohn

Council Minutes 2/10/2012

1.          Approval of Minutes

2.         Reports

• [Mod]: Thanks for everyone who came to help at the open house.
• [Treas]: We have signs for Winter Carnival next week, please hang them up!
• [Sec]: Senior, Junior and Sophomore alternates may vote today.
• [PR]: I've made some alterations to the Council board, so please let me know if you have suggestions. There should also be a Council update in the upcoming Broadside. We've talked a little bit with Lebanon; we may look into creating a Facebook and/or a Twitter account to broadcast ourselves a little more. Students from Lebanon will tentatively be visiting us at our next meeting on March 2nd.
• [Curric]: We met today and discussed the code, which is going to the DEC meeting today. We also talked about the Council kickoff movie and ways to improve the election transition process. We also discussed mid-year course evaluations, which should be happening.
• [OEC]: We're looking for suggestions for the Council election kickoff video.
• [SA]: Please help hang up the posters, get psyched for Winter Carnival next week!
• [SL]: We successfully transferred the freshmen parent off-campus survey to the school account, we're also looking into the delayed school start time motion.
• [Exec]: A reminder that we cannot eat in here until we change the rules to do so.
• [Ms. Doyle]: We should probably start thinking about switching the meeting time for next year.

3.          Test Preparation Motion

• Delayed until the following meeting (3/2/12)

4.         Class Withdrawal Motion

• Motion: I move to amend the Student Handbook to read "Students may drop the second semester of a full year course with no penalty. Students wishing to make such a change must first discuss the change with their guidance counselor, as well as with the teacher of the course that they are dropping."
• [Jacob]: I think we need to make it possible to drop a course after the first semester. Since all courses are now semester courses, I think this should be changed anyway. It doesn't seem fair to prevent a student from being able to change their academic interests.
• Clarifying questions:
• Is it true that all classes are now semester-long? If so, is this change necessary or could we just get rid of the whole policy.
• Supposedly, all classes are now semester-long. 
• Some courses are still year-long.
• What is the reason behind the current policy?
• Many seniors drop a hard class second semester once they've gotten into college, it can be an issue for teachers.
• Some courses have state-mandated requirements that prevent students from dropping out.
• How is this different from how it stands now?
• This would make this student-initiated, it would also be up to the student with input from the teacher and the guidance counselor. Right now you can drop any course, but you may get a withdrawal fail instead of just a withdrawal.
• What exactly are we trying to fix? How big of a problem is this really?
• My friend was  in Chorus and was not really enjoying it. Instead, she was more interested in taking a science class second semester. She was not able to do this without receiving a withdrawal fail in Chorus.
• On average, how often does the Guidance Department see this scenario?
• Not often, maybe 8-10 cases per year.
• Why did we even switch to semester long courses in the first place?
• Part of the decision was a computer programming issue, it was also for consistency across the school. 
• Is this in our jurisdiction?
• This is in the handbook, so it is within our jurisdiction, but it is our best interest to work with the administration because they need to be onboard as well.
• Debate:
• This shouldn't be a handbook revision, we're better off on a case-by-case basis.
• I think the only issue is with Chorus and Band, we shouldn't target them.
• This does apply to other courses as well, we're not targeting Chorus.
• This also shows responsibility in taking control of your academics and how to make decisions for yourself.
• Motion: I move to amend the motion to allow students to drop a course second semester if they are filling that gap with another class.
• [Rachel]: This is in the spirit of the original motion, but it gets rid of the senior-drop problem. This would allow students to pursue other academic interests, instead of just getting free time.
• Debate:
• There could still be a problem with people taking classes to look good for college and then taking easier academic classes.
• What's the issue with free periods? If a senior has been working hard for three and a half years, he should have the option of taking time to relax or learning something new.
• When you sign up for a full year course, you have an obligation, a responsibility, to finish it.
• Full year courses are designed on a full year curriculum, there's a reason why a student shouldn't be able to drop out.
• It's important to relax and be well rounded, but this is a school - we should be learning.
• Colleges are sent updates concerning changes to a student's schedule, so this could hurt the student as well.
• This would be the student's consequences, and therefore it should be the student's choice of whether they want to take a free period or another class.

