Introduction and Schedule

Community time is provided at The New School with the following mission statement:

The purpose of community time is to improve and benefit our school community by working, playing, and communicating. Thus every student should be involved in some action or activity that benefits the community.

Given that objective, the following rotating schedule has been established for community time. As in the past, community time is open to change and alteration at the will of the school community.

In addition to these activities, Color Team events and Grade Level Meetings are also considered part of a student’s community investment. These items occur outside of the usual Wednesday rotation, with Color Team events occurring irregularly (sometimes on the fifth Wednesday of a month), and Grade Level Meetings occurring at either scheduled times during the year or during lunch as necessary. Taken out of this schedule are Color Team events and Grade Level Meetings.

Committees
Committees are the fundamental mode of action in the school community. If a student wishes to accomplish something - set up a peer mediation system, stop school theft, plan a social event, or help keep the school looking beautiful - committees are the way that he or she can be involved. Committees are the level of student government where most things get done. Each student selects one committee to serve on for a full quarter. Students may choose to change at the quarter by submitting a change of committee request to the Committee of the Meeting. Otherwise it is assumed that the student wishes to stay with the committee they are currently on. Students may not switch committees in mid-quarter.

Currently the following committees exist at The New School. It is possible to create new committees by a 2/3-majority vote in school meeting.

Fairness Committee - charged with finding justice for students and for the school community. Fairness undertakes this charge through the medium of Fairness Committees, Grievance Committees, Student Mediation, Peer Mediation, and Investigation.

Academics Committee - charged with providing student input into the academic life of the school. Includes advisement to the school on curriculum and scheduling issues, promotion of the importance of academics in school life, and assistance to those with difficulties through peer tutoring and other programs. Technology and use of technology would fall under this committee as well.

Admissions Committee - charged with representing student perspectives during the admissions process, promoting the school community, and assisting visitors and new members of the community. Its activities include admissions committees, student guides, assistance with Open House, mentoring of new students, and orientation.

Services Committee - charged with providing opportunities for student involvement in service to the school and to the community. Its activities include Crew (a chance to pitch in and help keep the school clean), School Service activities (such as lab assistant, tech assistant, etc.), and promotion of service activities outside the school and through the school.

Community Committee - charged with promoting and celebrating The New School community, and for providing positive experiences for all members of our community. Activities undertaken by the Community Committee include planning and execution of school events, activities, and fun things to do. This can run the range from a Winter Dance to Secret Holiday Givers to surprise doughnuts for breakfast Day.

Committee of the Meeting - this committee is charged with making student government work effectively and efficiently. This committee schedules community time, develops and sorts agendas for meetings, and in general acts as an executive body for student government. The membership of the Committee of the Meeting includes the Chairs of all of the other Committees, plus the Chairperson of the meeting, the Proctor (Vice-Chair of the Meeting) and the faculty advisor. The Committee of the Meeting does not meet during committee time, but after school or during lunch as they determine.

The committee structure and student government are closely entwined. Each committee has a chairperson and a vice-chairperson to run it and record its activities. The chairperson of each of the committees is elected in a school wide vote. The vice-chair of each committee is elected by the actual members of that committee. The chairperson has the responsibility to run meetings, create subcommittees and appoint leaders for those subcommittees, resolve disputes, and provide leadership. The vice-chair fills in for the chairperson as needed, and is also responsible for reporting the committee’s business to the rest of the school. Each committee vice-chair keeps an ‘action list’ of items that the committee is working on. The vice-chair posts this list on the committee’s bulletin board and goes over the list in detail during All-School meeting. In addition, the vice-chair works with the Committee of the Meeting to obtain funds for his or her committee.

In addition to the various committee chairs, the school body as a whole elects a Chairperson of the Meeting and a Vice-Chair of the Meeting. The Chairperson of the Meeting is the person who runs All-School meeting and Voluntary school meeting, and who sets the agenda for meetings and community time (with assistance from the “Committee of the Meeting”). The Vice-Chair acts as Secretary / Treasurer for the meeting, and is responsible for keeping notes on new policy that is passed, for running ballot voting and show-of-hands voting, and for disbursing and keeping account of school meeting money.

Elections
Elections are to be held for each Chairperson position (Meeting, Fairness, Admissions, Community, Academics, and Services).

Vice-Chairs replace their Chair if that student is unable to fulfill his or her duties, with a new student selected as Vice-Chair by that committee. Chairpersons can be impeached by their Committees with a 2/3 majority vote. Each committee should establish policies for impeaching or changing their Vice-Chair.

All-School Meeting
All school meeting is the time for all the committees to share information and for students to be made aware of and have the opportunity to object to any policies or activities that the committees are engaged in.

Information is presented by each committee about their activities and progress since the last meeting. Each committee has an ‘action list’ of issues or programs they are currently acting on. Students may raise objections in the open forum of All-School Meeting. If any student raises objections to the action of a committee (or of the school meeting), he or she may demand a full discussion of the item in Voluntary school meeting.

Ex.: The Services Committee is engaged in developing a school-wide fast day to raise awareness of hunger. The “Hunger Strike” is on their action list and is scheduled to occur later in the year. If a student raises objections to the Hunger Strike, they can demand a school meeting topic on the event. This school meeting would occur during ‘Voluntary’ School Meeting. The meeting would discuss the topic and could, with a full majority vote, kill the idea.

In addition, the faculty has a check on Committee actions through the ‘action lists’. Each week the Chairperson of the Meeting will make a report to the faculty meeting and provide full lists of all the action lists of the committees. Any faculty member may call for faculty discussion of any item on the action list, and the faculty as a whole may veto an action. Vetoed actions can either 1) not be done or 2) be altered to be more acceptable and resubmitted to the faculty.

In general, All-School Meeting is not seen as a time to discuss issues, but a time to review the work of the Committees and to applaud their efforts and police their powers.

Voluntary Meeting

Voluntary meeting should be recognizable to experienced students as very similar to meetings of the past. This is the time for discussion, in-depth analysis, give and take, and hashing out compromise. Since it is indeed a voluntary meeting, students will have other alternatives during this time, including study hall and working in community service roles (lab assistant, etc.) Topics would be placed on the voluntary meeting agenda as a result of questions being raised about actions taken by committees.

Voting
One issue that remains to be worked out by the school meeting is voting. It may be that voting is not necessary most of the time, and that committees can simply carry out their wishes unhampered. Clearly if an objection is raised to a committee action, then a vote of the voluntary school meeting, or a vote of the faculty meeting, would be sufficient to quash the action. Or a committee might decide to alter or adjust its action based on discussion from the school meeting. It is important that any issue brought to voluntary school meeting include a written proposal of action that can be discussed. The meeting can approve, disapprove, or disapprove with suggestions. The proposal might then be readdressed after changes are made. The school meeting needs to discuss and establish clear voting procedures.