Royal Palm Beach Community High School

National Honor Society

Chapter Bylaws
The Royal Palm Beach Community High School Chapter of the National
Honor Society was established as a means to promote recognition for
students who reflect outstanding accomplishments in the areas of
academics, character, leadership and service. Its goal is to promote
and seek higher levels of learning and ethical responsibility through
the exchange of ideas, talents and behavior. Members of the National
Honor Society are to use their talents to help the community in the
spirit of volunteerism. Members are expected to exhibit, support, and
promote constructive student behavior and activities and to serve as
role models for their peers.
Article I
Purpose
The purpose of this organization shall be to create enthusiasm for
scholarship, to stimulate a desire to render service, to promote
leadership, and to develop character in the students of Royal Palm
Beach Community High School.

Section 1:

Article II
Membership
Membership in the Royal Palm Beach Community High
School Chapter is an honor bestowed upon a student.
Students will be notified of their eligibility for membership
and will complete an application for consideration. The
Faculty Council and Executive Board evaluate completed
applications and selection will be based on outstanding
scholarship, character, leadership, and service. Once
selected, members have the responsibility to demonstrate
these qualities.

Section 2:

Membership shall be known as active and graduate. Active

members shall become graduate members at graduation.
Graduate members shall have no voice or vote in chapter
affairs.

Section 3:

Candidates become members when inducted at a special

ceremony.

Section 4:

A National Honor Society member who transfers to Royal

Palm Beach Community High School will be accepted
automatically into the Royal Palm Beach Community High
School Chapter upon presenting documentation from the

former principal or chapter advisor. Transfer students have

one semester to meet Royal Palm Beach Community High
School Chapters standards in order to retain membership.
Section 5:

Section 1:

Membership who resigns or are dismissed is never again

eligible for membership or its benefits.
Article III
Selection of Members
To be eligible for membership, a candidate must be a
member of the tenth, eleventh, or twelfth grade classes.
Candidates must have been in attendance at Royal Palm
Beach Community High School for the equivalent of one
semester.

Section 2:

Candidates must have a cumulative Grade Point Average of

at least 3.50 on a 4.0 scale and two honors classes, or a
cumulative Honors Point Average of at least 3.70 on the
scale used by the Palm Beach County Schools. Candidates
shall then be evaluated on the basis of service, leadership,
and character. Two service projects must have been
completed or 25 documented hours of community service
upon entry into the Honor Society.

Section 3:

The selection of each member to the chapter will be by

majority vote of the faculty committee. The decision of this
committee is final.

Section 4:

The
present
school
principal
should
seek
a
recommendation from the previous school principal
pursuant to the candidates selection. On the basis of the
recommendation of the previous principal, the Faculty
Council may waive the semester regulation.

Section 1:

Article IV
Dismissal
Members who fall below standards, which were the
basis of their selection, shall be warned in writing
and placed on probation. Members will then have
the equivalent of one semester to correct the
deficiency. If any senior falls below the above stated
GPA or HPA after the first semester concludes, their
membership shall be monitored each nine weeks in
which the must achieve a 3.7 GPA or 3.9 HPA. Failure
to do so will result in termination.

Section 2:

Any flagrant violation of the rules of the school or the

National Honor Society may be automatic grounds of
dismissal. Examples of violation include suspension from
school and academic dishonesty.

Section 3:

Any student facing dismissal may request a hearing.

Section 4:

The requested hearing must be typed letter itemizing the

disputed issues and returned to the NHS advisor within two
weeks of receiving notification.

Section 1:

Article V
Dismissal Hearings
In the event a hearing is requested, the Faculty Council will
hear the evidence pertaining to the matter in question.

Section 2:

Decisions of the Faculty Council will be final unless

otherwise indicated by the school principal.

Section 3:

The Chapter Secretary will also be in attendance for the

purpose of providing documentation.

Section 1:

Article VI
Chapter Officers
The offices of the Royal Palm Beach Community High
School Chapter of the National Honor Society will consist of
a chapter president, vice-president, secretary, treasure,
editor, parliamentarian, historian, and social director.

