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Student Council Constitution

by Buddy Derfelt

Columbus Unified High School Student Council Constitution

Preamble

We, the students of Columbus Unified High School, in order to promote maximum school unity, participation, a better understanding between the faculty, administration, and the student body, and those desirable qualities necessary to insure respect for school policy, do hereby establish this constitution for our student body.

Article I

Section I. The name of this organization shall be known as the Columbus Unified High School Student Council.

Article II

Section I. The purpose of this organization shall be as follows:

To provide a means by which the principles of democracy and good citizenship may be learned and practiced.
To promote the general welfare of the student body and the school.
To join together the student body and the administration and serve as one voice.
To provide opportunities for members and students to serve the community of the district through public services.
To promote good relations between Columbus Unified High School and other Schools.

Article III

Section I. Membership

The Student council shall be comprised of a student council President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, the prior years Durbin award winner, each class’s President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and four representatives from each class.

The Freshmen will elect their class officers at Central toward the end of their 8^th grade year.

During that time not only the 8th graders but also the current 9th, 10th, and 11th grade students will elect the next year student council representatives and officers.

Section II. Terms of Office

All representatives and officers shall hold office for one year beginning with the last meeting the year they are elected until the last meeting of the next school year for. Officer’s terms begins the last meeting of the year they are elected until new officers are elected and take office themselves the next year.

Section III. General Qualification and Disqualification of Members

Qualifications

Must have a 3.0 overall Grade Point Average before elections. All members must also maintain that GPA during membership or they will be removed from membership roles.

They must be present at Columbus Unified High School at least 5 hours a day. Unless excused by a school administration.

Each member shall do the work assigned to him or her at the time assigned by the President, Committee leader, or Sponsor.

Volunteer and participate in meetings and committees.

To maintain good student/administration relations.

To welcome and help orient new students and assist them in becoming acquainted with the school. The Guidance Councilor or Office Personnel will request that a Student Council member show the new student around the school.

Interact with all students while setting good examples for them to follow.

Share opinions and ideas of the student body with the Student Council and Administration.

Make and vote on motions and Student Council regulations.

Student Council Officer Qualifications

President- Must be a Senior during office. Must have served on Student Council for two years prior to running for president in the general election. Must have been a Class or Student Council officer. Must meet all requirements to be in Student Council.

Vice President Must be a Senior or Junior during term of office. Must have served on Student Council for one year prior to running for vice president. Must meet all requirements to be in Student Council.

Secretary- Must be a Sophomore, Junior, or Senior. Must have served on Student Council for one year prior to running for Secretary. Must meet all requirements to be in Student Council.

Treasurer- Must be a Sophomore, Junior, or Senior. Must have served on Student Council for one year prior to running for Secretary. Must meet all requirements to be in Student Council.

Disqualifications

Three unexcused absences may permanently disqualify any member from Student Council; after three absences, the member must appeal to the Council to be reinstated. After one unexcused absence they are placed on probation.

An unexcused absence is defined as missing any event sponsored by student council. (ex. Dances. Assemblies, fundraisers….)

The Student Council, by two-thirds vote of its membership, may eliminate a member from Student Council.

Disciplinary problems (ALC, Suspensions, excessive Write-ups) concerning any Student Council member or officer will place the member/officer on probation for the rest of the year or permanently disqualify that member/officer, at the discretion of the sponsor, administration, or from Student Council. (A two-thirds majority vote is needed to take a council member off probation)

If a Student Council member/officer’s GPA drops below the 3.0 limit, they will lose their voting member status for a 2-week period. If the GPA has not risen in that time period, the member/officer will be disqualified from Student Council until they get their GPA back up. After that, the member/officer must appear before the Council to be reinstated.

If a student council member is on probation and breaks one of above disqualification standards they are removed from Student Council membership. It then takes a unanimous vote by the Student Council to re-instate them. They are allowed to plead their case before the vote.

Section IV. Qualifications and Disqualifications of Class Officers

Qualifications

Class Officers are under the same limits as regular Student Council members.

In addition to these an officer may be disqualified from office if they do not perform their duties of said office as explained in Section I of Article IV of this constitution.

Article IV

Section I. Responsibilities of Student Council Members.

Presidential responsibilities

Presides over meetings

Votes in case of a tie

Will represent Student Council or Student Body when needed

Oversees operations of all committees

Shall remind those that are neglecting their duties

Shall call special meetings with consent of sponsor

Shall appoint all committees with advice of Council

Plans agenda for all meetings

Represents Student Council at School Board Meetings

Send out proper notice for all Student Council meetings.

Work with committees

Shall attend the leadership conference at Emporia State University during the summer or any other summer leadership conferences.

Vice-Presidential responsibilities

Calls special meetings when necessary with consent of sponsor.

