Council May Revise Bicameral System student Council refcmn has been the topic of recent informal discussion among SC representatives. Many have become disappointed in the present twohouse system and hope to revise it or drop it completely. Student Council is currently split into two houses: the Upper House, which consists of complex leaders, and the Lower House, which consists of homeroom representatives. The houses usually vote as a whole, thus making no use of the two house structure. V/ben Student Council does vote by houses, one house can
Vol. 8, No. 8
veto the other. Such voting occurs either at the discretion of the president or when any member calls for "division of the house." Many members feel that SC should use the two-house system completely. Mr. J. N. Anderson, sponsor, has suggested that the two houses should meet on separate days. On the original purpose for a bicameral Student Council he commented, "When we wrote our constitution, we modeled it after Maine East's. They have two houses; so do we." An alternate suggestion has
been to eliminate the two-house system completely and have Student Council sit as one body. One way to accomplish this, according to Mr. Anderson, is to "eliminate the c o m p l e x leader position." The Upper House would be eliminated, leaving the Lower House as the Council. Many representatives feel that "division of the house" is often called for when a representative feels a proposal would or would not pass before Council as a whole. Mr. Anderson points out that the complex leaders have the
Maine Township High School South, Park Ridge, III. 60068
Jan. 21, 1972
Baccalaureate To Continue As a result of a vote taken by the Board of Education last fall, baccalaureate services will be conducted this June before graduation. Although results of the vote differed in each of the three Maine high schools polled (Maine North wasn't included), the overall outcome was positive. Baccalaureate is a non-mandatory religious service conducted the Sunday before graduation for graduates and their families. The administration chooses a minister to deliver the interdenominational service. The "ballot" for the vote consisted of a letter accompanied by two color coded IBM cards, distributed to the parents of high school seniors and the students themselves. If continuation of the ser\'ice was desired, the card of a specified color was put in a return envelope. The same procedure applied to casting negative votes. The vote was taken because Maine East students indicated that they wanted to discontinue the baccalaureate. There has been a decrease in attendance at baccalaureate services at
Maine South, West and East in recent years. At Maine East, only 25 per cent of the students attended the service last year. The overall vote was slightly better than 50 per cent in favor of continuation. In the Maine South area, a higher percentage of parents indicated that they wanted to keep the service. Mr. Elbert Smith, dean of students, sees baccalaureate as a tradition. "This is the last time all of the students are together for some sort of religious teaching," he said. Dr. Clyde K. Watson, principal, supports the service. He feels there is "something good in baccalaureate," so he encourages students to attend. Lynne LaJone '72 said, "I voted yes because it's always been optional. For the people who want it and the people who believe in it, it should be there." Linda Braun '72 and Glenn Smith '72 also favored the service. "It's like a united send off because God is what unites them. It serves as an inspiration," said Linda. Glenn felt it was a good thing to have. Other seniors held opposing views. "I'd rather listen to the
valedictorian or salutatorian, who would say something more meaningful to my class," said Linda Peterson. Nancy Doney feels baccalaureate is a waste of time. "A lot of people want to keep it for tradition, but I don't think they should," she commented.
learned of the Evans Scholarship. Steve applied for the scholarship during his junior year. To qualify, a caddy must rank in the upper quarter of his class, be an outstanding member of both his school and his community and have caddied for two or more years.
During the year's first CoFac meeting, held all day Dec. 16, the question of a revised physical education program was raised. The possibilities of having no PE, pass-fail gym or elective physical education were all discussed. According to Mr. Robert Simonson, assistant principal. Section 27-6 of the Illinois School Code states that "All pupils enrolled in the public schools shall, as soon as practicable, be required to attend physical education classes daily." Mr. Simonson believes that the word "shall" indicates that PE class-
He must also demonstrate a financial need for the scholarship. The scholarship will pay for Steve's tuition and fees. Although he will live in a dormitory for his first semester at college, Steve will live in the Evans house for the rest of his four years. The Evans house is a special fraternity house set up especially for Evans scholars. Steve will attend Indiana University, where he plans to major in business and finance. A member of the South golf team, Steve would also like to continue playing golf while at Indiana.
First Ever: Speakers Capture Top Trophy
1
St*vÂŤ Colnitis oxplains th* dotails of the Evans Scholarship he received.