        Debate closes.
Motion (amendment) fails.

• Knowing your limits is also part of responsibility. So finishing something doesn't necessary demonstrate your responsibility.
• We DO need a motion for this, this is how we change things in the school this is the best way to do things like this.

Meeting adjourns.

2/10

Agenda: 2/10/2012

1. Approval of Minutes
2. Reports
3. Test Preparation Motion
4. Class Withdrawal Motion
5. Notes & New Business

“We Athenians make decisions for ourselves, or at least participate in the full discussion of them: for we do not regard debate as a barrier to effective action, but as a necessary condition for acting wisely.” ~Pericles

Council Minutes 2/3/2012

1.          Approval of Minutes

2.         Reports

• [Mod]: I’d like to welcome Chief Robinson today. We are looking for volunteers for open house next week.
• [Treas]:
•  Motion: I move to allocate $135 to Student Activities for Winter Carnival.

Debate closes.

Motion passes.

• [DSB]: We met last Tuesday and passed the budget without the 1:1 initiative, but we’ll be looking into that later.
• [Sec]: Junior and Senior Alternates can vote.
• [Admin]: We’ve been looking at the goals of the Test Returns Motion and we will bring an alternate motion today that attempts to accomplish the same goals.
• [OEC]: We’re working on putting together the Council video for elections. Please send in available pictures or interviews.
• [SA]: Winter Carnival is next week [later postponed until 2/17]. Please volunteer to help.
• [SL]: We’re reviewing responses to the survey we sent out to freshmen parents. 56% of parents already had a child in HHS, 64% felt that they understood the open campus policies, 81% sad they did not think their 9^th grader had gone off campus yet this year, 43% did not know what ‘academic schedule-up’ meant, but 32% said that they would do it. 84% felt no pressure to give open campus privileges to their 9^th grader when they became a sophomore. 60% though giving open campus to freshmen might compromise their academic experience. 63% said they thought their freshmen would be better prepared for sophomore year with open campus, 55% would not give their freshmen open campus starting second semester.
• [COI]: Course evaluations are being done but we’ll discuss with Curric. We also discussed how March Intensive participation will be marked on a report card – SP, NP, or  UP.
• [Dmitry]: After talking with several people, I decided to remove the self-reporting piece from the motion and hopefully we can bring that as a separate motion in the future.

3.          Test Returns Motion

• Motion: I move to fail the original Test Returns Motion.
• [Admin]: Some teachers did not like the idea, and felt this is not Council’s jurisdiction and this would probably be vetoed anyways. Instead we endorse the Test Preparation Motion.
• Clarifying questions:
• Why would this not be in our jurisdiction?
• This deals with the curriculum and hopefully the TPM would work more effectively.
• How does this change things from the original motion?
• This might prevent scheduling conflicts, and is still relatively forceful.
•  Have we gotten any student feedback on this issue.
• No, just informally. But we’ve talked with students and most students support this motion and its goals.
• Does this motion include final exams?
• No.
• Debate:
• Motion: I move to table this motion.
• [Rachel]: I think we need to discuss this more with the staff.

Debate closes.

Motion (to table) passes.

• Let’s fail this, the TPM is a better alternative for both parties. We can’t give into a minority of teachers, but we have to be diplomatic with this as well.

Debate closes.

Motion (to fail the TRM) fails.

4.         Test Preparation Motion

• Moved to after agenda item #5.

5.         Robert’s Rules Modification Motion

• Motion: I move to amend the bylaws to allow a speaker to speak and then close debate directly afterwards.
• [Rachel]: This provides the speaker the ability to give background on why he/she wants to close debate.
• Clarifying questions:
• So you have to move to close debate and then you’re able to speak?
• No.
• Debate:
• If it is unclear why the speaker is closing debate, debate should not be closed at all. Also, this gives unfair weight to a single speaker’s comments, especially if debate is closed immediately afterwards.
• This would shut down even more discussion on ‘no-brainers.’

