No replies to this topic

[SamanthaE]

The Student Government Organization: Executive Council

Thursday, October 7, 2010 3:30 pm – 6:10 pm

Minutes

I. Attendance

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

Dania Sandfia, SGO Speaker

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

[L]E. Berd, Vice President

D. Shadburn, Parliamentarian

A. Bukhta, Treasurer

[L]S. Tashneem, Secretary





J. Azrilyant, President

M. Hossain, Vice President

A. Borshchenko Parliamentarian

J. Chan, Treasurer

S. Dhaliwal, Secretary





C. Ricardo, President

S. Zhukovski, Vice President

L. Wang, Parliamentarian

Z. Javaid, Treasurer
R. Dallorso, Secretary


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

A. Stoked Plus Presentation

1. Stoked Plus is a nationwide organization that teaches kids about teamwork by building skateboards. They have 30-35 members in their club (full).They plan snowboarding trips and teach kids how to snowboard. Stoked Plus needs a lot of financial support. They want SGO to approve their club charter and help fun their club.

2. Eugene asked that if SGO can’t give them money until the second term, how they will keep their club going.

i. One of the presenters replied that they would have a hard time maintaining the club without SGO funding but they would try to sell their skateboards for $30 and ask their members for a club fee.

3. Mr. Williams: What is the benefit of joining Stoked Plus?

i. The advisor replied that Stoked Plus kids not only get a club advisor but an academic advisor as well. The members pick up their grades immediately. They also gain public speaking abilities and learn about teamwork.

4. David thinks that two spring snowboard trip is a lot. SGO needs to give them a decent amount of money and the club needs to scale back on what they want to do.

i. Eugene suggested that if they know how to build and auction skateboards, then they can make a lot of money from that and SGO does not need to give them the full requested amount.

5. TABLED

B. Microsoft Essay Competition

1. Mr. Williams needs three people to work on this competition

2. Sharmy, Carylone, and Michelle volunteered

C. Open House (Tuesday, October 19^th @ 6:00pm-8:30pm)

1. Mr. Williams wants us to move away from the Club Fair type of approach because there is no point in trying to recruit incoming freshman to SGO. Instead, members of SGO should talk about Student Activities in Tech.

2. SGO members that are available to work that night must email Mr. Williams and CC Dania

D. Lunch Forms

1. We had a successful campaign last year about making kids turn in their Lunch forms.

2. Mr. Williams needs help getting the word out, once again.

3. Approximately 3100 students haven’t handed in their lunch forms.

4. Forms need to be in within two weeks, if we want to be eligible for Title I status.

E. SGO Hoodies

1. Designs must be submitted to Dania by October 13^th

F. PSAT Day

1. Schedule has been emailed and posted up online

2. Mr. Williams told us to message our Class and let them know about the special activities planned for that day.

i. Seniors will start 3^rd period at 11:54am and end 7^th period at 2:40pm

ii. Seniors must be reminded that there will be a College presentation from 3:oo pm-4:oopm. Afterwards, they will walk into Fort Greene Park to take the senior class picture. Then, the seniors must come back to the auditorium for the senior assembly from 6:00pm-8:45

3. Can you leave early if you have lunch last period?

i. Mr. Williams said that usually kids are not obligated to stay in school if they have lunch last period. He will get a confirmation and let us know.

G. SLT facilities (Michelle’s report)

1. Summer Project Review

i. Girls’ Bathrooms in the 5^th and 6^th floor are being renovated

ii. Roof renovations are almost completed.

iii. DNA lab in room 5N8 is still under construction

- Students have been emailing proposals to use the roof

iv. There will be a computer lab in room 2W14



2. Public Address System

i. Announcement system is bad during the first three days of the week and then gets better during the rest of the week.

ii. Mr. Fanning has fixed that problem

3. New Projects

i. BE10 is being turned into a Wrestling room.

-Mr. Brutus doesn’t think this room is big enough to hold the 100 members of the wrestling team. He has requested for a bigger room.

ii. 21^st century class room update

iii. The 3^rd floor and 8^th floor showers will be repaired.

- PROBLEM: When the showers are repaired, there might be bugs in the locker room due to the sewage system.

iv. Library Software Problem

- Michelle didn’t have time to speak because the bell rang.

H. Club Applications

1. Clubs with Similar Mission

i. Animal Rights Council still did not hand in their club application but Give Them Hope has. We will wait until the club application deadline, before we decide which club gets to exist.

I. Budget

1. Budget seems to be the hot issue right now.

2. Mr. Williams was asked to find the historical data of the football team’s expenditures, but he was unable to find this information.

3. Someone asked him, where we get the money to give to teams that ask for more than a $1000.

i. Mr. Williams replied that half of the money comes from SAF and half comes from SGO.

4. Eugene asked Mr. Williams about how much money (money given by SGO+ money won) is already in the accounts of the athletic teams.

i. Mr. Williams replied that if a team won money from a championship, it goes to their account. He will try to find out the information Eugene is asking for.

5. Ikra asked if we could see the money left over from last year, before we make a new budget.

i. Mr. Williams replied that the Finance Secretary has the accurate data and we always have to wait until she comes from Summer Vacation. If we had waited for her, our budget meeting would have been pushed to a much further date.

