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[SamanthaE]

The Student Government Organization: Executive Council

Thursday, September 30, 2010 3:30 pm – 5:52 pm

Minutes

I. Attendance

Key: [L] = Late [A] = Absent

Dania Sandfia, SGO Speaker

<br style="page-break-before: auto;" clear="ALL"> I. Ahmad, President

[L]E. Berd, Vice President

D. Shadburn, Parliamentarian

A. Bukhta, Treasurer

S. Tashneem, Secretary



J. Azrilyant, President

M. Hossain, Vice President

[L]A. Borshchenko Parliamentarian

J. Chan, Treasurer

S. Dhaliwal, Secretary



[L]C. Ricardo, President

[A] S. Zhukovski, Vice President

L. Wang, Parliamentarian

Z. Javaid, Treasurer
R. Dallorso, Secretary


<br style="page-break-before: auto;" clear="ALL"> II. Business

A. “Make A Difference” Presentation

1. We had a visitor named Jameson Wiener, who suggested that every year Tech should pick a cause and try to raise money for it. Not only will kids help save lives, but in return, will be awarded with community service hours. This year’s cause would be Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). Jameson, later, showed us a five minute clip from a movie made by High school kids about this cause. He plans to show this movie in Tech and raise money from the ticket sales ($5 per ticket). He also added that this idea has been used in other high schools around the nation and because it was successful, it was featured on Oprah. Jameson wanted SGO’s help in executing his plan.

2. PROBLEM

- Ikra responded by saying that the school isn’t allowed to charge kids to see a movie

- David asked Jameson, why will Tech Kids come watch this movie?

- When will we show this movie? If we do it during the week, we might not have a big audience because kids have after school activities to attend.

3. SOLUTION

- Alex suggested that we ask kids to donate a minimum of $5

- Samiha asked Mr. Kaelin if NHS will be able to help us raise money for this cause and Mr. Kaelin agreed.

- Mr. Williams said that trying to raise all the money in one shot will be tough. Instead, we should first, create a campaign and raise awareness about DMD. Then, we should have specific events throughout the year and raise money from those events.

- Eugene suggested that the movie should be played throughout the week and we should have concession stands outside of the auditorium.

- Ikra responded by saying that instead of the whole week, it will be more effective to play the movie two days in a row. She also suggested that Tech should hold a dance-a-thon to raise money for DMD. She heard that other high schools use this fundraising technique.

- To wrap it up, Mr. Williams gave Jameson helpful advice. He said Jameson should speak to Ms. O Hara. Just like gym classes were brought down to the auditorium during AID’s Week to learn more about AIDS, maybe the same thing can be done for DMD.

- SGO members that were willing to help Jameson, gave him their contact information so a committee can be formed to organize the events.

- Jameson was also told to contact Find a Cure club

B. BUDGET APPROVAL

- Mr. Williams gave us a copy of Dibo’s Budget Plan for the Athletic Teams as well as the final budget from last week and asked for us to go over it.

- Budget was approved.

1. Concerns

i. Ikra is very unhappy with the football team receiving the most amount of money than other clubs and teams in the building.

ii. Sharmy agreed and added that it’s unfair that the track team had a 50% budget cut, even though they are a successful team.

iii. Ikra asked, why can’t we put up the budget plan online?

2. Mr. Kaelin and Mr. Williams’ response

i. Mr. Kaelin responded to Ikra’s first concern by saying that we have to look at how much it cost to run a certain sport and the number of members the team has. We didn’t take away money based on which team was successful and which wasn’t. Yes, Dibo might have given the football team more money. If the other coaches think it’s unfair and complain, then they can talk to him about it. He is the one who has to deal with the coaches every day and answer to them; we don’t. Also, Dibo’s new budget Plan leaves SGO with a cushion of $1, 795. 72. That’s a lot more than we hoped for.

ii. Mr. Williams responded to the question about having the budget plan posted online by saying that, it is not necessary to post the information on-line. The information is made available to the advisors/coaches.

C. Club Applications

1. All Club Applications present at that meeting were approved.

2. Mr. Williams reminded everyone once again that clubs must be open to all. There can be no racial, ethnic, or gender discrimination!

i. Sharmy wants an email to be sent out to all the clubs, regarding this matter.

