Minutes 9.21.16/Agenda 9.28.16

Post date: Sep 27, 2016 5:22:36 PM

Agenda 9.28.16

• 1. Approval of Minutes

  2. Reports

  3. Revised Homework Communication Motion

  4. Bylaw Roll Call Motion

  5. Student Handbook Name Change Motion

  6. March Intensive Service Integration Motion

  7. Notes and New Business

Council Minutes 9.21.16

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” -Anne Frank

• 1. Reports

     • Moderator: Email me today if you are interested in being on Nick Beard. Welcome to Clay and Parker, our New and Tuition Students. Patrick Logan is no longer an at-large member because of a Dartmouth conflict and Catherine Han is now an at-large.

     • Treasurer: Council Fund: $5966.04. The money allocation we passed last week will be an up to $500 reimbursement so it will go down later. Co-Curricular Fund: $4175

     • Secretary: There was a mistake with the printed minutes so look over the minutes online. No alternates can vote.

     • Curric: Looked over the Revised Homework Communication Motion and discussed the March Intensive Service Integration Motion

     • OEC: Finalizing everything for JCOM Elections. Looking for people to sit at the table for JCOM elections on Tuesday

     • SAC: Digitized club forms to increase ease for following years

     • Mr. Berube: Several people including Mrs. Warhenberger were responsible for the grant for the basketball motion and we are grateful for the money allocation. Contact me if you are interested is USSYP scholarship.

  2. Gift Money Allocation

“I move to allocate $75 for a gift”

• • • A plaque, placed somewhere in the school, to honor a member of Council who has been with it for a long time and done a lot for this body

    • Motion Passes

• • New Community Representative Approval

“I move to approve Mr. Starr and Mrs. McDowell for community representatives for this year”

• • • Mr. Campbell has selected these candidates from a large pool of interested bodies

    • Motion Passes

• • Roll Call Bylaw Motion

“I move to amend point C in article XI to read, “Main Motion Voting: All main motions require a hand count vote and the record of the vote will be posted on the council bulletin board.”

• • • Cost of about three minutes per vote outweighs the benefits

    • We can post the hand-count tally so people still know how close votes are

    • Anyone on the body could still trigger a roll-call just by requesting one

    • Being accountable, no matter what the motion is, is important

    • Original motion was brought by Student Life because people were swayed to vote with the majority

    • All council members should be held accountable for their vote

    • If we post roll call votes on Schoology they will be even more accessible

    • Technology has created ways a more efficient roll-call could be conducted

    • Even a couple of minutes is valuable in the short Council period

    • For controversial motions someone will request a roll-call

    • Doing a roll-call leads to people being more swayed by other’s votes rather than less

    • It would be bad to vote on this before discussing it with the school

    • Future Councils who may not have had this discussion about the importance of roll call and not request it as if often. This motion could go into effect for a year forcing future Councils have a discussion about roll call if they wanted to similarly suspend it

    • Roll-call forces council members to consider their vote more carefully as it is easy to just mumble “aye” with everyone else

    • The information should be available for even one curious student

    • The power in Council is note in the vote but rather the voice and discussion and roll calls stall the discussion

    • Council is more accessible now with Wednesday meetings then when the original motion requiring roll-call was passed for accountability

    • More explicit language could separate motions that should have roll-call from motions that don’t need it

    • Both referring this motion and having a discussion one a year would waste more time then roll-call currently does

    • “I move to refer to Student Life”

      • There seems to be space for a clean compromise

      • Motion Passed

• • Revised Homework Communication Motion

“I move that all homework-assigning teachers institute regular, anonymous check-ins regarding the quality, effectiveness, and duration of homework to create a dialogue between students and teachers regarding the value of and time spent on assignments. To clarify the intent of the motion, the Curriculum Committee of Council outlines the following goals: The check-ins may consist of simply one or two questions; Check-ins are intended to promote conversations between teachers, individual students, and entire classes; The check-ins are different than a quarterly or semesterly course evaluation; they are solely focused on homework and should typically be more concise; Teachers are encouraged to brief students at the beginning of the semester on the expected workload. The check-ins should then act as a comparison to the teacher's expectations.”

• • • This new version is based on the discussion in Council on the previous wording

    • Turned more into a guildline than an actual rule

    • Initial check ins are  anonymous but the teacher would discuss the data with the class

    • It would only be the honor system that teachers would be doing this

    • Creates substantially more room for teachers to decide

    • Should be an option to be anonymous

    • Anonymous does not foster discussion

    • There is a large difference between personal concerns and general problems with the assigning of homework

    • “I move to postpone this discussion to next meeting”

      • It would be easier to approve the minutes this meeting rather next week

      • Motion Passed

• • Approval of Minutes

  • Meeting Adjourns