Constitution of the Bloomfield Hills High School

Chapter of the Junior State

Preamble

We, the members of the Bloomfield Hills High School Chapter of the Junior State, in
order to facilitate political discourse, improve our understanding of the peculiarities of
government, develop more comprehensive perspectives of our world through the
exchange of ideas, increase civic awareness and engagement, and further the interests
of justice and harmony in our community, do ordain and establish this organization.

Article I: Name

The name of this organization shall be “The Bloomfield Hills High School Chapter of
the Junior State.”

Article II: Membership

Membership in this organization shall be granted to all interested students currently

attending Bloomfield Hills High School unless the student has engaged in misconduct.

Article III: Officers

Section A
Any member of the chapter who has attended one-half or more of chapter
meetings of that school year since joining the chapter may run for office.

Section B
Terms of office shall begin on June 1 and end on the following year’s May 31.

Section C
The officers of this organization shall be as follows:

1. The President is the chief executive officer of the organization and shall
be the chief representative and spokesperson of the organization. The
President shall be responsible for coordination with the national Junior
State of America organization. The President shall preside over all
meetings and is responsible for overseeing the execution of this
 constitution. The President shall also have the power to set the agenda of
each meeting with the consent of the Vice President.

2. The Vice President shall assist the President in the organization of chapter
activities and advise the president in other chapter matters. In the event
that the President is absent or unavailable, the Vice President shall
temporarily assume the duties of the President.

3. The Secretary-General shall maintain the attendance records. In the event

that the Secretary-General is absent from a meeting, the Vice President
shall maintain the attendance records for that meeting. The
Secretary-General shall also be responsible for keeping track of revenue
and expenses of the chapter. The Secretary-General shall communicate
the status of the budget/treasury to the chapter upon request.

4. The Commissioner of Oversight, Reform, and Ethics (CORE) shall oversee

all other officers and ensure compliance with ethical guidelines. The
CORE shall have broad authority to investigate discrepancies in the
revenue and expenses of the chapter, unethical events in the elections of
the officers, and any other possible corruption or nepotism within the
chapter. The CORE shall have the power to issue subpoenas to other
officers for any relevant information or records pertaining to the
organization. Failure to comply with a written subpoena within one week
of its delivery shall result in immediate suspension of the noncompliant
officer; this suspension shall be lifted upon compliance.

5. The Student Nonpolitical Communications Commissioner (SNCC) shall be

responsible for maintaining all social media accounts for the chapter,
although the SNCC is not necessarily the only one responsible for their
management. The SNCC shall also be responsible for outreach and
communication with the student body, the faculty, the school
administration, and the greater community.

Section D
Censure shall occur by the following process:

1. Any member of the chapter may introduce a censure resolution against a

member of the chapter.
2. A simple majority vote shall put the censure into effect.
 Censure resolutions may not be binding; they shall merely be symbolic
statements of the chapter’s majority opinion.

Section E
Any officer may be impeached and removed from office. Impeachable offenses
consist of the following:

1. Embezzlement or improper use of chapter funds

2. Appointments based on nepotism or any other lack of merit, including
a. Positions unjustly awarded to family members or friends
b. Positions awarded on the basis of a quid pro quo or any
agreement where reciprocal favors are implied
3. Abuse of power to initiate inaccurate election results
4. Violation or neglect of the Constitution
5. Any other high crimes and misdemeanors

Impeachment shall occur by the following process:

1. Any member of the chapter may introduce an article(s) of impeachment.

2. Following the introduction of articles of impeachment, a member of the
chapter supporting impeachment shall be allowed to make a speech not
exceeding five minutes in length supporting impeachment and removal.
The officer being impeached shall then be allowed to make a speech not
exceeding five minutes in length defending themself.
3. If a two-thirds majority of chapter members present and voting votes to
impeach and remove from office the officer in question, they shall
immediately be removed from office and their office deemed vacant.

