MACLAY UPPER SCHOOL
HANDBOOK FOR SPONSORS AND MEMBERS OF STUDENT ACTIVITIES
3737 North Meridian Road
Tallahassee, Florida 32312
INTRODUCTION
The Student Activities Program at Maclay School is under the supervision of the Dean of Students and the Interclub Council. As the student body has grown, the need for greater cooperation among student organizations has also grown. Moreover, faculty sponsors have ever-expanding responsibilities. This handbook delineates those duties.
PHILOSOPHY
We believe that students need to be recognized, need to feel a sense of belonging, and need to enjoy the companionship of their peers. A constructive student activities program at Maclay will assist in meeting these needs. A student activities program requires the wholehearted support of the faculty and administration. At the same time, sponsors should remember that student activities are student activities; sponsors must allow students to learn responsibility by designing and carrying out the plans for their activities themselves. The role of sponsors is to supervise, advise, and direct.
Extracurricular activities should enrich students’ lives by giving them opportunity to pursue old or develop new interests, skills, and friends. Ideally, activities should foster friendships, fellowship, cooperation, leadership, independence, creativity, and emotional and social growth.
Both advisor and student should benefit from an extra-class relationship. School spirit and morale should be lifted, and school and community relations should be enhanced. Faculty sponsors should become involved with those student activities which best suit their own interests and areas of experience.
Above all, activities should be meaningful, worthwhile, and enriching; they should help students to develop responsibility and become increasingly self-directing. Advisors should meet and plan regularly with student leaders to ensure these objectives.
SPONSORS’ OBLIGATIONS TO STUDENTS
1. Foster skills in planning and conducting meetings. This includes regular meeting times, conducting of orderly meetings, planning an agenda, responsibility of attendance, and delegation of tasks.
2. Assistance in organizing events and activities. This starts with the students’ (not the sponsor’s) conception of the idea for the activity and includes advice as to its feasibility, acceptance to faculty and administration, and plausibility within the school calendar and facilities. Teach students to evaluate activities, not just to repeat them because of tradition. Sponsors should keep a careful eye on assignment of student tasks to ensure that each club member is carrying his or her share of responsibility and that officers are learning to delegate and assign tasks rather than trying to do everything themselves.
3. Teaching students to work within the framework of a constitution and by-laws, accepting of rules, and following guidelines established by the school, the Interclub Council, or any community or national charter organization.
4. Accessibility: Sponsors are expected to be available to their student organizations for meeting or planning times.
5. Teaching cooperation, both within the club and with other clubs, faculty members, administration, and members of the community.
SPONSORS’ OBLIGATIONS TO THE SCHOOL
1. Sponsors must attend all activities of the organization: meetings, social events, practices, competitions, etc. If for some good reason the sponsor cannot be present, the sponsor must arrange for another faculty member (preferably) or a parent to be present.
2. While chaperoning student activities, sponsors must observe all proper conduct for a faculty member. Even on overnight activities, drinking by faculty sponsors is strictly forbidden.
3. Sponsors must carefully supervise all financial transactions of the club. This includes checking frequently with the Business Office about the financial standing of the organization and teaching students fiscal responsibility.
4. Remind club president in advance of Interclub Council meetings and attend all Interclub Council meetings with the club president.
5. Cooperate with other teachers in the scheduling of activities in order to:
a. avoid monopolizing the school calendar;
b. avoid scheduling activities that conflict with other clubs’ activities;
c. avoid disrupting the normal conduct of classes;
d. avoid scheduling club meetings on another club’s scheduled meeting day.
6. Any school dance requires the securing of the services of a deputy, in addition to the sponsor, several faculty chaperones, and an administrator. See Mrs. Stout to arrange for the deputy.
7. Any activity in either gym must be cleared with the Director of Operations. Fill out the online event request form at www.maclay.org/mastereventcalendar .
8. All organizations must allow ample time for the approval and scheduling of events. No activity will be scheduled with less than a week’s notice.
9. Scheduling of activities:
a). All school activities must be approved first by the club sponsor.
b). After securing approval from the Head of Upper School for your activity, submit the online event request form at www.maclay.org/mastereventcalendar. The Director of Operations will place your activity on the master internal school calendar. Consider the following items when planning a club event:
· Name of activity
· Date
· Start time and end time
· Location
· School facility/ies needed (if applicable)
· Grade(s) involved and approximate number of people.
· Number of chaperones
· Security needed or not
· Transportation needed or not
· If yes, how many will need to be transported? Type of transportation
· Other resources needed? Examples include tables, chair, microphones, and technology.
c). Activities affecting multiple divisions need to be approved by the appropriate Heads.
d). In the event of conflicts between the activities of two student organizations, the one scheduled first will take precedence. If possible, clubs should try to compromise and cooperate in order to share dates if necessary.
10. Sponsors must carefully supervise all fund-raising activities. Collecting of money and depositing it with the Business Office should be done responsibly and promptly. Our Advancement Office has asked that we not “nickel and dime” our Maclay families to death, so please consider carefully whether a request for money or a fund-raising activity is necessary or worth the trouble. Fill out the fundraising request form at http://www.maclay.org/domain/196 .
11. Turn in to the Dean of Students a list of all club officers and a copy of the club’s constitution and bylaws.
12. Monitor members’ grades. Any member who drops below required minimum grade average as stated in the club’s constitution at the time of Interim Reports must be placed on probation. Inform the student and his or her parent. If grades have not improved by the end of the nine weeks, the student must be dropped from club membership. Note: Some clubs do not have a minimum grade average, but all officers must meet the minimum stated at the end of this handbook.
14. Encourage the organization to become involved in community service.
15. Secure the Head of Upper School’s approval before sending home any mass mail-out to the Maclay community.
16. Follow all procedures specified in the Faculty Handbook for scheduling any overnight trips/ field trips.
STUDENT’S OBLIGATION TO THE SPONSOR
1. The students should hold no club meetings, practices, or activities of any kind without informing the sponsor.
2. Students are responsible for informing sponsors well in advance of any activities. Students need to recognize that the club’s activities are not the only demand on the sponsor’s time.
3. Officers should plan an agenda for each meeting in advance and go over it with the sponsor, actively seeking his or her input.
4. Students must secure the sponsor’s signature on any request for funds from the organization’s treasury.
5. Students must secure the sponsor’s signature on any announcements to be published in the Daily Announcements sheet which is read in Homeroom.
POLICY ON RUNNING FOR OFFICE AND HOLDING AN OFFICE
Any student wishing to run for an officer’s position in any Upper School society, club, or class must have a minimum of a C average cumulative GPA (4.7 on the 12-point scale or 2.0 on the 4-point scale). If elected to office, the student must maintain that minimum average while in office. Failure to do so will result in being placed on probation within the club for the next academic quarter. If the student does not raise the grades to at least a C average by the close of that quarter, he or she will be removed from office. The next lower officer in the club may move up to the vacated position; if he or she does not wish to or cannot do so, then a new election must be held to fill the vacated position.