The First Council Meeting of the Year – Council Update (1/2/19)

Council had a confident start in its first meeting of 2019. Unlike other meetings, this meeting was mainly centered around goal-setting and reflecting on the year thus far. During this session, important points centered around things like respect, listening to others, holding more class meetings, and having more organic discussions (focused on general perceptions of our school rather than individual motions/opinions).

Afterward, Council’s Administrative Committee brought an allocation of $200 for their Martin Luther King Day speakers, who are two Vermont law school students. They will be coming to speak on the topic of environmental justice. The money allocation is to cover the cost of pizza and other snacks at a Q&A session after the talk.

The money allocation passed unanimously, and Council moved on to Notes and New Business. The main topic brought up this time was a discussion of moving exams before winter break. The first issue raised was whether we need to push the school year earlier. An earlier school year may allow students more options for summer programs. A proposal for keeping the current semester setup advocated that students could undertake projects and other learning enrichment opportunities in the weeks after the exams. The topic is quite controversial though, as some students feel that having exams before winter break would create more stress. Break serves as a recovery period and helps students to feel thoroughly prepared for the “challenge” of the January exams. Overall, Council will reach out for more input from the student body.