Community Council Hopes to Pass New Constitutions Through Upper School
August 15, 2015
This year, Community Council has sought to play a larger role in day-to-day life in the Upper School at PDS. So far, Council has taken many steps to achieve this, such as leading Announcements, drafting new constitutions with the help of a Constitutional Committee, and introducing charging kiosks.
As the constitutions are being finalized, many students have been angered by the proposed merging of the Secretary/Treasurer and the Vice President positions in both Community Council and in each grade. Sophomore Secretary/Treasurer Ziad Ahmed expressed his frustration at the suggested merger by drafting a petition that pleaded with Community Council not to go through with this idea; it got almost two hundred signatures. Dean of Students Elizabeth Monroe commented, “I can’t speak for Council, but I really don’t believe that the petition was the only reason that merger was voted down, since most of the students who signed did not even attend council meetings.” However, she admitted that the “copious amount of signatures” might have influenced council enough to give the merger a second thought.
Although many students disagreed with the merger, some felt it was a good idea. Community Council Secretary/ Treasurer senior Grace Lee said, “I voted for the merger of these positions on Tuesday because in my many years in student government, in my grade and in student council, I have seen how much of an overlap exists between the Vice President and the Secretary/ Treasurer.”
Last week, after weeks of debating and changing, the new constitutions were passed by Community Council. These new constitutions include many fundamental changes, notably the addition of a new student council that will act similarly to the former Community Council, as Community Council takes on a new role, which will involve students, faculty, and parents to aid in community decisions. Further, the new constitutions, changes some positions. A new “Student Life” committee has been added, which focuses on the performing arts, student activities, and clubs at PDS. This committee will include three student representatives from each grade and two co-heads. However, these changes cannot be carried out unless the student body ratifies the new constitutions
Many believe that having the student body vote on the new constitution is useless. “Students sow little to no interest in Council and are mostly not up to date on the Constitutions’ provisions; it [will] basically be a highly uninformed vote,” commented Lee. However, Council decided to go through with the idea of getting input on these major changes.
