After 18 months of negotiation, nine rounds of revision and heated debates among teachers and students, on March 12, 2025, the Equitable Grading Bill finally came to a vote. It passed the student legislature by a vote of 21-11. However, 19 days after passing, Head of School Anthony Meyer vetoed the bill.
To say that this whole process has been confusing for students would be an understatement. How many students or teachers really understand what, specifically, the bill would do in its final form, much less the differences between the nine different versions that have existed over the last 18 months?
Compared to student governments at most schools, ours certainly wields real power. But that’s a low bar. And while our legislature has made significant changes to the Handbook in the past, including requiring that final grades be rounded up and cell phones tucked away for every class, like any government, our legislature has its flaws. Here are a few things we have noticed about the staff involvement in student government and the student legislative process throughout the Equitable Grading Bill’s run that we feel could be improved.
For one: the Faculty Council, which contributed to the hold-up with The Equitable Grading Bill, is supposed to be comprised of elected faculty, according to the handbook, however, elections have not taken place in over a decade. We need democratic elections for the faculty members of the school government, just like we have for students. This will foster a government where the high school’s faculty have a legitimized voice by being elected by their colleagues, promoting student and faculty confidence in the legislature, as well as accountability.
Secondly, students who are not a part of the government are for the most part unaware of what is going on in it. That can’t be blamed entirely on the legislature. Although they could improve on their public communication, we as a newspaper have failed to cover the legislature’s meetings and other student government related topics. Therefore, we commit to you that from here on out, we will regularly report on the state of new legislation and happenings that shape our intellectual and social environment.
As students of Brookline High, we deserve to understand what is happening in our Student Government. It might seem like a trivial matter to worry about transparency and accountability in student government, but this practice of democracy is fundamental, not just to the function of our school, but to the way we all learn and go into the world.