Presides in absence of President

Becomes President if position needs to be filled

Assist President in carrying out administrative duties

Shall monitor weekly duties

Shall represent the Student body at school board meetings as requested by the President

Assumes the position of public relations director

Work with committees

Shall attend the leadership conference at Emporia State University during the summer.

Secretarial responsibilities

Prepares agenda to give to all members at meetings

Keeps complete records of Student Council activities and meetings

Post information and communications in office or in display box for the benefit of the student body

Maintains all Student Council correspondence

Take attendance at meetings

Record points earned by members for lettering purposes.

Work with committees

Send thank you letters to people or organizations

To read the minutes from the last meeting when asked by President

To post the minutes of all meetings on the bulletin board or in office

Shall attend the leadership conference at Emporia State University during the summer.

Treasurer responsibilities

Proposes budget to Student Council

Keeps records of all financial transactions

Keeps complete financial records and submits reports to Council at each meeting

Supervises any money transactions performed by Student Council (dances, fund raisers, etc.)

Shall take the records of Student Council meetings in absence of secretary.

Works with committees

Shall attend the leadership conference at Emporia State University during the summer.

Representatives and Class Presidents

Shall attend each meeting, unless excused, and bring back suggestions from the student body.

State their ideas discussed about in their classroom and take Council ideas and discussion back to their classrooms

Shall function as their class’s voice in all meetings

Shall do the duties assigned to them and function in their assigned committees

Interact with students and administration

Share opinions and ideas

Make motions in meetings

Durbin Award Winner

Shall attend the leadership conference at Emporia State University or the local Leadership conference during the summer.

Shall function as a member of Student Council.

Shall not be a voting member of Student Council unless elected to do so in the general election.

Class officers (Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer)

Shall function as a member of Student Council.

Shall not be a voting member of Student Council unless elected to do so in the general election.

Section II. If an Officer cannot attend the leadership conference at Emporia State University or the leadership conference that is held locally during the summer it is their responsibility to find a replacement from the non officer members of Student Council.

Section III. All Members of Student Council are to read and know the parts and powers of this Constitution.

Article V

Section I. Student Leadership And Character (SLAC)

A five-member committee will be formed in Student Council to run the SLAC organization at CUHS.
SLAC will be an open enrollment organization that will deal with community service, school spirit, and leadership.
Members shall be any student who wishes to join SLAC by signing a contract with the Student Council to participate in the SLAC group. The five-committee leaders are automatic members in SLAC. If any other Student Council members wish to join they will need to sign the SLAC contract.
Members will earn points in SLAC by performing the following tasks:
1. Supporting school functions – this is defined as attending any school function that is not mandatory for said student to attend. (Music Festivals, Sporting Events, Fund Raisers, ETC.)
2. Performing community service – cleaning yards, helping community organizations, ETC.
3. Cleaning the School Area – picking up trash, painting rooms, and helping in the basic school beautification process.

Members will earn points by doing tasks. When they reach a total of 100 points in a school year they will earn the right to wear a SLAC T-Shirt donated by Student Council. If 150 points are earned in school year they will be eligible to attend a ropes course or similar activity to be determined on a yearly basis.
Points in SLAC are determined by using the following table:

Non-Mandatory School Function	6 points
School Function after Mandatory requirement is met(for example Band members staying after band is done)	4 points
School cleanup after/before school	2 points
Painting room	*
Community service	*
Helping community functions	*
* Means that the amount of points is determined by the size of the tasks done. This will be presented to the Committee and they will vote on each to assign points earned by SLAC member

Students who join SLAC and have disciplinary actions against them while at Columbus Unified High School will be placed on Probation.
1. Guidelines to be placed on probation in SLAC:

Three ALC assignments in one year.

Suspension from School

Not attending 80% of SLAC meetings.

Not participating in 80% of the school and community projects.

Not participating in 50% of SLAC meetings that they attend.

Guidelines for SLAC members placed on probation:

They will not have an unexcused absence to a meeting.

They will not have an unexcused absence to a service project.

They will not have another ALC assignment.

They will not be suspended from school.

Failure to comply with the probation guidelines will mean that a member on probation will be expelled from SLAC. If the expelled student feels the circumstances deem it they can call a probationary hearing by the SLAC committee of Student Council to plead their case over their expulsion from SLAC.

Article VI

Section I. The Constitution and Legislation

The constitution may be amended at any meeting there is at least two-thirds of the total Council members present. It then takes a two-thirds vote of the members in attendance for any changes to occur.
To change a newly created article in the constitution the Student Council must wait for two years to give said article time to be tested or a by a unanimous vote by the Student council.
Voting on motions brought forward at meetings will be accepted by a simple majority vote unless it attempts to change the constitution or is dealing with inter council disciplinarian action. They then follow the voting restrictions put down in this constitution.

