Bylaw Revisions Brought for New Leadership Position and Class Meetings – Council Update (1/23/19)

The two main issues brought up in the most recent Council meeting were bylaw notifications. The first of the two bylaw notifications was the class meeting bylaw notification.

Explained by Assistant Moderator Romaney Granizo-MacKenzie, the bylaw revision to be brought at the next meeting would make representatives of each class hold a meeting each semester with their constituents. This would be a change from the current language in the bylaws which dictates that such a meeting should be held every marking period. AMOD Granizo-MacKenzie explained that the purpose of the change was to try and encourage representatives to actually hold the meetings, as in practice right now they are non-existent. Sophomore Representative Tom Lyons added that he was sure class committee would love to help set up the meetings and take part in them as well.

The other bylaw notification was the CPP Leadership Position Bylaw Notification. Junior Rep. Ian Nolon brought the notification and said that it was the result of Council’s previous discussions regarding the issue. The revision to be brought at the next meeting will create a whole new leadership position called CPP Representative. Rep. Nolon added that anyone on Council should have the opportunity to run and that this is a good revision as Council should be able to vote for who represents them at CPP.

The last thing on the agenda was an organic school discussion. The discussion covered many topics in passing but centered on grading at the end of a semester and exams.

AMOD Granizo-MacKenzie began the discussion by saying that maybe teachers should have to submit all second quarter grades before exam week so students know how well they need to do on exams. Junior Rep. Clay Kynor said he had an especially large issue this semester as in one of his classes he still doesn’t have any grade at all for second quarter despite having around 15 assignments in the semester. Sophomore Rep. Momoka Schmidt added that it would be helpful to have a day after exams to meet with old classes and go over exams so that students could learn what they know and what they still need to work on.

Teacher Rep. Ms. Kono shifted the discussion back to grading and said that the schedule for the end of the semester is unreasonable for both students and staff in terms of workload and grade turnover. Sophomore Rep. Ellie Stannard added that she also thought it would be super helpful to have all assignments graded before exam week but that it is unreasonable because teachers have to grade, write exams, and prepare for second semester all at the same time. Co-Treasurer Dory Psomas said that she struggles when there are assignments that could have been corrected but are put in too late to correct. She claimed this hurts her grade and prevents her from learning valuable material. Sophomore Rep. Casey McGuire summarized the conversation well by saying that the school must decide what its goal is, either it must focus on being like the real world where there are no redos or put an emphasis on students learning all the material and being able to redo assignments until they can know the material.