Section 2:

Members of the eleventh grade will fill the office of the

chapter president and vice president for FY98 and twelfth
for subsequent years. The remaining offices are open to
members of any grade level. (See Amendment VII)

Section 3:

Beginning FY99, election of officers will be held on the last

meeting of the school year. Newly elected officers begin
their duties for the next academic year.

Section 4:

Beginning in 2008, elections will be held during the fourth

nine weeks. Newly elected officers will shadow current
officers for the remainder of the year and begin their duties
for the next academic school year.
Article VII
Executive Committee

Section 1:

The executive committee shall consist of the officers of the

chapter and the chapter advisor.

Section 2:

The executive committee shall have general supervision of

the affairs of the chapter between its business meetings,
make recommendations to the chapter, and determine and
perform such duties as are specified in the chapter bylaws.
All actions and recommendations of the executive
committee shall be subject to the review of the chapter
membership.

Section 3:

The executive committee shall have the responsibility for

ensuring that chapter activities and procedures follow
school policy and regulations.

Section 1:

Article VIII
Responsibilities of Officers
It is the responsibility of the president to conduct all
business meetings, maintain an agenda, head the
Advertising and Information committees, write a
Presidential Corner for the newsletter, and help plan
service projects.

Section 2:

It is the responsibility of the vice-president to maintain

contact with the president, to serve as president in his/her
absence, write a column for the newsletter, head the
Induction committee, and help plan service projects.

Section 3:

It is the responsibility of the secretary to take attendance,

take minutes at meetings, maintain accurate records of
meetings, projects and service hours, keep correspondence
with the National Honor Societies, keep records of
elections, discussions and amendments, write a column for
the newsletter, and head the Communications committee.

Section 4:

It is the responsibility of the treasurer to maintain an

accurate record of dues and collection, make deposits,
report financial information at meetings, write a column for
the newsletter, and head the Fundraising committee.

Section 5:

It is the responsibility of the editor to produce and

distribute the meeting newsletter that will go out to the
members as well as the local community papers and the
program for the induction ceremony. The editor is also
responsible for schedule and running Blood Drives.

Section 6:

It is the responsibility of the parliamentarian/historian to

keep Roberts Rules of Order, take attendance in the
absence of the secretary, repeat motions of amendments,
run all of the votes taken by the chapter, maintain a log of
topics discussed at meetings, write a column for the
newsletter, help plan service projects, and produce a
chapter scrapbook.

Section 7:

It is the responsibility of the social activities director to plan

and organize seasonal socials for members, work with the
historian and create a calendar of events for the school
year, set up and organizes the Relay for Life service
project, and writes a column for the newsletter.
Article IX
Meetings
The Honor Society will meet every other Wednesday of
each month at 3:00 pm. The meetings will be
approximately 30 minutes in length and are mandatory.
Members may not claim any community service hours for
the meetings.

Section 1:

Section 2:

Roberts Rules of Parliamentary Procedure will be observed

at each meeting. The Parliamentarian is responsible for
enforcing these rules.

Section 3:

Members may miss 3 meetings in a semester. If a member

misses more than three meetings in a semester, the
member will be placed on probationary status and will
have one semester to correct the deficiency. If the
probationary status is not corrected by the end of the time
allotted, the member shall be removed from the chapters
organization.

Section 4:

An officer may miss 2 meetings in a semester. If a member

misses more than two meetings in a semester, that officer
will be placed on probationary status and will have one
semester to correct the deficiency. If the probationary
status is not corrected by the end of the time allotted, the
officer shall be removed from the chapters organization.

Section 5:

In the event that a member has a competition/game/meet,

the member must provide a printed schedule of the
competition/games/meet, in which case the absence is
excused and does not count against three absences. In the
event of a practice, members must stay for a minimum of
15 minutes.

Section 1:

Article X
Service Hours and Projects
Community service hours will be recorded each semester.

