Starting next school year, Palo Alto High School’s Associated Student Body will not have class representatives, according to minutes of a recent meeting.
The ASB voted on Jan. 30 to remove all mentions of class representatives from the organization’s constitution. The change, according to ASB’s notes, was because of concerns about the role’s effectiveness, unclear responsibilities and lack of communication by ASB.
ASB voted 28 to 1 for the proposal, according to ASB Minutes.
Supporters of the change emphasized structural flaws in the role, highlighting that class reps were not engaged in ASB activities and lacked opportunities for leadership, because they weren’t required to take the ASB class.
Sophomore Senator Aeshaan Singhal said the representative role was inefficient.
“We removed class representatives because, in a lot of situations they were very ineffective and unfortunately they took a lot of resources that we couldn’t use any more,” Singhal said.
According to Singhal, class reps had a negative impact on the organization of events such as the Spirit Week rally.
“They took a lot of space during Spirit Week, on the field when we are just trying to be organized during Spirit Week, and that was very difficult for us to manage, and for a lot of classes they were just not very helpful,” Singhal said.
Spirit Commissioner Arabella Guinle, who seconded the proposal, added that the role had a lack of duties and a problem with ASB communications, with representatives not knowing when meetings were.
“The main reason we wanted to remove the position was that we felt that most of the class reps weren’t holding up to their responsibilities with showing up to class council,” Guinle said. “It just overall wasn’t a beneficial position for class councils, as many representatives are unaware of the scheduling of meetings according to ASB, due to lack of communications.”
According to Guinle, class reps were given ASB titles that go on their resumes, without actually being enrolled in the ASB class or contributing to event planning or dedicating time like the rest of ASB does.
According to ASB’s meeting notes, the sole opponent of the amendment pointed out that class representatives have been helpful in certain situations, particularly for underclassmen during Spirit Week. The opponent pointed out that without class reps, managing large-scale events could become more difficult.
Others proposed alternative solutions, such as allowing class representatives to vote in class council meetings or structuring class representative meetings similarly to those of the Student Activities Leadership Team, the official ASB club for Paly Athletics.
Under the new system, concerns remain about ensuring adequate representation for each grade, to address potential imbalances, ASB is considering lowering the quorum required for class meetings.
According to ASB notes, there is also discussion about allowing Student Activities Board members, individually, to assume the responsibilities previously assigned to class representatives.
