On Sept. 5, Forum Council (FOCO) had its very first 2024-2025 school year meeting. It began with the introduction to this year’s leadership team: Clara Freeth and Jacqueline Boynton as co-presidents, Lucia Page Sander as the vice president, Eliam Rosenberg as treasurer, Jasper Forgey as secretary and Claire Lewis as communications. After introductions, FOCO directly discussed changes they could be facing structurally.
Potentially, there would be a shift from individual voting to a forum-based system. This shift would essentially take all of the representatives’ ideas and create a single vote—instead of counting the individual’s vote.
“It’s not [something that] other school’s student governments can do,” Freeth said. “Because they’re not split in the way we are in forums. I don’t know if that’ll go through or not, but I think it’s a cool prospect.”
Another part of FOCO’s agenda for this year is to focus on communication. In the past, the council has been accused of operating behind closed doors, not sharing the decisions and outcomes of those decisions with the students and teachers of Community High. In order to resolve this, FOCO is putting a big emphasis on communication this year through social media.
“Earlier today, our communications officer, Claire Lewis, put up an Instagram story,” Freeth recalled. “I think that we’ve focused on talking to people. The idea is for voting to be super transparent and making sure that the student body is accurately represented.”
While there could be potential changes in FOCO’s operation, some of the school’s traditions have remained. Some activities,such as the Halloween dance,will likely be hosted at the same time as last year. There could be adjustments to the scheduling of events such as Forum Competition Week due to school-wide feedback.
“We may be moving forum competition week away from spring to this first week of the second semester,” Freeth said. “It is still in the works, but it might be moved to a winter time. It could be a little Winter Olympics, so perhaps some snow activities, a snowman building contest.”
The first forum council meeting is an opportunity for new students to get a glimpse of how FOCO’s system works, as well as set a clear tone for the 2024-2025 school year’s agenda, understanding how their voices can be heard. That said, FOCO is ready to take on challenges and leave an impact on the new school year.
“We’re excited to move forward,” Freeth said. “Rock and roll.”