Section 2:

At the end of each semester, each member is required to

have 15 hours of community service completed and turned
in at the designated time assigned. Members are required
to turn in a copy to the NHS secretary and the original to
the guidance counselor.

Section 3:

Each semester, there will be a minimum of two different

NHS projects in which all members must be a part of in
acquiring community service hours.

Section 4:

Students who are assigned as a runner as a part of their

schedule may not use those hours as community service
hours.

Section 5:

Tutoring within the community is strongly recommended to

satisfy the service hours requirement.

Section 6:

If any member fails to participate in the two NHS projects

assigned per semester, then the member must complete
two extra projects per project missed. Any missed fifteen
hours of community service will rollover which will be extra
the following semester.

Section 7:

Failure to meet the service hour requirement will place that

member on probationary status. Members on probation will
have a semester to redeem themselves.

Section 8:

Community service projects lasts a minimum of three

hours in which the member must stay the entire three
hours.

Section 9:

Each project must be NHS authorized.

Section 1:

Article XI
Fees and Dues
Each member of the National Honor Society will be
required to pay chapter dues of $15.00 that will be
collected annually. Monies collected will be used to defray
costs incurred with induction ceremony, items for
graduating members and other expenses.

Section 2:

Students who fail to pay their dues during the first nine
weeks of the current school year will be fined an additional
amount of $5.00.

Article XII
Ratification
These bylaws shall be presented at the first meeting for ratification.
They will be adopted if they are approved by two-thirds majority vote
of the membership.
Article XIII
Amendments
These bylaws may be amended only by the action of the officers and a
two-thirds majority vote of the membership. All amendments adopted
by the said group will automatically amend these bylaws.

Amendment I
All members of the Royal Palm Beach Community High School Chapter
of the National Honor Society shall perform one hour of tutoring per
month. (Amended September 2003)
Amendment I A.
Tutoring must been performed per semester. (Amended September
2008)
Amendment II
The fifteen hour per semester community service hour requirement
may be broken up into any combination of community and school
hours. All members must perform at least one hour of school
community service. Failure to meet this requirement will cause the
member to be placed on probation. Continued failure to meet this
requirement will result in the termination of membership. (Article X,
Section 6 and 7)
Amendment III
The office of parliamentarian/historian shall be eliminated. It will be
replaced by two separate offices: parliamentarian and historian. Each
will divide the duties as previously described in Article VIII. (Article VIII,
Section 6)
Amendment IV

The office of Social Activities Chair shall be created for the purpose of
planning activities intended to promote camaraderie and fellowship.
(Article VIII, Section 7)
Grandfather Clause to Article III, Section 2
FY2003, 15 seniors currently on probationary status will have the 3 rd
Quarter grade constitute as a semester grade. Beginning fall semester
2003 and onward, all bylaws regarding cumulative GPA and HPA apply
for all members.
Amendment V
In maintaining order of member meetings, the Parliamentarian will give
one warning to disruptive members and charge $0.25 for each
disruption thereafter. If the monies are not paid to the Treasurer within
one week of the meeting, the member will be placed on probation for
Roberts Rules of Parliamentary Procedure infractions. (See Article IX,
Section 2)
Amendment VI
If a member signs up for any community service project or NHS function
and fails to show up on the day of the event, then two extra projects
for the semester requirement will result as the consequence. (See
Article X, Section 6)

Amendment VII
Anyone who runs for the President or Vice-President office must have
one years membership prior to running for this position. (See Article
VI, Section 2)
Amendment VIII
Any and all members who fail to fulfill or complete their assigned
committee task shall be required to participate in two additional
tutoring sessions in addition to the required number of tutoring
sessions.
Amendment IX
Any and all members who fail to wear their respective National Honor
Society shirt shall be penalized by the loss of an absence (with the
exception of being dressed out for an event).
Amendment X
Once a member is placed on probation they will be given 1 semester to
correct the deficiency in which they were placed on probation. One
semester shall constitute as a reasonable amount of time.