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The Constitution:

    

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE
SENIOR MEN AND WOMEN SERVICE ORGANIZATION
OF ARCADIA HIGH SCHOOL

Article I: Name
The name of this organization shall be the Senior Men and Women Service Organization of Arcadia High School.

Article II: Purpose
Section I – The purpose of the organization shall be to promote service and leadership in the affairs of the school and community, dedicate itself toward the improvement of Arcadia High School, and honor and encourage academic achievement.
Section II – All actions taken by the organization shall be subject to the approval of the faculty advisors and the administration.

Article III: Sponsorship
The organization shall have four faculty advisors. The advisors will be responsible for the organization’s behavior at all functions. At least one advisor must be present at all functions unless otherwise approved by the activities director.

Article IV: Membership
Section I – Membership shall be limited to forty members of the senior class. The organization will be composed of an equal number of men and women. Each member must have an un-weighted GPA, from grades nine through eleven, of 2.5 or above at the time of application. An un-weighted GPA of 2.5 or above must be maintained for each quarter of the senior year. Each must also have no more than one “N” and no “U’s” on his/her most recent grade report. Grade checks will be performed by the organization’s advisors at the conclusion of each quarter. If a 2.5 GPA and/or citizenship and work habits minimums (stated above) are not maintained the consequences will be:
First Offense – Probation from the organization until the GPA is raised to a 2.5 and/or citizenship and work habits minimums are re-established
Second Offense – Probation from the organization until the end of that current grading quarter.

Section II – While on probation, a member is not allowed to wear the organization’s uniforms, attend the organization’s activities or meetings, or list the organization on any applications. Probation is ended when the member meets the requirements for which they are on probation.

Section III – Members shall be chosen in the spring of their junior year and will be initiated prior to the end of that year.

Section IV – If a twelfth grade student transfers from a foreign country to Arcadia High School as a certified exchange student, he/she will automatically be invited to be a member of the Senior Men and Women Service Organization of Arcadia High School. Only in this instance would the rules that limit the number of members in Senior Men and Women be disregarded.

Article V: Selection Process
Section I – A rigorous selection process will be held for all applicants for the Senior Men and Women Service Organization. Students who do not meet the minimum academic requirements at the time of application are not eligible to apply. Each applicant must have an un-weighted GPA, from grades nine through eleven, of 2.5 or above at the time of application. Each must also have no more than one “N” and no “U’s” on his/her most recent grade report. An applicant will be allowed to explain the “N” in the application. Each applicant shall be screened through the staff of Arcadia High School in addition to having attendance and discipline records reviewed.
In the spring, a selection process committee, which shall be made by the officers of the organization, will be formed to head the selection proceedings. They will determine the details of the process and will draft the application. The faculty advisors must approve of the procedure, the application, and the interview questions. No members shall be added to the organization after the original selections are made, with the exception of the circumstance described in Article IV, Section IV.

Section II – The application shall contain questions that the members of the selection process committee deem pertinent in determining the fitness of the candidate for membership.

Section III – The application will be distributed on the last week of school before spring break. It shall be returned on or before a date determined by the selection process committee. Late applications will not be accepted. The applications will be numbered and are not to contain any identifying information. Applicants who put any such information on their application will be disqualified.
A paper screening committee will be formed to look at each application. The officers of the organization must create this committee. Any member who has a younger sibling applying to the organization will not be allowed to be on the paper screening committee. This committee will review and score the applications, narrowing the applicant pool to the fifty top scoring men and the fifty top scoring women. If there is more than one applicant with the same score, this number may be greater that fifty. These top applicants will then be invited to be interviewed. Faculty and staff of Arcadia High School will be invited to look at the list of applicants in order to give input about the applicants’ fitness to serve as a member of the Senior Men and Women Service Organization. Their input will be taken into consideration when choosing those who will be interviewed.

Section IV – The interviews will be run by the interview committee, which will consist of as close to an equal number of men and women as possible. Only members of Senior Men and Women who can attend every interview may sit on the interview committee, with the exception of members who have a younger sibling being interviewed. Every member of the interview committee will have input.
The questions shall be formed by the interview committee and approved by the members of the organization. Members of the interview committee must attend all interviews to ensure fairness. Two different groups of the interview committee shall each interview one gender. A faculty advisor must be present at each interview, and will be responsible for keeping the proceedings fair for all applicants.

Section V – The application will determine which top fifty men and top fifty women will be invited to interviews. Once these top fifty men and top fifty women have been selected, their applications will no longer be used to evaluate the applicants. However, if there are 50 or fewer acceptable applicants of a single gender to be interviewed, then the application score will be used to account for 25% of each applicant’s total score. The twenty highest scoring men and twenty highest scoring women in the interviews will become the new members of the Senior Men and Women Service Organization of Arcadia High School.

