2ND STUDENT COUNCIL MEETING

WITH MRS. PEART (28/4/2010)

GENERAL NEWS

Starting from later this month, Facebook on the GSIS wifi network will be inaccessible
during certain times of the day. It will be restricted between 7:40 - 1:15, and 2:00 - 3:20.
However, in the near future, the school aims to allow access to Facebook during
breaktimes as well.

New microwaves have been approved by Dr. Prinz and Mrs. Peart and they are tracking
down the money to buy them.

Rulebook is going to be updated together with the Student Council.

Food committee is to meet once before the end of the year to decide on the new caterer.

DESCRIPTION

This document will provide a brief overview of the topics covered in this meeting.

1. Implementation of a new student council committee

2. Food committee
3. Implementation of house system
4. Creation of official noticeboard
5. SAT tuition
6. Mice at the library
7. Student opinion
8. Technical issues
9. Student council section on the school website

German Swiss International School

 TOPICS OF DISCUSSION

1. Implementation of a new student council committee

Having decided how to create this new student council committee, there are a number of
decisions that need to be made on when this will be done.

" -When should the head students put up posters advertising the available positions?

" " Beginning of next academic year.

" -Should there be representatives from both the German stream and English stream?

" " Ideally yes, need to talk to Raymond.

"

Decisions from the 1st meeting:

" -How will the board members be chosen?

Head student to put up posters advertising positions. People will apply for the
posts with a brief description of why they feel they are suitable. Panel consisting
of head students and teachers will decide which students get the board
positions.

" -What recognition will they receive?

" " Will receive “Student Council Board Member” on their report

" -How many board members, to cover which categories?

4 board members to begin with. (2 for food, 2 for music, also, responsibility for
the notice board)

2. Food committee
We have discussed to suggest to Dr. Prinz that the English stream head student receives all the
information as well as the German stream, so that there is understanding between the two heads.

" -Will the food committee be deciding which caterer GSIS chooses next year?

" " Yes, food committee will be meeting before the end of the 09-10 year to decide.
" " Student will be represented by head students, and the list of applying caterers
" " will be released early to receive student feedback before the final decision.

3. Implementation of house system

Last meeting, we discussed that a house committee should be formed, preferably with Mr. Munt
as managing the system. There are several decisions that have to be made on how this is carried
out.

" -When will the school start advertising the post for the house system manager?

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" " Starting from next Tuesday

-Should the students mention to Mr. Munt that we feel he would be the most fitting
candidate now?

" We should draft up a support letter and get signatories from students that show
" that we feel he would be the best person for the job

-Should the creation of the house committee be at the beginning of next year, or later
on?

" At the beginning of next year, we will go back to having “house meetings”, e.g.
" Tiger house will meet up at the old gym. Lion House in the courtyard, etc, and
" we will vote for the house captains.

-How will the house committee members be chosen?

" All house captains will automatically be in the house committee, they will have
" a responsibility to make sure that the house system runs smoothly and
" efficiently, and work closely with the house co-ordinator.

Decisions from the 1st meeting:

" -Will there be a house committee?

Yes there should be a house committee. However, first, we need to get a teacher
in charge. Post will be made available again, Mr. Munt is the ideal candidate. He
was not at school when Mr. Barket took the job, hopefully he will be interested.

" -How many members from each house?

" " 2 members from each house.

" -How will the house committee members be chosen?

" " To be decided later

" -What would their jobs be?

" " They should make sure events are organized smoothly.

-Is it possible to move inter-house basketball to before the Easter break, as it is the most
popular sport in our school?

Talk to P.E. teachers

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 4. Creation of official noticeboard
We agreed that an official noticeboard is very important in order to make people alert of which
events are going on, as one of the main problems at GSIS is that there is often a lot of confusion
about dates of events. What is the situation with getting space for the noticeboard?

" -Has there been any news about where this noticeboard could be?

