Palo Alto High School - Madrono Yearbook (Palo Alto, CA)

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The Second Year of Commission Government ,Y() years ago the first step toward commission govern- ment m the Palo Alto Union High School was made. During the summer of 1917 a committee composed of Miss Greene, Mr. Woolerv, Margaret Wattenberger, Charles Dobbel and Ralph Weston composed and drew up a new charter for the school. This charter was based absolutely on a commission form of government and was much more liberal than the old charter both in its attitude toward the author- ity. which is now exercised by student body officers, and in the amount of student control it allowed. In the fall of the same year George Sloan, then student body presi- dent, presented the charter to the school at a student body meeting. The vote was unanimous in favor of appointing a committee composed of ten members from each class to go over the charter and revise and amend any section it saw til. As a committee the eighty people were more or less a failure, as the majority never attended any of the meetings, but a few came regularly and much was accomplished by them, perhaps more than the eighty could have done. After several weeks the charter was finally revised and approved and accepted by the student body. Com- mission government was finally launched on its trial trip. Klcctions were held immediately and the following were elected: George Sloan, Commissioner of Public Welfare and Safety: Clifford Cooke, Commissioner of Finance and Revenue; Rob Spiers, Commis- sioner of Athletics: Tommy Green, Commissioner of Literary Activi- ties; and George Stratton, Commissioner of Entertainment. This fine set of officers was in a great measure responsible for the success which the new government attained. In the second year of trial the charter was somewhat revised by the present board of commissioners. Edward Waterman, Fred Hughes, Hall Walker, Nathan Moore and Dorothy Nichols. The chief advantage of commission government lies in the fact that all the activities of the school are brought together and regulated In one body: the five commissioners, a faculty adviser and an auditor, who is always a member of the faculty. Under the old system the president had control of all departments to 27

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Garrett Elmore. Vivian Umphrcys. Charles Watson. Phyllis Heath. Julia Stevens. Kathleen Shuford. Laura Kennedy. Shirley Charles. Pearl Henderson. William Hyde. 26 Russell Bodley. Dorothy Smith. Lyslc Blythe. Sliuh Hironaka.

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% a certain extent. There were no regular weekly meetings of student body officers; only special “student councils’ called occasionally by the stu- dent body president. As a matter of fact very few were called. A board of auditors composed of ten members met weekly and passed on all money matters. It sometimes made a few regulations in regard to student activities. However, they had lit'.le to do with the latter branch. The treasurer, business manager, yell leader and property clerk did their work separately. Under the new system all the commissioners are ac- countable to the rest in the board’s weekly meetings. Xo one person is at the head of the government, but control is centered in a representative When with a last and wistful glance the weary day is gone, And purple shadows lengthen and grow dark, When all the earth in trembling silence waits The night, then hark! Under the hedge the cricket’s merry scrape, And from some neighboring yard a dog’s unreasoning growl, In the sparkling valley, list the city’s busy hum, While in the shadowy hills coyotes howl. In peaceful ease at last we lie While silver-liquid beams of moonlight fall in patches on the chambci floor. And welcome Sleep steals gently in To weight our eyelids—shut our eyes once more. Before our eyes there come sweet visions, kindly friends— Friends lost or dead, and brothers gone all pass in kind array, And laugh and talk and nod to us again As once they did in light of day. Sleep! Leave us this! This one hour of our lives When we may see again our past or read bright future’s rune— We pause not in the day, hut at this time— Sleep! Come not too soon. body of five. 28 D. E. N., T9.