Section VI – In spring, before the selection process, the constitution committee shall meet to write a contract that all Senior Men and Senior Women will sign. The document is an agreement to keep the selection process completely confidential.

Article VI: Induction
Section I – Members shall not be known until announced in a fashion approved by the administration and agreed to by the advisors. Each new member shall have a big brother or sister chosen at the discretion of the previous organization who shall support that new member’s induction into the organization.

Article VII: Officers

Section I – Officers shall be Women’s President, Men’s President, Women’s Vice President, Men’s Vice President, Bookkeeping Secretary, Publicity Secretary, Treasurer, Historian, and Webmaster. All offices may be held by either a man or a woman except for the two offices of President and Vice President, which must be held by one person of each gender. The officers will be elected in the spring of their junior year by a process which involves nominations followed by voting of their peers in the Senior Men and Women Service Organization. All officers must be members in good standing.

Section II –

* The Presidents shall preside over all meetings and will enforce the Operating Principles. When a major issue is up for discussion, the Presidents will appoint committee members and chairpersons when necessary. With the support of the advisors, the presidents will also act as official liaisons between the organization and outside entities.
* The Vice Presidents will act as official liaisons between committees within Senior Men and Women and the advisors. The Vice Presidents must communicate between both parties to ensure that deadlines are being met and that the committees are staying on task to fulfill their goals. The Vice Presidents also assist the Advisors in determining the legitimacy of unexcused tardies and absences, and enforce the dress code. They are responsible for filing all activity forms and facilities forms. The Vice Presidents may have other duties as assigned by the presidents or advisors.
* The Treasurer is responsible for collecting dues and fines, for paying reimbursements, and for keeping all transactions well documented. The Treasurer will give an oral and written Treasurer’s report when requested to do so by any member of the organization, an advisor, or administrator, or an officer as long as reasonable notice is given. The Treasurer must be part of all organization fundraising efforts. Only the Treasurer along with the advisor(s) will have access to the organization’s A.S.B. account.
* The Bookkeeping Secretary is responsible for keeping minutes and records of attendance at all meetings, service events, and fundraisers. He/She will work with the Presidents to ensure equal participation by all organization members, and will notify the Presidents of members who are remiss in their responsibilities. An accounting of service hours performed will be given to any member upon request after reasonable notice is given.
* The Publicity Secretary is responsible for publicizing all organization functions and fundraisers, which includes notices in the bulletin, posters, flyers, newspaper articles, and other notices as necessary. He/She will be responsible for notifying members of important information through the phone tree should the Presidents be unable to do so. He/She will assist all fundraising and event committees that will require publication. He/She may assist the advisors in applying to the proper administrator for permission for organization members to leave class when it is necessary to publicize anything in person
* The Historian is responsible for carefully documenting all organization activities through pictures, and will work with the yearbook staff to produce a Senior Men and Women page should the organization deem it appropriate. The Historian is also responsible for compiling the pictures which document the year’s activities into a DVD presentation that will be used at the recruitment meeting in the spring of each year. The Historian will work with the Webmaster so that pictures of events are available on the website.
* The Webmaster shall be responsible for any internet-related duties. This will include but is not limited to a website and other internet related media. Updated information about the organization’s activities will be posted for easy access on the organization’s website

Section III – The terms of the officers shall be the year during which they are members of the organization. The officers may need to meet separately in the course of their duties.

Article VIII: Duties of Members
Section I – The members of the Senior Men and Women Service Organization will determine organization policy within the guidelines of the constitution, discuss committee recommendations, work an approximately equal number of organization functions, attend all meetings, and act at all times in a way consistent with the prestige of the organization. The total number of organization functions that a member must attend shall be at least eight. Six of these functions shall be mandatory for all members (Graduation, Grad Night Clean-Up, Back-to-School Night, White Christmas Food Drive, Holiday Home Tour, and Blood Drive). The remaining two shall be the member’s choice. However, if a member is called upon to perform more duties by either an advisor or an officer; he/she is obliged to do so. All members have expressed a commitment to the organization by becoming a member and must therefore follow the rules and guidelines as set forth by this constitution. All members will sign a contract making this commitment formal.