Debate closes.

Motion fails.

Meeting adjourns.

2/3

Agenda: 2/3/2012

1. Approval of Minutes
2. Reports
3. Test Returns Motion
4. Test Preparation Motion
5. Robert's Rules Modification Motion
6. Notes & New Business

“Change is not a destination, just as hope is not a strategy.” ~Rudy Giuliani

Council Minutes 1/27/2012

1.          Reports

• [Mod]: I’d like to welcome Officer Fleury, our newest community member.

• Motion: I move to approve Chief Robinson as a community member.

Motion passes.

• [Sec]: No alternates can vote today.
• [Admin]: We’re not bringing the Test Returns Motion today. We sent out a survey to the staff, and the science department did not think it was Council’s place to be doing this. They say it infringes on their intellectual property. Many teachers gave positive feedback, but there was a lot of hostility towards Council in general. We will be bringing something else back next week.
• [Curric]: We’ve incorporated Council’s changes into the Code of Conduct, still getting feedback on that.
• [OEC]: We’re working on a new way to start the Council election process – maybe a presentation with a video or something like that.
• [SA]: We’re firming up the roster for Winter Carnival. Please sign people up to participate.
• [SL]: We’re awaiting survey results from freshmen parents about open campus. We’re also collecting data about how often freshmen utilize the cafeteria.
• [Jacob]: Environmental Club/Outing Club is hosting a concert tonight.

2.         Test Returns Motion

• Coming next week.

3.          Robert’s Rules Modification Motion

• Rachel is not here today. Again, this will come back next week.

4.         Honor Code Restitution Amendment

• [Dmitry]: Actually I would just like this to be a discussion. Starting with the Code of Conduct, I’ve been thinking about and discussing this idea of restitution and how it would fit in at HHS. Restitution looks at the basic need behind the problem and focuses on solutions.  The most our school can do is to create conditions for self-evaluation. This concept would send out a message saying “we're not always perfect.” It asks students to think about their actions and the consequences of such. My future motion would give the opportunity for restitution to all students. Students would be asked to agree to the “social contract,” essentially the honor code. This acknowledges the reasons behind the inappropriate behavior, and if passed, this would include a reflection sheet with important questions for the students to think about and answer. Restorative efforts show excellent academic and behavioral improvements.
• Clarifying Questions:

o   Would this be on top of any disciplinary policies already in place? Have you talked with Mr. Seibel or Mr. Smith about this?

§  Our school would determine so called ‘bottom line’ incidents and work from there. I have not talked with them yet, that would happen afterwards.

o   Do students suggest their own punishments?

§  Students would decide what they need to do, but at the same time understand the needs of the administration. This is centered on the individual, not the administration.

o   This is just a chance for the student to be involved in the discussion about what they need to do to make things right?

§  Yes.

o   Does self-reporting make the handbook null and void?

§  The student may receive a lesser consequence, it would be up to the administration.

o   Is this optional for the student?

§  Yes.

o   What if the student think he’s done nothing wrong.

§  Again, students may opt in, so it’s their choice.

o   So students are able to self report their actions, and hopefully get a lesser consequence?

§  Yes.

o   Would this require use to rework the Code of Conduct and the handbook, or would this fit in?

§  We would have to figure this out later – we might have to look at our handbook ad decide bottom line consequences.

o   Does the school have the responsibility to report these incidents to the police? Is this legal?

§  The school is not mandated to suspend the student. Through the Memorandum of Understanding, so it would depend, but there are many cases when we don’t have the responsibility to report the incident to the police.

o   Some Code of Conduct consequences would not apply?

§  In some circumstances, yes.

Meeting adjourns.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Test Returns Motion: I move to require teachers to give back tests to students and let students keep them after they’ve been taken.

Test Preparation Motion: I move that students' graded tests and quizzes be made available as study tools for cumulative tests and final exams. The assessments may either be returned to the student permanently or made available during a dedicated x-period preceding each cumulative assessment. Additional reviews of graded tests may be arranged as necessary between teachers and their students.