April 8, 2020
With ExCo elections on the horizon, Junto asked the candidates for each position to tell us about how they would respond to a pressing HKIS issue, as well as describe their biggest policy initiative for next year. Below are the responses from the Senator of Discipline candidates, Alyssa Fan (11) and YongJae Lee (11).
Please describe your biggest accomplishments this year (in your current position).
Alyssa Fan As the Sustainability Officer this year, I was able to start the Sodexo tableware rental system, which allows for club leaders and other student leaders to rent Sodexo’s tableware when organizing any events (the rental fee is covered by Ms. Fine’s budget). With the help of the Green Dragons club, I was also able to create the Eco Campaign Committee, a group of passionate environmentalists constantly coming up with ways to promote various important issues. Together, we have been planning events (postponed due to campus closure) and sending out eco tips to the student body through ExCo’s Instagram story. If chosen as the Senator of Discipline, I will definitely continue to run these programs and also continue working with our amazing environmentalists to come up with new sustainability policies and initiatives. YongJae Lee I believe that my biggest accomplishment this year was being able to finalize a new way for the implementation of the dress code. I have been getting complaints from day one about the way that dress code was implemented throughout the school as some teachers would dress code more often than others, some students felt that they were getting dress coded more often, or teachers were feeling awkward towards dress coding certain people. I realized that the root of this problem was the fact that there was no one consistent way of implementing our dress code and no one was actually getting punished by being out of it. So I thought of a way which could solve all these problems. By using an online system much like the attendance that most teachers have. What should happen is when teachers are marking attendance for their class, they would obviously go around the room checking if the student is present, and teachers can clearly tell with a glance if someone is out of dress code or not. If this is so, the teacher can check the box that indicates the student was out of dress code, and the student and their parents will get an email stating that their child was out of dress code. And if this happens consistently the student will have to have a chat with Ms.Fine or other admin. In recent years, HKIS has struggled with campus cleanliness, especially in the new Student Center. How would you increase campus cleanliness?
Alyssa Fan Campus cleanliness is an issue that we have been constantly discussing in Senate meetings and Site Council meetings this year. One approach we have come up with as a whole (and what I would like to pursue if chosen as the Senator of Discipline) is to temporarily close the Student Center if it is terribly trashed. I feel that HKIS needs to follow through with their warnings to make change happen. But I do hope that we do not have to resort to this, especially because the majority of our students are responsible and respectful. Another approach I have in mind is to increase a sense of belonging, community, and thus, respect for each other and the campus by organizing community-building events. YongJae Lee This discussion has come up during site council and we have come to a conclusion that if the student centre was to be mistreated again, the school will have to close that area down for a day, letting the students know that they have mistreated the Student Center. I am also planning on bringing awareness about campus cleanliness through posters and a rap song, which I believe will grab people’s attention and make them aware of the cleanliness of our school. And I plan on releasing a teaser of the rap in my election video, which I hope people are tuning in for. Tell us about your biggest potential policy initiative.
Alyssa Fan
As the Senator of Discipline, I want to make sure that each and every student in our community always feels safe and protected. In the past, I have unfortunately witnessed incidents of bullying and harassment. I know how hard it can be to stand up for oneself or others, so I plan on creating a google form that students can use to fill out if they have any situations they are concerned about. The google form will be directly sent to counselors and Ms. Fine and will ensure a timely meeting to discuss the best course of action. Hopefully, this initiative will help students know that they are important and that any situation concerning them is a top priority for the school to address in a timely manner.
YongJae Lee
There is one big initiative that I would love to lead out on which is the:
An honour board. Where students chosen by the Senator of Discipline and admin can help with the problems that are occurring in student life, such as bullying, cheating, vaping, consistent tardies etc. I believe that this honour board will be able to solve problems in student life as groups of students can empathize and understand the students more in my opinion than any other adults can. With this new initiative, I believe that it can help guide students to be better, as they are getting reviewed of their actions by this group of students and a counsellor or an admin. And I believe that there are some issues that students would be happier to discuss with other trusted students rather than admins or teachers, which the honour board fits right in; a none judgemental group of students whose aim is to better student life on campus.