This school year, Irvington High School’s Associative Student Government tightened its enforcement of club rules and procedures, especially those pertaining to finances, per state regulations.
One major change for clubs includes mandatory club business meetings, where the advisor, officers, and members must plan and approve all club spending in advance, before submitting for ASG approval.
Mr. Willer, the Student Body Activities Director at Irvington High School, expressed that “ASB money has a long history of being abused.” The implementation of budget forms and business meetings, “shows that somewhere students are saying, ‘Yes, this is how we want to spend our money’,” demonstrating a new level of transparency that wasn’t previously possible.
Most people think that these rules are new. However, Serena Luk (12), Treasurer of ASG, comments, “In reality, we are just enforcing requirements that have already existed at a district and state level.” She elaborates that it’s “a conscious effort by us as well as other FUSD schools to better align with district and state policies.”
In addition to the business meetings, another change is the use of 5-Star, an app that gives students access to information on upcoming events and clubs (reference page). As the school was already switching to 5-star from Teach More for flex signups, Mr. Willer saw an opportunity to also use the program to boost student involvement. “If we’re already asking students to use it for flex, what else can we use it for?” he stated, “And so we’re in the process of transitioning all the clubs into 5-star.” This entails clubs taking attendance at each meeting, and in turn, members earn points for their participation which can later be redeemed for prizes.
Aiding in this transition is ICC or Inter-club Council, a committee in ASG responsible for acting as the middle person between clubs and other committees within ASG. This includes aiding clubs with 5-Star, answering their questions on budget forms, and communicating changes in rules and procedures.
Abigail Wong (12), Clubs Director of ASG, states, “I feel like a lot of people think that ICC has implemented a lot of these rules, but in reality, we’re just communicating them. We’re simply the connection between ASG and club officers.” She mentions that when the president rule (a limitation on the number of clubs that a student can be president of) was put into effect last year, ICC was blamed, despite not being solely responsible for its implementation.
Despite this, she is optimistic about these changes, stating that they will “make sure clubs are being productive throughout the year” and “track how they’re doing and what they need to work on.”
The transition has not been perfect, though, with some clubs struggling to check in members in a time-efficient manner and getting used to the check-in process. Rachel Tong (12), returning president of the Biomedical Engineering Club, states, “I feel like it’s unnecessary. Last year, we already had to fill out master calendar and financial forms, which was understandable. But this year, we also have to do business meetings with all the officers. It’s just a lot more work.”
Nonetheless, these policies mark a new era of financial transparency and school involvement at Irvington High School.