D. Safety Committee

1. Sharmy’s Report

i. There have been seven incidents within four to eight block radius of the school.

ii. More officers have been placed near Dekalb and Fulton. There is also a Police Car patrolling the area.

iii. Students get kicked out of school as soon as the bell rings. They also can’t stand in the street because of the Police whistling and yelling at them. Where will the kids that need to wait for Clubs to start or friends to go home with, go? Is sitting in the back of the auditorium an option?

2. Mr. Williams’ concerns

i. Mr. Williams came to a consensus that to decrease the crime rate, we need more visibility. Kids need to be more aware. The neighborhood HS kids often see Tech kids as their target because we are a specialized HS.

ii. Aside from Dekalb and Fulton, the Atlantic Mall is a big concern

iii. Mr. Williams said that he learned from a Police officer that once you take out your ipod in the train, there are six to eight people planning out strategies to steal the ipod from you.

iv. He added that Kids should not argue with the Police officers. The officers are just doing their job and making sure the kids are safe.







3. SOLUTIONS

i. Sharmy suggested that we should raise awareness by having an assembly with a funny drama to engage kids. She said that the Police officers have professional actors willing to act in the drama. Sharmy also added that this was done in other schools and it was quite successful

ii. Mr. Williams is still working on finding a place where students can hang out after school ends. Mr. Asher suggests the back of the auditorium.

E. AP Exams

1. PROBLEM

i. If you take an AP Class but do not take the AP Test (even if you register for the exam), you automatically get a 65.

ii. The school also removes the AP designation on your transcript.

2. SOLUTIONS

i. Ikra thinks that this policy is unfair. The school should make it more difficult to get accepted to an AP class, so at the end of the year, kids don’t back out of taking the AP test.

ii. Mr. Kaelin gave the reasoning behind this policy according to the testing committee: it is to make students think twice about taking an AP class because if you take an AP class without taking the test you took away a seat in a class for a student who would have wanted to take the AP exam. More specifically, sophomores need to be aware that when they are signing up for a major, they have to take APs.

F. SGO Hoodies

1. Designs need to be emailed to Dania by October 4^th

G. Bulletin Boards

1. The Bulletin Boards outside of 7C1 and 1W2 need to be changed and fast! BETA and NHS have already updated their boards.

2. Sharmy will head this Project. She already created a plan with Angelica

3. Carolyne, Sharmy, Samiha, Zaib, and Linda will work on the bulletin boards.

H. Sunshine Committee

1. Their job is to arrange birthday parties for SGO members

2. Dania, Ikra, and Sharmy will be in this committee

I. Polls

1. Jacob asked if we could post Polls on the BTHS website. He said the Polls would help us get feedback on school events and policies.

i. Ikra responded by saying that only BTHS news can be in charge of that because there are certain things we aren’t allowed to mention on the school website.

2. It was agreed that some polls would be on the school’s website while some we would do on BTHS news.

J. Jacob’s Poster Policy

1. Jacob believes that we need a uniform poster policy. The message on posters must be direct and relevant or they will be denied.

2. The reason Jacob wants this policy to be passed is because of a recent incident between The Conservative Club and PSA, where he says that the Conservative Club’s poster attacked PSA. Both posters were next to each other. PSA was furious about the attack and took down the Conservative Club’s poster.

3. Questions/ discussion

i. Sharmy asked Jacob, how will we catch those who vandalize the posters?

- Jacob responded by saying that we can use a camera. Also, we will find out if there has been reports of rivalry between two clubs

ii. Jacob asked Mr. Williams, can clubs and teams have posters with reference to another club?

- Mr. William said that it is very hard to justify and implement this rule.

iii. David asked Jacob, who decides what’s relevant and irrelevant on the posters? David’s original idea was to let Student Assembly vote on poster approval if the COSA thinks something is wrong. However, this process can last from two weeks to a month. We would need a quicker process.

iv. Mr. Williams is surprised that in his experiences in Tech, this policy never came up. Maybe this might be a personal feud between PSA and the Conservative Club and this issue isn’t big enough to create a Policy for it.

v. Mr. Williams also added that this policy can be made only if it creates some kind of disturbances to Education.

vi. David said that we should ignore this policy and said that if this keeps happening, then neither club can exist

vii. kra disagrees with David and thinks that it’s unfair to remove a club because other people don’t like it.

viii. Alex suggested that we make the clubs go see a Peer Mediator and sort out their differences.

