After last year’s SGA officers did away with an “outdated” constitution, President Michael Schwartz, Vice President Marcelo Morinigo, Treasurer Rafi Moersen and Secretary Rafi Norberg drafted a new constitution that they presented to the General Assembly on Nov. 27.

At the meeting, members of the General Assembly were allowed to request revisions to the draft. According to Moersen, officers will take the requests into consideration when they make their next revision to the draft. The constitution should be finalized by winter break, Moersen said.

After speaking with SGA advisor Fred Delello, SGA officers decided to create a new constitution in order to establish the purpose of the student government, as well as merge the procedures of the SGA, General Assembly and general laws and bylaws of the school.

“Right now, it’s kind of like the British Constitution where there are a bunch of different documents that say stuff like county requirements and what the advisors say,” said Norberg. “There’s nothing really set in stone so this will really lay down what exactly the SGA does, what the class officers do and what the rest of the student government does.”

Within the constitution are details of procedures and positions of the four SGA officers, class officers and General Assembly meetings. Another section being created will include the school’s traditions as well as a procedure for representatives to propose resolutions in the General Assembly. A change was made to the process of choosing class representatives.

“Instead of ninth to eleventh graders electing a representative from their [social studies] class and twelfth graders from their English class, we decided to have all representatives come from English classes to make it more uniform,” said Schwartz.

The officers have also proposed giving sports teams the opportunity to take part in the meetings and decision-making.

“We have now included a section that requires all sports teams to elect a representative to attend the General Assembly meetings,” said Schwartz.

In addition, the SGA is making it a primary goal within the constitution to establish social action as well as create committees within the General Assembly.

Ideas to mobilize the student body to get more students involved from other student government associations, such as class officers, will also be incorporated into this constitution.

“I’d like to see something in [the constitution] about informing and getting the input of the student population as a whole,” said Junior Class President Donald Borenstein. “Something like having the class representatives bring back sheets from every General Assembly meeting that ask for student input on the issues discussed at the meeting and handing them out to each of the students in their class.”

In a Nov. 5 General Assembly meeting, the SGA presented a draft that stated that only rising seniors would be able to run for President and Vice President and only rising juniors and seniors would be able to run for Treasurer or Secretary.

There have been other ideas such as allowing class officers to choose a chief of staff/sergeant at arms to serve as an aide to provide them with advice and keep them in line while not holding any actual voting power.

However, not everyone involved in the creation of the constitution agrees with the student government. Junior Gabe Schwartzman has been active in contributing to the constitution and is not terribly pleased with its progress.

“In the wider range of what the constitution is about, the SGA is neglecting their socially conscious goals or social action as part of their jobs,” said Schwartzman. “I find that unfortunate.”