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The Student Government Organization: Executive Council
Thursday, October 14, 2010 3:35 pm – 5:50 pm
Minutes
I. Attendance
Key: [L] = Late [A] = Absent
<br style="page-break-before: auto;" clear="all"> Dania Sandfia, SGO Speaker
<br style="page-break-before: auto;" clear="all"> [L] I. Ahmad, President
E. Berd, Vice President
D. Shadburn, Parliamentarian
A. Bukhta, Treasurer
S. Tashneem, Secretary
J. Azrilyant, President
M. Hossain, Vice President
A. Borshchenko Parliamentarian
J. Chan, Treasurer
S. Dhaliwal, Secretary
[A] C. Ricardo, President
S. Zhukovski, Vice President
L. Wang, Parliamentarian
Z. Javaid, Treasurer
R. Dallorso, Secretary
I. Inqiad, Vice President
<br style="page-break-before: auto;" clear="all"> II. Business
A. Last Week’s Minutes
1. Approved
B. SGO @ Club/Team Fair
1. Club Fair will be held tomorrow in room 6W16 from 3:30-5:00pm.
2. Linda, Jacob, Eugene, and Sharmy will be representing SGO.
C. SGO Hoodies
1. Dania likes the idea of having first initial and last name, the year of graduation, and the exec position, written on the back of the hoodies.
i. Mr. Kaelin said that some people feel uncomfortable about having their full name in the back.
ii. Sharmy agreed and added that this idea should be optional.
2. We all agreed that the exec hoodies should be a little different from the rest.
3. Dania will email us different hoodie designs to vote on.
D. Club Applications
1. Give Them Hope has been taken out of the pending list and has been approved.
2. Only clubs that handed in their club charter will have a page on the BTHS website. Other clubs can still hand in their charter but will not have this privilege.
E. Concert Proposal
1. Dibo wants to use the auditorium to fundraise for student activities.
2. He wants to have a concert with a hip hop artist, studio drummer, and a comedian. The idea of a concert was given to him by an alumnus.
i. Mr. Kaelin is not sure if the alumni actually found the entertainers for the concert or just added them as a suggestion because only youtube links were written on the proposal
3. Mr. Williams: Does anyone have an issue with Dibo fundraising?
i. David: How does SGO benefit from this?
ii. Mr. Williams replied that Dibo originally planned to use this idea and fundraise for the football team. Mr. Williams is not sure how it will benefit other teams and clubs.
iii. Eugene asked that if we help Dibo, then, can SGO approve or disapprove the things Dibo plans on doing for this concert.
iv. Mr. Williams agreed that if Dibo is looking for financial assistance from SGO, then SGO has that right.
F. Senior Information Night and Juniors
1. David explained to the juniors that Senior Information Night is a mandatory event. In this event, we talk about all the senior related events and make sure our class is aware of the important upcoming deadlines.
2. PROBLEM: This event was under attended
i. Less than half of our class attended an event that was MANDATORY.
ii. Mr. Asher was very disappointed with the outcome and punished the class by saying that those students who didn’t attend this session must come in on a Saturday and attend the makeup session, or else they won’t be able to attend any senior events.
iii. Our first event, the Masquerade Ball, is in three weeks! Where will we fit in the makeup session?
3. David continued by saying that our class has a lack of senior spirit.
i. Ikra had proposed that CSA create a Spirit Squad, where a group of 10-15 kids are given FREE admission to in-house events and in return, they recruit Tech Kids to attend these events.
4. David also added that in case people ask us about the punishment, we have to tell them that it’s not our fault because we found out about this the same time as the class.
5. Samiha told Mr. Williams that people were complaining because they felt that SGO was being redundant and whatever was written in the pamphlet was being read to them by a senior exec on stage. Why couldn’t the school just email all the seniors the information on this pamphlet?
i. Mr. Williams replied that when the school used to email important information out, people wouldn’t check their emails and forgot the deadlines anyway. Then, they would come to the College Office or 7C1 and ask the same questions that were answered in the email.
ii. Mr. Kaelin added that a lot of things weren’t written in the booklet. Ms. Mazzone’s college presentation was one of them. He also advised the other classes to think ahead for the next year and have things planned out.
G. Club/Team Budget
1. Clubs must send a representative to the monthly Club Team Council (CTC) Meetings.
i. Eugene proposed that SGO should have the right to freeze the accounts of those clubs that don’t attend the CTC meetings.
ii. David and Alex agreed that SGO should reserve this right.
iii. Jacob asked if we could come up with a less severe punishment.
- Alex agreed and added that last year, the Swim Team had a meet every time there was a CTC meeting and no one was able to attend.
- Eugene added that of course there will be exceptions to this rule. Clubs must provide SGO with a valid reason for their absence.
- Mr. Williams responded by saying that teams like that could be excused or Ms. O’Hara could recruit a representative from her PhysEd class and give him/her extra credit for attending the CTC meeting and filling in the rest of the team.
2. Budget has been approved.
3. Mr. Williams added that clubs that didn’t hand in their charter will not receive funding until their charter is handed in.
