Doesnât keeping them secret sort of defeat the purpose of bylaws?
^^ Yes, sir.
According to this, there should be a member handbook:
http://www.nhs.us/resources/how-to/manage-your-chapter.aspx
Another heated controversy revolves around band kids being able to use their involvement in the schoolâs theater production as service hours. People who shovel their own driveways also get hours for that.
Are you familiar with organizational governance or even Robertâs Rules of Order?
The bylaws are the rules of your organization.
Are you saying that they are not made available for review by the members? If that is the case then it is likely your chapter is in violation of the national organization rules.
Or, are you saying that you just donât know what they are and are trying to run the organization by petition?
No one knows what the bylaws are except for the advisor.
Have you requested that copies of the bylaws be made available?
We wouldnât âhave enough paperâ.
And donât even get me started about our website that hasnât been updated in ages.
I think you should refer these issues to the national office for investigation and resolution.
Another member of NHS confronted the advisor at a meeting about the election. He said that he wouldnât allow for a re-vote and that if we wanted anything in NHS to change, we would have to talk to the principal. He wonât listen to anyone but the principal, and even then itâs only because heâs obliged to.
For some reason he still wants to see the petition in person (he has only heard about it from other people thus far).
âFor some reasonâ??? I think the reason is that he wants to know what youâre talking about-- what the petition says.
And of COURSE heâs going to listen to the principal. The principal is his boss. If thereâs any way heâs going to invalidate an election because the one who lost the election is protesting it, you had better believe heâs going up the chain of command.
In his shoes, I would do the exact same thing. And I would have a real issue with being told that an election that everyone knew about, that no one protested ahead of time, is invalid because some students-- who apparently were ALL going to vote for the same candidate??-- had a conflict with an exam and none of them thought to mention it ahead of time.
I would NOT want to be the teacher who had to explain this to the current winner or her parents. Personally, I think itâs a rotten thing to do to someone who won the election by getting more votes.
Being moderator of NHS is a lot of work without this type of hassle.
And, for what itâs worth, the 600 NHS members in my school havenât seen our constitution either. If anyone had a question and chose to ASK it-- as opposed to âConfrontingâ me- I would be happy to let him see it.
STAY IN NHS.
NHS is a way to show to colleges that you are a qualified student. Although your membership wonât necessarily get you into a particular school, it will through up a big red flag of it is not on your resume, and possibly put your out of the running for admission into a school. I have seen this happen in the past and would recommend you tough it out till next year.
I said âFor some reasonâ because he already stated that he wasnât going to approve the action we were petitioning for. Why would he still want to see the petition? What does it even matter at that point?
I can empathize with you, as I lost my own chapterâs presidential election just in the last week. Though it stings, you have to swallow the pill and move on. While you might have very well won in a vacuum, thatâs how the cookie crumbles at times, and principal intervention wouldnât bode well for the legitimacy of the club, nor would it be fair. As to resigning, it would show that you wanted something from NHS (a title/resume builder) and that when you didnât get it, you quit. And you would have no way to put a positive spin on it in the eyes of an admissions officer.