Minutes 11.30.16/Agenda 12.7.16

Post date: Dec 6, 2016 4:18:12 PM

Agenda 12.7.16

• 1. Approval of Minutes

  2. Reports

  3. JCOM Effective Date Bylaw Revision

  4. Religious Holidays Motion

  5. Shadowing Discussion

  6. Service on Transcript Discussion

  7. Notes and New Business

Council Minutes 11.30.16

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” -Alice Walker

• 1. Approval of Minutes

  2. Reports

     • Moderator: We are half-way through the Council year. Make sure you are speaking up and bringing new perspectives because that is what you were elected to do. People had great suggestions during elections so turn that into a motion. Your voice will always be more powerful than your vote.

     • Treasurer: Council Fund: $5,816.04, Co-Curricular Fund: $5,013

     • Secretary: No alternates can vote

     • DSB: Met and had a great discussion about the Religious Holidays Motion.

     • Curric: Discussed the Religious Holidays Motion

     • SL: Discussed the homework component of the Religious Holidays Motion

     • SAC: setting up a time to get Winter Carnival approval

     • Service: Discussed bringing a discussion to Council and making a video showing examples of what people are doing with community service

     • Inclusivity: Focusing on MLK day

     • RP: Sarah Bozuwa is chair this year. We have been working to update the websites and documents based on the changes at the end of last year.

  3. Trespassing Motion

“Under ‘Violations of the Code of Conduct’ in Section 7 of the Hanover High School Handbook, I move to add ‘trespassing’ to the list of ‘allegations of possible illegal activity’”

• • • Based off a recent JCOM case

    • Trespassing on school property meaning going somewhere that is clearly locked and/or closed off from students

    • Current wording states illegal activity and this is just to clarify that trespassing is included

    • Motion Passes

• • JCOM Effective Date Bylaw Notification

  • Religious Holidays Motion

    • Among the DSB some people said there was no need for legislation in this area and some people said this shouldn’t be an issue we need to legislate but if students are having problems, legislation might be necessary

    • Should be dealt with by the administration speaking to teachers because students speaking to teachers has not been enough

    • The way the current system is structured does not work in this particular case and creates stress for religious students and it is not based in malice, it’s just the system

    • “I move to strike ‘Additional holidays acknowledged by Administration’, strike ‘No homework will be due on the day after the aforementioned holiday’ and replace it with  ‘Homework will be assigned two school days before the aforementioned holidays, and be due one school day after the holiday’, strike ‘those days’ and replace it with ‘the holidays’, and add ‘Administration’ before ‘The makeup holidays’.”

      • This motion can be a stepping stone to move onto more holidays

      • This makes the wording about when homework can be assigned clearer

      • The wording of “will” makes it sound like homework was mandatory during that time frame not at least during that time frame

      • “I move to amend the amendment to read ‘Homework must be assigned at least two school days before the aforementioned holidays, and be due at least one school day after the holiday”’

        • Resolves the concerns about making homework sound mandatory

        • Amendment Passes

      • We shouldn’t add any more holidays because that makes it far too difficult and these are the three holidays that are most significant. If a holiday needs to be added, Council could come back to amend the section

      • We could add a clause about any homework because it still sounds mandatory

      • The at least clause should clarify that it is not necessary to assign homework on those days

      • The fact that people haven’t seemed to come makes it seem like there are not major problematic holidays aside from the ones already included

      • Amendment Passes

    • Empathy cannot be legislated

    • There is the Course Concern Form done by Curric for students that have issues but it is highly recommended a student speak to the Department Head or Administration first

    • This is not an inclusive motion

    • The spirit of the motion is clear but the notion of using the motion as a stepping stone seems contradictory that we are talking about we are going to come back and discuss other religions but yet it would be really difficult to include other religions and we can’t just pass this an not come back to it

    • If other people are not speaking up about problems around other holidays we shouldn’t make accommodations for those problems

    • Some people aren’t religious but have important cultural events that would not be included, which is why it’s important that it is individual conversations

  • Meeting Adjourned