H. Stoked Plus
1. How much should SGO give Stoked Plus? Why?
i. Sharmy and Eugene proposed $2000
- Eugene supported his proposal by saying that, since Stoked Plus asked for $4,000. SGO should provide them with half the money they requested and they can fundraise the other half on their own.
ii. Linda proposed $1000
- Linda supported her proposal by saying that because Stoked Plus is a new club and we don’t know if they will be able to execute all the ideas they mentioned in their presentation, we should give them a $1,000 to be safe.
- David disagreed and added that new clubs need more money to get started.
iii. Jim proposed $1500
- Compromise between the other two proposals.
2. Because none of the three proposals received a 2/3 vote, Dania asked us to further discuss.
i. Alex told us to keep in mind that SGO needs to give money to teams that go to the Nationals. That’s why we need to watch how much we give to Stoked Plus.
ii. Jacob proposed that SGO should give Stoked Plus $1000 and look at their progression and later give another $500.
- Sharmy disagreed and said that it is unfair for other clubs and teams. Jacob’s idea is similar to putting the clubs and teams on probation.
3. Execs voted on Sharmy and Jim’s proposals because these two proposals received more vote.
i. Unfortunately, none of the proposals received the 2/3 vote and we had to continue our discussion.
ii. Sharmy said that $1500 will help Stoked Plus function better than $1,000.
- David agreed and said that giving the extra $500 won’t make a big difference to our cushion.
iii. 11 out of 15 votes were for Sharmy’s proposal.
- Stoked Plus will be given $1500
- Alex will write a letter to Stoked Plus
I. Selling SGO Cards during Parent Teacher Conferences
1. David will ask CSA members for help selling SGO Cards during the afternoon PTC meeting
J. SGO Cards
1. Eugene thinks it’s unfair that the seniors, juniors, and sophomores that didn’t buy a card each year, now has to pay $40, $30, or $20. Since this school is a Title 1 school and half of the students are below poverty line, they won’t be able to afford to pay this much. Students should pay $5 for each of the past SGO cards.
i. David said that it’s too late now. Students already purchased the cards and it will be too much of a hassle to refund everyone’s money.
ii. Mr. Williams agreed and added that we wouldn’t know which card to charge $10 and which card to charge $5.
2. Eugene’s proposal has not been approved.
K. Ms. O’Hara’s Elevator proposal
1. TABLED
2. Mr. Williams told Dania not to add this to next week’s agenda.
III. Mr. Williams’ Notes
A. Feedback about the Speaker in the Freshmen Election
1. The speaker talked about his Competitive Edge Theory
i. He told the freshmen to think of their life as a business and each decision in their life should be treated as a business decision.
ii. Our freshman visitor said that although the Speaker’s advice was helpful, he should make it more relatable to kids our age. She also added that the auditorium was very noisy.
B. Reminder for Carolyne
1. School Safety meeting is this Wednesday
C. NSBE dance will be held in room 2C3.
D. NETS tickets Giveaway
1. Mr. Williams has 100 tickets for the NJ NETS v. ATLANTA HAWKS game
2. Students must answer trivia questions to win these tickets.
i. Answers emailed during school hours will be disregarded because students are not supposed to be using their phones during school hours.
E. Mr. Williams is looking for the best writers in Tech
1. Writers are needed to write about Politics, music, or current events.
2. A school from NY and a school from LA will compete in this essay competition.
i. Essay topics will be posted on myspace daily.
ii. Articles will be judged by well known writers
3. Rewards
i. A prize for EVERY student in the school and a Concert by a popular artist.
IV. Open Agenda
A. Freshmen Execs
1. We will know who our freshman president is within a week.
2. Beginning of November, freshmen executive board will be participating in SGO meetings.
B. First Floor Bulletin Board
1. Execs need to email their picture to Sharmy ASAP or else their Tech ID picture will be used instead!
C. Student Government Logo on the back of ID Card
1. Dania will email Mr. Williams a list with the names of SGO members and he will send it to Mr. Fanning to have the SGO logo printed on the ID cards.
D. Council on Leadership and Student Activities (CLSA)
1. Mr. Kaelin said that this conference is held every year and is a three day event.
2. Participants have to pay $100 for the registration fee and $198 for food and room.
3. PROBLEM
i. NHS induction and the end of the marking period are near the date of this conference.
4. 5 people were interested in attending this event.
5. To encourage more members to attend, Ikra said that when you attend the LEAD conference, you meet students from all over the nation and some of the fundraising techniques in other states, might not work in our state. However, in the CLSA conference upstate, you will get to meet students from all over New York and their fundraising idea will be more helpful.
V. Reminders
A. Open House is on Tuesday at 5:45 pm in front of 7C!
B. Sharmy will email Mr. Asher about Alumni endorsement.
C. School Safety meeting on Wednesday!
D. Vote for SGO Hoodies!
E. Fill out SGO contact info google doc
F. Please do not leave the meeting room without getting permission from the Speaker and please do not use your phones during the meeting.
VI. Adjournment
A. Next Meeting: 10/21/10