6. Dania told us that we have to vote on one of the three options:

a) Revisit entire budget plan

b) Consider using the cushion

c) Keep the original budget and the cushion

7. Mr. Williams received an email from a student who asked him that if students are spending their money on the SGO cards, don’t they have the right to know how their money is being spent?

i. Mr. Asher was in the room and when we asked him this question, he said that it is a valid question to ask. He added that this is the “burden of leadership. You have to make decisions and justify them.” Mr. Asher advised us that before we do anything, we have to make some policy decision first. By doing so, we are creating a legacy.

ii. Ikra asked Mr. Asher if SGO can ask the clubs and teams about the amount of money left in their account from last year.

- Mr. Asher agreed and said that there needs to be an evaluation after we give them budget money.

iii. Mr. Kaelin added that some of these clubs and teams ask the Alumni foundation for money as well as SGO.

- Ikra asked if we could find out how much money is being allocated from the Alumni foundation.

- Mr. Asher said he will ask Mr. Mandery. He told us to send him an EMAIL and remind him.

iv. Mr. kaelin told us that while we are holding the budget, teams are already in session. The longer we hold onto the budget, teams will have no money to use. How long will we keep revisiting the budget?

v. Mr. Asher agreed and added that we can ask Mr. Fanning to pull together the Club expenditure. We must send him an EMAIL about this. Mr. Asher told us to go back to working on our policy. He told us to keep these questions in mind: what would you if money wasn’t an issue? How would you allocate the money?

vi. Michelle came up with nine points that should be a part of the policy

a) Consider members

b) Type of equipment needed

c) Transportation

d) Budget Request Form

e) Amount of money given by Alumni

f) Achievements

Ø Mr. Kaelin said to be careful on this point because whether a team wins or loses, it should not affect the amount of money they receive from us.

g) Dues paid by members of club/team

h) Fundraising

i) Expenditure

vii. Mr. Asher’s suggested Policies

- If you are in PSAL, you need to buy an SGO card. We’re helping you get money for your team through the money made from selling SGO cards, so you need to help yourself.

- By November 30^th you must by an SGO card or you don’t get your fall credit from your clubs

viii. Mr. Kaelin’s suggestion

- Clubs that ask SGO for the most money should show us how many of their members purchased the SGO cards.

ix. Jacob will lead the Budget Reform Policy Committee

- Eugene, Ikra, Carolyne, Rebecca, Jim, Sharmy, and Michelle

x. Mr. Kaelin told us to not hold onto the budget this late. We all agreed that everything will be decided by next week.

J. SGO Cards

1. Mr. Williams needs a team from SGO to sell SGO cards during PTA meetings

2. October 28^th from 6:00-8:30pm : Linda, Carolyne, Rebecca, Sima, Michelle, Sharmy, and Jacob

3. October 29^th from 1:00-3:30pm: No one volunteered. David needs to reach out to CSA members.

4. TABLED

K. Ms. O’Hara’s Three Strike Policy

1. TABLED

III. Mr. Williams’ Notes

A. Study Hall in room 3W14

1. Students who have a free period and can’t stay in the library, now has a place to go.

B. NETS tickets giveaway

C. Dibo’s Concert Proposal

1. Last year we made $12,000 from this concert. There was no risk. We received 250 free tickets and sold each for $50

2. Two Options :Oldies Concert or Show for Kids

3. Mr. Asher suggested that if a team wants $6,000 from SGO then they must sell 50 tickets or else they will receive no funding.

4. Ikra asked Mr. Asher if we could hold a meeting with Club and Team advisors and tell them about this proposal.

i. Mr. Asher agreed and added that before we that, Ikra needs to meet up with Mr. Asher, Mr. Kaelin, Mr. Williams, and Mr. Fanning to create a package.

5. PROPOSAL TABLED



IV. Open Agenda

A. Sophomore and Junior Winter Trip

1. Location has not been chosen.

B. Paper Shredder

1. Mr. Asher wants to make this a greener school. He has spent $15,000 on paper shredders for department offices.

C. Library

1. Angled benches have been taken out because they are useless. The school is ordering nine more tables (50 more people can be seated) through the Alumni Foundation.

D. Court Room will be open by Spring

E. Chem Lab

1. Planning to build a chem lab on the 8^th floor teachers’ café

F. Renovating the Stage

1. $8,000 grant has been used to renovate the stage.

i. There will be a new screen, high definition projector, new lighting, and new curtains

G. Air Conditioning in the Auditorium

1. Money has been requested to complete this project.

H. Suggested Print Station

1. IDEAS

i. Pay as you go

ii. Swipe ID Card

iii. Hand in flash drive or email docs needed to be printed

I. Freshman Election

1. Tuesday during CSA, David and Mr. Kaelin will meet and look through the application for Freshmen Executive Council.

2. BTHS news will interview the Freshmen Presidential Candidate

V. Reminders

A. The Budget Reform Policy Committee must have a draft of their Policy by the end of the weekend.

B. Hoodie designs must be emailed to Dania by October 13^th

C. Everyone must come up with an alternative to the Three Strike Policy

D. Someone must email Mr. Asher to ask Dr. Mandarin about the amount of money being allocated for student activities. Mr. Asher must also be reminded to ask Mr. Fanning to print out a report about the expenditures of clubs and teams.

VI. Adjournment

A. Next Meeting: October 14^th, 2010