MCR Executive Board Meeting Recap

With students going back to school starting March 15th, a record number of people attended this month's Executive Board Meeting. The meeting highlighted several rising issues that many MCPS students are dealing with and each participant was heard. The outcry of underrepresented voices were heard- especially of students in the NEC consortium who represent the least amount of members on the executive board. MCR as an organization acknowledges the controversy relating to representation of NEC schools as well as their unique problems and valid opinions.

To kick off the meeting, SMOB Nick Asante gave his report. He explained the counties plan for reopening schools, changes in the graduation requirement for class of 2021, and a new commitment by MCPS to have all electric school buses. Following the SMOB report, the Special Elections Committee gave their updates on the MCR officer elections and explained the application process to the participants. MCR officer filings are open until March 20th. For more information on the election process and positions, check out the MCR constitution and election protocols or officer applications at https://www.mcrsga.com. Before breaking out into discussion of resolutions, one last item on the agenda was a presentation by climatedu. Climatedu is an asynchronous and informative climate education course geared towards middle and high school students. For more information you can visit https://climatedu.org.

Up next was a highly anticipated discussion on resolutions for inclusivity and opportunity. Due to the ongoing discussion, department breakouts had to be cut out from the agenda. The six resolutions discussed were: “Restrictions on sitting MCR officers ability to run for SMOB,” “Easier Impeachment and Increased Transparency” (of officers), “Executive Board Composition” (putting a limit of only x% of members form a school), “SEC Autonomy,” and “Easier Requirements to Run for Officer.”

Meeting participants were able to hear perspectives on the resolutions from many student voices across the county - including NEC ones due to an increase of attendance from student representatives of the consortium. All participants, whether by voting, speaking aloud or in the chat option in Zoom were able to advocate for their opinions and their peers on some imperative, much-needed ideas for improvement. For more information on each resolution idea, visit the MCR website and subscribe to the MCR newsletter.

After a failed motion to suspend the rules of the constitution and vote for the resolution restricting MCR officers, the meeting proceeded to the swearing in of two members into newly added positions. MCR welcomed Medhini Muralidharan as Equitable Education Task Force Coordinator and Solange Campos as Language Coordinator!

Finally, Ashley Morales was named member of the month for introducing the idea for the Language Coordinator position and reviewing applicants. At no surprise to attendees of any MCR meetings this year, spirit winner was once again Lucia Gutierrez! Ending on that note, March’s executive board was adjourned at 8:04, right on time.

Written by Norah D'Cruze

Published by PR Department