4. SOLUTION

i. Sharmy suggested that if someone has a problem with a poster, SGO will decide based on a case by case scenario. We don’t need to create a specific policy for it.

ii. Mr. Williams told Jacob to revise his bill and make sure the wording is specific and that there are no loopholes, because majority of the SGO members were against the context of the bill.

K. Jacob’s Budget Bill

1. Jacob wants clubs and teams to give SGO a write up of every penny they spent from the money SGO gave them.

i. Sharmy likes Jacob’s idea but isn’t sure about the evaluation process.

ii. Alex said that it seems as if SGO is trying to control the clubs.

iii. David agreed and added that it seems as if we are breathing down their necks.

iv. Eugene said that the idea is great but it’s not practical for the clubs to hand in a spreadsheet at the end of the year.

v. Mr. Kaelin responded by saying that the Chancellor already has a regulation where Clubs need to report every cent they spent. The Finance Office keeps these records.

vi. Ikra ended this discussion by saying that Advisors are responsible for handling the money. If they fail to accurately do so, they will be removed.

L. Jacob’s Security Reform Bill

1. Jacob wanted to create The Committee of Government Security (CGS) to “investigate all matters relating to the Student Government Organization and student affairs.” This committee will work on internal and external security of the school, cyber attacks on students, and investigate all matters involving finances, and many more.

i. David said that we are giving SGO too much power in controlling so many aspects of Tech life. Also, we are trying to centralize authority.

ii. Sharmy added that it is unnecessary to create a committee for it. Also, students don’t have the right to be involved in such matters.

iii. Carolyne stated that this committee would rarely have things to investigate and therefore will be inactive throughout the year.

iv. Ikra mentioned that creating this committee will lead to infringement of privacy. Originally, if someone had a problem, they would go to the dean. If the matter is personal, now four other people will know about it. Sooner or later, the whole school will find out.

2. Bill was not approved.

M. Mr. Williams and Mr. Kaelin’s Role

1. Mr. Williams is the AP

2. Mr. Kaelin is the COSA

N. Care 2 Contest

1. Must be 18+ to vote.

2. We jumped from 36^th place to 4^th place!

3. Mr. Williams said that he isn’t going to bother the Alumni Association yet, because he already asked them to help with the Kohls Competition.

4. If you are a student, please DO NOT VOTE!

5. We got to 4^th place without the help of students so we can get to 1^st place without their help as well. If you do vote, the contest will know and they will have to take away our votes. Trust Mr. Williams, they WILL know.

O. SGO Cards

1. Tabled

III. Mr. William’s Notes

A. YEA Club Fair

1. Friday October 15^th @ 3:30-5:30pm

B. Microsoft essay contest

1. We need a few students to write essays about why Tech needs the money and what we would use the money on, if we win.

2. Put on the next agenda.

C. SGO constitution

1. Dania needs to email the constitution to the Executive Council, so everyone is aware of his/her role.

IV. Open Agenda

A. Motion to change the meeting to 3:30pm

1. Approved. Meeting now starts at 3:30 PM.

B. Election of a new Assistant Principal

1. There will be a C30 process to elect the assistant principal of Social Studies. The C30 process is on October 25^th. Mr. Kaelin needs a student representative to stay during the six hour process.

2. Dania and Ikra are both interested. Mr. Williams will decide who goes.

C. Selling of the 2010 left over Key Chains

1. Eugene proposed this idea. He saw about 100-200 key chains left from last year in room 7c1. It’s just sitting in a drawer, wasting space. Why not sell it for $5 a piece?

V. Reminders

1. Ms. O’Hara will be joining us in our next SGO meeting. Please come up with an alternative to the Three Strikes Elevator Policy

VI. Adjournment

A. Next Meeting: 10/07/2010