A successfully impeached officer may not hold office for a month after the date
of impeachment.

Section F
The President shall have the power to fire (remove from office) any officer who is
not the Vice President with the consent of a majority vote from all present and voting
chapter members.

Section G
 The election for the presidency and vice presidency shall occur on the last
chapter meeting before April 30. The President shall be solely responsible for the
administration of the election. All members of the chapter in good standing who have
attended at least three meetings that school year shall be eligible to vote except for
the president. Members of the chapter may only run for one office at a time, and
“tickets” consisting of a presidential and a vice presidential candidate shall be formed.
Each ticket of two candidates shall be allowed to make a joint campaign speech not
exceeding five minutes in length in front of the chapter at this chapter meeting. Once
these speeches have been completed, the President and Vice President shall be
elected by secret ballot, according to the following process:

1. Each member of the chapter eligible to vote shall rank the candidate
tickets in order of preference and submit their ballot to the outgoing
President to be tallied.
2. If a ticket receives an absolute majority of first-choice votes, that ticket
shall be declared the winner, and the two members of the ticket shall
assume their respective offices on June 1st.
3. If no ticket receives an absolute majority of first-choice votes, then the
ticket receiving the least amount of first-choice votes shall be eliminated.
The ballots that marked that ticket as their first choice shall then be
reallocated to their second choice. If no second choice is provided, then
the ballot shall be discarded.
4. Once the reallocation is complete, the votes shall be counted again. If a
ticket receives an absolute majority of post-reallocation votes, that ticket
shall be declared the winner. If no ticket receives an absolute majority of
post-reallocation votes, the ticket receiving the least votes in this round
shall be eliminated and each of its ballot’s votes shall be reallocated to
the next choice. If a ballot has not marked a next choice beyond the
newly eliminated ticket, it shall be discarded.
5. This elimination and reallocation process shall repeat until a ticket has
received an absolute majority of reallocated votes.

In the event of a tied vote, the President shall cast the tiebreaking vote.

Section H
A vacant office shall be filled by the following mechanisms:

1. A vacant presidency shall be filled by the incumbent Vice President. In the

event that the presidency and vice presidency are vacant simultaneously,
 a special election shall be called, occurring on the next meeting of the
chapter, in accordance with the rules described in Section G, in order to
fill both positions.

2. A vacant vice presidency shall be filled by a special election occurring on

the next meeting of the chapter, in accordance with the rules described in
Section G.

3. A vacant office other than the presidency or vice presidency shall be filled
by the appointment of the President with the advice and consent (simple
majority vote) of the chapter as a whole.

Section I
The President shall have the power to appoint interim officers to fill positions not
described in Article III, Section C with the advice and consent (simple majority vote) of
the chapter as a whole. These interim positions shall expire on May 31 of the school
year in which the appointment was made.

Section J
No member of the chapter may hold multiple offices concurrently.

Section K
The chapter will have a Teacher/Advisor who is a member of the faculty of
Bloomfield Hills High School. The Teacher/Advisor will provide educational guidance,
supervision and serve as a liaison to the administration and faculty.

Article IV: Activities

Section A
The chapter shall meet a minimum of twice a month during the school year. The
time and location of these meetings shall be at the complete discretion of the
President, Vice President, and the Advisor, though consultation with the chapter as a
whole is strongly encouraged.

Section B
In the event of an extended school closure or other extreme circumstances, the
President and Vice President shall conduct chapter business in a manner consistent
with the circumstances present at the time.
Section C
Any member of the chapter—with the support of at least one other
member—may formally propose a resolution regarding club affairs (current officers do
not need a second to do so). In the following meeting, there will be a vote to pass or
reject it. A simple majority will pass the resolution and it will go into effect immediately.
Resolutions may not violate the constitution.

Article V: Amendments

This Constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the chapter members.

Article VI: Ratification

This constitution shall take effect upon ratification by a two-thirds vote of the members
of the chapter and upon the approval of the Junior State Governor.