THE CONSTITUTION OF THE POTEAU HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT COUNCIL (Revised 2004)

PREAMBLE: We, the students of Poteau High School, feeling the need of a representative body to manage the student enterprises, and recognizing the inherent right of the student body to assist in conducting its own affairs, do ordain and establish this constitution of the Student Council of Poteau High School.

ARTICLE ONE-NAME

The name of the organization shall be the Poteau High School Student Council.

ARTICLE TWO-AIMS

Section1: The purpose of the Student Council of Poteau High School is

1. To create higher ideals in citizenship, scholarship, and leadership.

2. To guide, and in a measure, control student activities and politics.

3. To create a better social atmosphere, to encourage true school spirit, and to  

     build up strong school traditions.

4. To develop a sense of civic responsibility.

5. To develop personality and train in independence of thought and action.

ARTICLE THREE-MEMEBERSHIP

The Student Council shall consist of members divided as follows:

One president, one vice-president, one secretary, one treasurer, one reporter, and twelve representatives (One male, one female, and one candidate with the next highest number of votes from each of the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade classes), and the class officers; One member of the high school faculty, appointed by the principal, will serve as the advisor. Foreign exchange students are ex-officio members of the Student Council. The high school principal is also an ex-officio member of the Student Council.

ARTICLE FOUR-ORGANIZATION

Section I. The officers of the Student Council shall be

1.      President-Senior and Previous member of Council

2.      Vice-President-Junior or Senior and Previous member of Council

3.      Secretary-Sophomore, Junior or Senior and Previous member of Council

4.      Treasurer-Sophomore, Junior or Senior and Previous member of Council

      5.   Reporter-Sophomore, Junior or Senior and Previous member of Council

Section II. The duties of said officers shall be as follows:

President

1. Leads or direct the group in its activities, and provides positive leadership.

2. Established communication between the council and administration.

3. Presides over general membership meetings.

4. Prepares the agenda with advisor and other officers of each meeting, posts

    several copies in the hall, and gives each Student Council member a copy at

    the meeting.

5. Ensures order through the use of parliamentary procedure.

6. Establishes committees as needed. Monitors the status and follows through on

    all committee work.

7. Organizes and forms the Gold Chapter work to be turned in at the end of the

     term.
 

Vice-President

       1. As the president's closest assistant and official replacement, the vice-

           president must be prepared to perform the duties of the president.

2. Helps prepare the agenda for each meeting

3. Distributes and collects all evaluations and surveys.

4. Takes over presidential duties when the president is unable to be present.

5. Serves in any capacity the president assigns.

6. Serves as committee coordinator-takes reports from each committee and

          presents them to the council.
 

Secretary

1. Records minutes at general meetings and turns in a copy promptly to the 

     advisor.

2. Presents minutes for approval at next consecutive meeting.

3. Keeps attendance records.

4. Keeps project records.

5. Keeps committee rosters and other officia1lists.

6. Handles club correspondence in a timely manner.
 

Treasurer

1. Plan the Budget.

2. Reconcile the Ledger monthly

3. Fill out Purchase Requisitions.

4. Pay Invoices.
 

Reporter

1. Deals with media, sparks publicity, and spreads the message of the council.

2. Heads any publicity committee formed for a specific event.

3. Submits press releases to the local and school newspaper.

4. Makes school announcements at designated times.

5. Responsible for making posters, hanging them up, and taking them down

    when a council event is over.

6. Keeps the Student Council scrapbook up-to-date.

Section III: The actions of the Student council are subject at all times to approval of the principal and advisor.

Section IV: A quorum of the Student Council shall consist of a majority of the members, provided the principal or the advisor is present.

Section V: Robert's Rules of Order shall be the guide for all parliamentary procedure.

ARTICLE FIVE-AMENDMENTS

Section I: Amendments to this constitution may be proposed by a petition with the names of two-thirds of the student body or by two-thirds vote of the Student Council. Amendments should be presented at general meetings. Decisions will be made at the next consecutive meeting after which the proposed amendment was presented, either by being read or by its distribution in writing.

Section II: Amendments must be approved by the administration and be ratified by a three-fourths vote of the Student Council.

ARTICLE SIX-ELASTIC CLAUSE

Number I: Eligibility

Section I: Officers

1. The president must be a member of the senior class and vice-president must be a member of the senior or junior class and must have no lower than a B average for the preceding semester. During the term of office, the president and vice-­president must not have a nine weeks grade lower than a C, and must maintain his or her B average.

2. The secretary, treasurer and reporter of the Student Council must be a member of the Senior, Junior or Sophomore Class and must have a B average or higher for the preceding semester and nine weeks. During the term of office, the secretary or reporter must have no grade lower than a C and must maintain his or her B average.

3. Each officer must have attended Poteau School the preceding semester.

4. Each officer must have at least one year of experience in the Poteau High School   
    Student Council.

Section II: Members

           1. Every Student Council representative and class officer must be passing in all 
               curricular and extra-curricular subjects and have at least a 2.5 GP A in            
               scholarship. This shall apply to the preceding semester and the term of              
               representation.

Section III: Disqualification

Upon the report of a credentials committee and verification of the report by the Student Council, with the principal or faculty advisor, any student may be placed on probation or disqualified for any of the following reasons.

1. Unbecoming conduct.

2. Absences from two meetings without cause.

3. Failure to meet the eligibility requirements stated above.

Number 2: Nominations and Elections

Section I: There shall be a student election of officers and representation in the Poteau High School at the end of the school year. All students (except seniors in high school at that time) are eligible to vote for the officers, but only members of his or her own class shall elect representatives and class officers.

Section II: Officer, representative, and class officer elections will be held separately, thereby allowing students who were not elected as officers to run for representatives or class officers.

Section III: A petition signed by fifty voters and five faculty members along with a 200 word essay will be handed to the advisor by the specified deadline.  This nominates each candidate for Student council president, vice-president, secretary, treasure and reporter.

Section IV: Each candidate for Student Council representative and class officer must be nominated by a petition signed by twenty-five voters from his or her own class and five faculty members and handed to the advisor by the specified deadline.

Section V: All elections will be held by secret ballot.

Section VI: A simple majority vote (51 % of the vote) will constitute an election to the Student Council. If no one receives 51 % of the vote, there will be a run-off with the two highest voting percentages.

Section VII: Freshman representatives and class officers will be elected within the first three weeks of school in the fall.

Section VIII:  Any previous student council member must meet a minimum point requirement to run in the next year’s election.  These points will be determined by how many meetings, fundraisers, conferences, and committees each student council member participated in for that year.

 Number 3: Organizations

Petitions for organizations at Poteau High School shall be made to the Student Council and shall be approved by that body and the principal before such organizations shall be made legal. No charters shall be granted unless the constitution of the organization is presented to the Student Council.