{"id":19751,"date":"2023-01-16T14:15:14","date_gmt":"2023-01-16T19:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/?p=19751"},"modified":"2023-01-17T21:47:51","modified_gmt":"2023-01-18T02:47:51","slug":"constitutional-convention-held-to-address-issues-with-student-government-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/constitutional-convention-held-to-address-issues-with-student-government-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Constitutional Convention Held to Address Issues with Student Government System"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On Thursday, January 12, around 50 J-DHS students convened in the auditorium. Why? It was the second meeting this year for the school\u2019s Constitutional Convention.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An initiative led by the school-wide Student Government, the objective was \u201cto reform the current Student Government to make it more equitable, accessible, and fair,\u201d according to Mark Bratslavsky (\u201823), the co-president of the current Student Government, which helped coordinate the event. Two meetings were held last year to discuss the student body\u2019s thoughts on the current government system, and Thursday\u2019s convention was this year\u2019s second meeting which goal was aimed to figure out a new government system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the writing of the constitution itself is still in progress, Bratslavsky was able to provide the completed preamble of the document: \u201cWe, the students of Jamesville-Dewitt High School, will uphold the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and representation for every student. We pledge to promote school spirit, communicate effectively, and make the school a positive environment for all. We vow to respect and honor the will of the student body and the ideals of our constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event, open to all students, was a success. Bratslavsky says, \u201cThe vibe was formal but informal – we communicated through parliamentary procedure but everyone knew each other and were open to new ideas. At first, it was difficult to get everyone on the same page but we were able to compromise in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Participants in the convention also seemed to enjoy the meeting. Sophomore Addie Bufis says, \u201cI really liked the Constitutional Convention, I thought it was really nice to hear so many peoples different opinions on what they thought needed to be changed within our school\u2019s government system.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
image shows multiple students who attended the convention. Photo credit Mark Bratslavsky (’23)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Student Government co-director of communications Brian Tollar (\u201825) felt that the meeting was important to hold for the school. \u201cThis is such an important time in our school\u2019s history, because the constitution that is developed from these conventions will be used for decades.\u201d Bratslavsky concurred, saying it\u2019s crucial that \u201cwe listen to as many ideas as possible, so we can come up with a government system that the majority is satisfied with in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tollar also stressed the importance of patience in the process, “We want to make the student government very productive and reachable, so every decision we make needs to be a thoughtful one. Writing an entire constitution doesn\u2019t take a couple of hours, so we will have more conventions in the future. Although it may seem like a slow timeline, it is important to know we need to look at this from every angle and compare constitutions from other schools.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you were interested in participating but unable to attend, don\u2019t worry: the process is ongoing, and ideas are always welcome. \u201cWe have not scheduled the next convention, but we again encourage anyone to join the next one and share their opinions,\u201d says Tollar. Until next time, the participants of the convention will continue to research and devise an impactful and effective solution to the problems of student government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Thursday, January 12, around 50 J-DHS students convened in the auditorium. Why? It was the second meeting this year for the school\u2019s Constitutional Convention.\u00a0 An initiative led by the school-wide Student Government, the objective was \u201cto reform the current Student Government to make it more equitable, accessible, and fair,\u201d according to Mark Bratslavsky (\u201823), […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":19760,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,26,34],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19751"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19751"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19769,"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19751\/revisions\/19769"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}