Now that we’re more than two months into the school year, everybody’s settled back into the routine of classes, sports, and school life. It’s a big change from last year’s hybrid learning environment and Student Council is getting the ball rolling on even more new developments. They have plans to improve many different parts of PDS, from the controversial new grading policy to fundraising events for sports teams. 

Senior Milan Shah, the Student Council President, spoke on the current proposals: “We recently broke up into committees to take on different projects. We divided into groups for the grading policy, Schoology and school announcements, school events, and smaller school projects.” Regarding the first point, Shah mentioned that they are in the early stages of reworking the grading policy from last year, which got rid of homework and participation grades across the board. Their plan is to collect data on how the student body and faculty feel about current policy, meet with the various department heads to discuss their implementations of said policy, and then present this data and a proposal for possible changes to the administration. 

Recently, you may have seen extra D-Tens in the theater lobby and other places displaying photos of various aspects of student life at PDS: arts, athletics, extra-curriculars, etc. While they were set up for the Open Campus event on November 14, these D-Tens play into Student Council’s plan to display student accomplishments, events, and announcements around the school to “reduce the clutter on Schoology,” as Vice President junior Nik Gandhi puts it. 

Student Council is also planning to implement changes in the community with plans to hold more events like the Junior-Senior volleyball and Cornerhouse Dodgeball games. Bigger-ticket projects aside, Student Council has a few other plans. They want to hold late-night winter season sports games, install speakers outside for fire drills, unlock some websites on school WiFi, allow excused absences for college visits, give students access to the athletic center after school, and host fundraisers for sports teams. 

Overall, the changes Student Council is proposing seek to improve the environment for students, whether it be with regard to academics, extracurriculars, or community building. The emphasis is on that last point as we return to semi-normal school this year.