by Jared Perlo
Members of the Student Faculty Administration kicked off their legislative year Wednesday, Oct. 24, gearing up for a long year of debates and proposals.
The SFA discusses issues pertaining to the student body and is comprised of students, faculty members and parents at this school.
As the legislative year was wrapping up last year, Lucia Grigoli ’12 proposed a bill that would allow students to access Facebook and other forms of social media during school hours. She argued that students use Facebook for a multitude of important reasons, including to share information about homework, to ask fellow students questions and to facilitate collaborative group projects more easily.
After weeks of debate, members approved Grigoli’s bill on the condition that a use policy would be constructed to ensure that students do not abuse their access to the website.
Therefore until recently, before SFA had its first meeting this year, students were able to access Facebook on school computers and on the school network. However, in its second meeting, the assembly voted to veto the bill until the use policy had been created.
Junior Ned Martenis, said that in his second year on SFA he is looking forward to “moving ahead on the social media bill by writing an acceptable use policy which will promote the values of this school’s community.”
As a result, a subcommittee has been formed to write the agreement and will report back to the larger body at the SFA’s next meeting.
Also in the SFA’s cross-hairs is the completion of the student union, which is nestled in the corner of the cafeteria. Last year, the creation, design and implementation of the student union was one of the SFA’s top priorities.
Through an arduous effort, members of last year’s SFA came up with the idea of creating a student union in order to cut down on inappropriate use of the Library Learning Commons, as many students go there simply to hang out with their friends.
After mulling over the problem for many weeks, during which several subcommittees met and deliberated over the proposed student union’s details, representatives decided to hold a student-led design contest for the student union, which junior Liran Bromberg, a member of the SFA, won.
Painting of the student union began late last year, and the SFA also ordered several sets of tables and chairs to line the cafeteria’s window overlooking the concourse and the multipurpose field.
Members of this year’s SFA are hoping to continue work on the student union, and this year the the group’s priorities regarding it are “finishing it in general and ordering all of the furniture,” according to Martenis.