" " Yes, the noticeboard will be at the front of both the lower and upper building,
" " and will be monitored by the student council committee. It will most likely
" " replace some of the posters that are stuck up from events happening outside of
" " school.

"

-Could the noticeboard have three sections: news from the student council, events
happening this week, and future events?

" Yes, this is the most likely format that the board will take. Top priority will be
" to keep it dedicated to our school activities, and clear.

Decisions from the 1st meeting:

" -Is the board allowed?

" " Yes

" -Is there space for the board?

" " Space to be made

" -Who will monitor the board?

" " Board members will monitor the board

" -Who can post events on the board?

" " Head students as well as head of charities

" -What should the format of the board be?

" " Events this week, with date. Future events. News.

5. SAT tuition
I have spoken to the head of Capstone and he said that although they would much rather they
were allowed to run their program alone, they are willing to share it with Kaplan, and are also
happy to pay the school, just like Kaplan. Capstone is extremely keen on getting a teaching
position in the school.

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" -How are they going to both teach at the same time?

" " Capstone and Kaplan will teach during different terms of the school year.

"

" -How do we officially allow Capstone to teach at GSIS?

" " The school is contacting Kaplan to inform them of the school’s decision to no
" " longer have them run a monopoly. After this, Capstone will be contacted by the
" " school.

Decisions from the 1st meeting:

-What is the reason behind our school using Kaplan?

10 years ago, Kaplan and Princeton review. Kaplan was very flexible. The school
gets $1000 for tuition fee.

" -Is there a possibility of Capstone teaching at our school?

" " Yes, but hard to get Kaplan to leave. Perhaps they can both teach.

6. Mice at the library

The mice at the computers in the library are often very sticky and unpleasant to use.

" -Possible to regularly clean the computer mice in senior library (sticky)?

" " Yes, the issue has to be brought up with Mr. Deuchars but it should be easily
" " solved.

7. Student opinion
Often for important decisions at school, for instance, whether Facebook should be blocked,
students do not have an opportunity to voice their opinions on these issues. Although we
understand that the teachers may not necessarily listen to the students, we still feel that it is
important that students are able to have their views represented.

" -Can there be a way for students to express their views on such issues before the final
" decisions are made, so that the teachers and decision makers can understand the full
" situation?

" " Yes, from now on, before announcing large decisions, the student council will be
" " informed so that they can receive feedback from the students before the
" " decisions are carried through.

" "

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 8. Technical issues
Last meeting, we acknowledged that these issues are important. There are times at school when
things break down. E.g. locker is stuck, the tap in the toilet is spluttering. In situations like these,
students should know where to go to find help.

" -How can it be implemented that the secretary tells the students where to find help?

" " A list/table has to be created to be given to the secretary in each building that
" " has a “problem, contact number” format. The secretary will then call the
" " responsible staff member depending on the problem and the student will
" " receive help in that fashion.

" -How can students find out about the new situation?

" " Once progress on this issue is made, it will be posted on the noticeboard, and
" " also, as soon as a “student council” section is created on the school website.

Decisions from the 1st meeting:

" -What is the available assistance for these problems?

" " Talk to secretary, needs to be implemented.

" -How can they be easily accessible by students?"

" " Needs to be made more accessible.

9. Student council section on the school website

We decided that it would be a good idea for the head student to have a section on the GSIS
website in order to notify students about the current progress and changes.

" -Who can authorize this?

" " Mrs. Peart has authorized the student council to have their own
" " “announcement” and “feedback” section on the school website

" -When should this be made available?

" " Starting from the next academic year.

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" -Should the school simply provide a link to another dedicated website?

" " No, the school will host the website. However, feedback and comments to
" " announcements may be managed by another website if necessary, as these
" " cannot be posted visibly on the GSIS website without first being
" " screened. Ideally, the website will" also report the statistics of student
" " opinion on different issues in the school.

-END OF MEETING-