Student Council: to get the most people involved. He says that "power in the hands of a few is worse than in many." Jay believes that a reduction in the size of Council would produce poorer representation. Judy Iwata disagrees with Jay, saying that "With fewer representatives, there would be more competition; hence, harder work and better quality." She claims that a change is needed because representatives are not reporting to the homeroom and bringing back ideas. A final suggestion has been to continue the present election system whereby each homeroom elects four representatives, one from each class, but with the entire complex voting as a imit in Council, llus would reduce the number of votes in Council from 50 to 10. It has been further suggested that any tie could be broken by a vote of the committee chairmen. However, many representatives are hesitant to give a vote to committee chairmen, since, despite the fact that they do most of the work, they do not directly represent the students. Committee chairmen are elected by Student Council, and few, if any, members of Council wish to put the chairmen up for a general election. Any of these changes would have to be accomplished through an amendment to the Student Council constitution. This would require approval of Student Council, the sponsors, the administration and, finally, a majority of the student body.
PE Program, Appeals, Lounge Discussed at First Co-Fac Day
South Student Named Evans Scholar Steve Colnitis has been awarded the Evans Scholarship by the Western Golf Associaticoi. Steve is one of 70 Chicago area caddies to win this scholarship. He has caddied at the Park Ridge Country Club for five years, and it was through the club's pro shop that he
most power in Council, but are the smallest in number and often do the least amount of work. He notes an inequity in the fact that the committee chairmen who do the most work do not have a vote. Judy Iwata, V-Show Chairman, feels that the complex leaders should be kept, but should also be given positions as assistant committee chairmen. Judy has also suggested reducing the Lower House in size by having each homeroom elect only one frosh-soph representative and one junior-senior representative. She feels that a smaller Council would be more efficient and effective than the present one. SC Secretary Lynn LaJone, feeling that a smaller CouncU would improve its quality, since only those who wished to join would. Many members feel that this year's council has too many apathetic members who retard Council's progress. A major objection to proposals for a smaller Council is that it would cause problems with the homeroom reports. The lack of homeroom reports in many complexes has been a major complaint in Council this year. Bill Baumgartner, C-122 comple:. leader, feels that there are actually few apathetic representatives. Neither does he believe that a reduction in size would "get rid of those who don't work." Jay Rasmussen, SC Treasurer, feels that any reduction in size would defeat the aim of
For the first time in Maine South history the Contest Speakers took second in a tournament involving 22 high schools. The competition was held at Dundee High School in Carpentersville. 111. Karla Jennings took first place in Dramatic Interpretation and first in Oratorical Declamation.
es are not left on an optional basis. Physical education could only be totally eliminated or restricted if a school were able to prove to the state that no physical education facilities suitable for teaching w e r e available. An elective PE p r o g r a m would enable a student t o choose the particular sports he is interested in, as long as they meet the requirements stated in the Code. "However," Mr. Simonson stated, "although such a program would be wonderful, it would also be expensive, cumbersome and difficult to schedule and organize." As for the possibility of passfail PE District 207's definition of 'pass-fair would have to be altered first. At present, no course required for graduation may be taken pass-fail. When asked if there might possibly be any changes in the physical education system in the next few years, Mr. Simonson remarked, ""Though I'm sure that changes will occur, those in the near future will have to be fairly inexpensive due to the present austerity program." Lynne LaJone, Student Counc i 1 Secretary, commented, "Physical Education shouldn't be dropped completely, but I don't believe it does any good for those kids who don't like gym, since they only make the class difficult for their classmates who do." Several students commented that the policy in the lounge allowing freshmen and sophomores to attend only in the afternoon should be re\ised. It was also pointed out that under certain conditions students should be able to appeal a suspension before serving it. At present, a suspension may be appealed only after it has been served.
In general, Lynne felt that "The Co-Fac meeting was worth while in that it started people talking. However, many were all too willing to just complain without making constructive suggestions." When Co-Fac was to be dropped after the establishment of the Triangle of Power last year, Mike Goerss, Student Council Vice-President, s u ggested that it be kept on since Triangle of Power often h a s closed meetings with a limited number of people involved. Mike commented, "Co-Fac promotes student responsibility, gives teachers an opportunity to see and speak with students out of the classroom, enables students to see their teachers away from the blackboard and gives an opportunity for the formulation of ideas and suggestions for school improvement."
City To Register IB-Yr.-Olds Now 18-year-old South students may now register to vote. Registration may be completed at either City Hall or the Office of the County Clerk in the Cook County biiilding downtown. To register, a citizen must be at least 18 years of age, a resident of his state for at least 6 months and a resident of a Park Ridge voting precinct for at least 30 days. If these requirements are met, he fills out and signs a form and takes an oath testifying to the validity of the information given. He then may vote in local, state and national elections. Park Ridge students who are away at school may obtain absentee ballots from either Park Bidge City Hall for local elections and from the Office of the County Clerk, Edward J. (CONTETOED ON PAGE 3)