Article VII

Section I. Queen Contest Participation (Changed in the spring of 2006)

In the annual Homecoming Queen selection process four candidates from the Senior class shall be nominated by the participating team by secret ballot. The four candidates will then be voted upon by the entire student body for the selection of Queen.
1. An attendant from the Junior, Sophomore, and Freshman classes will also be nominated. They will not be competing for a crown but will be recognized as being a person of good standing in their class that has been selected by the members of the participating team.
2. An attendant can be nominated to be only once for each sport.
3. An attendant can be nominated only once a year to do so.
The Sports that have a homecoming Queen selection process are: Football, Wrestling, and Basketball.
A girl may not be nominated twice in her senior year for a Queen.
By following this design there will be twelve different candidates nominated for different homecoming queen competitions each year.
The returning Queen from the previous year will crown the winning candidate and the attendants selected by the participating team shall crown the three other candidates.

Section II. Spring King Contest Participation

The Spring King shall be a male senior in a spring sport. There will be one candidate chosen from each of the spring sports. (baseball, track, tennis, golf). Once the candidates are chosen by the teams in a secret ballot nomination, the school will hold an election to choose the Spring King.

Section III. Method of selection

Every player in the participating team will be given a list of the eligible girls for each sport.
Each member of that team will pick four Senior girls to be Queen candidates and then one Junior, one Sophomore, and one Freshman to be attendants to the Queen candidates.
The election will be during first and second lunch the day before the appropriate homecoming day.

Article VIII

Section I. Meetings

Meetings will be held as scheduled at the beginning of the year, or as called by the President to deal with special needs.
Members are excused from a meeting if they are:
1. Excused absence from school
2. Attending a special activity (Testing, Important Project, Test review)
3. Or have prior approval by the sponsor or a Student Council officer ahead of time.
4. This is the responsibility of each member to check in to see when meetings are and get and excused absence.
5. Students must check in with the student council secretary before any scheduled event to keep from being considered as unexcused. The notice must be at least one day in advance to the event.
After the Summer Leadership Conference CUHS STUCO will set up and run a Summer Leadership Meeting for the following area Schools: Baxter Springs, Riverton, Galena, and Southeast. Invitations will be sent out with the date of the one-day area Student Council meeting. The purpose of the meeting is to share ideas with the area schools. This is also a way to unite area Student Council members and to help school relations.

Section II. Vacancies of members

If a member can no longer participate before April 1 of any given year, there will be a special election to fill the slot with the class involved.
If an officer is no longer participating, the process will go as follows.
1. Vacancy of President filled by Vice-President who acts in full capacity
2. Vacancy of other offices filled by appointee of the president with the approval of the Council.
3. If any individual is used to fill and officer slot their representative slot shall then be filled by special election.

Section III. Administrative powers

The principal shall have veto power over all Student Council actions and shall appoint the sponsor.
The Sponsor shall be presented with Student Council functions before they are presented to Principal. If they are not acceptable to the Sponsor they can send them back to committee before presentation to Principal.

Section IV. Lettering in Student Council

Lettering In Student Council

A member of Student Council will need at least 150 points per semester or 300 for the year to letter in Student Council.

Student Council members will be given a Student Council T-Shirt at the first of the Year and be expected to wear it regularly throughout the year. This is so students can get to know who their Student councils are and who to talk with to get motions brought before Student Council.

The points earned or taken away shall be distributed by following this table:

Performing Assigned Duties	20
Committee (Large)	10
Committee (Small)	5
Summer Leadership Program	50
Meetings	5
Dance set up and clean up	10 each
Other points can be voted on by committee	*

d. Demerits shall be handed out as such:

Not performing Assigned Duties	-20
Late for meetings	-4,-3,-2,-1 (depend on amount of time late)
Unexcused absence from meetings	-5
Other demerits can be voted on by committee	*

Elections

The Student Council shall serve for one year and shall remain in office until the new Student Council takes office at the last meeting of the year.

Write in candidates are not allowed. To run for an office they must fill out the appropriate forms and have the signatures of support as well as meet any requirements for said office.

The description of Class Officer jobs will be the same as the Student Council officer’s jobs but will pertain to their class meetings and functions only. The only difference occurs during Senior year: the Senior class officers shall be responsible for setting up the reunions and class functions during their senior year as well as their normal officer duties.

Campaigning

Each candidate shall be limited to 5 posters or fliers to be put up at CUHS, and 2 at Central.

The appropriate principal must sign each poster or flier before it can be placed in the halls.

No derogative remarks about other candidates can be on the posters. Even general negative descriptions will not be allowed.

There is no limit to the number of cards a candidate may give out.

There is to be no campaigning within 50 feet of the voting booths on Election Day.

Each student shall vote in a private area with no one assisting him or her in his or her vote. This will be done during first and second lunch.

Absentee ballots must be requested 24 hours in advanced and completed the day before the election. After second lunch on Election Day no more votes will be accepted.