Section II – The Senior Men and Women will have the power to suspend or expel a member by a two-thirds vote by secret ballot for conduct unbecoming a member. (This is to be decided on a case-by-case basis by the faculty advisors and the officers). In addition, when a member has three or more unexcused absences in a quarter, he/she shall automatically be expelled from the organization.
For an absence to be excused, a member must notify an advisor and/or the Bookkeeping Secretary twenty-four hours (or as soon as possible if there are unforeseen circumstances) prior to the meeting they will be missing, stating that he/she will not be attending and why. When a member’s excused and unexcused absences are greater than or equal to fifty percent of the total number of quarterly meetings, he/she will automatically come up for an expulsion vote unless there are extenuating circumstances that the officers and the advisors have discussed. Two-thirds of the organization voting for expulsion by secret ballot will result in expulsion. A member has a right to be notified by either one of the Presidents, Vice Presidents, or Secretaries when he/she is close to reaching either the twenty-five percent or fifty percent mark.
Members who are expelled or come up for a vote are no longer members in good standing and lose the right to claim membership in the organization in any method including on applications and resumes, and will not receive formal credit for service performed.

Section III - A member is considered tardy to a meeting when he/she arrives to the meeting after roll call has already commenced. The following are the appropriate consequences for unexcused tardies:
Unexcused Tardy to a Wednesday Morning Meeting or Other SME Event: If a member walks into the meeting after roll call has commenced, he/she will be required to pay a tardy fee of 50 cents per minute to the treasurer. The tardy fee must be paid before the next Wednesday morning meeting or a specified date given by the treasurer. If the member fails to pay the fee by the third week, volunteer service hours will be taken away from the member as deemed fit by the presidents and advisors.

Section IV – Tardies with an excuse shall be judged on a case-by-case basis by the Advisors with the assistance of the Vice Presidents. If the Advisors or Vice Presidents deem that the excuse is legitimate, then the tardy will be excused. Ultimate discretion is given to the Advisors.

Article IX: Meetings

Meetings will be held each Wednesday morning at 7:30 AM in the room of the advisor, unless otherwise determined by the officers and/or advisors. The presidents, faculty advisors, or committee chairpersons may call additional organization or committee meetings when necessary. The amount of notice to be given to the members will be decided on by the members of the Senior Men and Women Service Organization, but should be as soon as possible before any meeting.
Article X: Dues
Section I- The members of the Senior Men and Women Service Organization will determine the amount of dues and payments as they become necessary. The amount of dues is subject to inquiries by any member of the organization. Dues may include any fees for uniforms or other financial obligations that the organization decides to undertake apart from fundraised monies. The officers may set fines if necessary. The organization may not leave any financial obligations for future organizations.

Article XI: Uniform
Section I – On days determined by the Presidents or on organization meeting days the Senior Men and Women will wear outfits representative of their membership in the organization.
The formal outfit of the Senior Men shall be a burgundy blazer, solid white dress shirt and appropriate tie, solid black dress slacks, hard-soled, black dress shoes, black socks, and a nameplate.
The formal outfit of the Senior Women shall be a burgundy blazer, a solid white button-down collared dress shirt, a solid black skirt (of appropriate length) or full length solid black slacks, solid shoes that may be open toed, and a nameplate.
The casual uniforms will be an embroidered navy polo shirt, which identifies the member, khaki slacks, skirts (of appropriate length), or shorts, and athletic shoes or sandals. Flip-flop sandals will not be acceptable, however. All uniforms should reflect the prestige of the organization.
Section II – Appropriate consequences for failure to wear the proper uniform must be adopted by a majority of officers before the end of their junior year. If a member or advisor has another commitment that requires formal dress, they may wear their formal dress instead of the casual dress. However, they will not be allowed to wear casual dress on days when formal dress is required.

First Offense: The member will be required to bring breakfast pastries such as donuts, bagels, and cupcakes to the next Senior Men and Women meeting.
Second Offense: The Vice Presidents shall have a discussion with the member. The member will be required to bring breakfast pastries such as donuts, bagels, and cupcakes to the next Senior Men and Women meeting.
Third Offense: The Advisors shall have a discussion with the member. The member will be required to bring breakfast pastries such as donuts, bagels, and cupcakes to the next Senior Men and Women meeting.
Additional Offenses: The officers and advisors shall use their best discretion to deal with further uniform offenses.

Article XII: Amendments
Amendments may be requested by a motion by any member of the Senior Men and Women Service Organization. A constitutional amendment committee will be formed to discuss possible amendments. Possible amendments will be discussed at two separate meetings. A two-thirds vote is necessary to ratify any proposed amendment. All amendments must be approved by the Executive Council as well.

Article XIII: Ratification
This constitution shall be ratified by a two-thirds vote of the Senior Men and Women Service Organization. After passing ratification within the organization, the constitution must be ratified with a majority vote by the Executive Council of Arcadia High School.

©Senior Men and Women 2007-2008