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PREAMBLE

We, the students of the Montgomery County Junior Councils, in order to improve inter-school relations and cooperation, to promote friendly relations among students of the schools, to increase the effectiveness of the individual student council, to initiate and to promote improvements and activities for the general good of the students of the schools, and to voice a collective opinion of students on county affairs, do ordain and establish this constitution for Montgomery County Junior Councils.

ARTICLE I - Name
The name of this organization shall be the Montgomery County Junior Councils (MCJC), a division of the Maryland Association of Student Councils (MASC).

ARTICLE II - Sponsorship
The Montgomery County Junior Councils is sponsored by the Montgomery County Public Schools, 850 Hungerford Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20850.

ARTICLE III - Membership
All Montgomery County middle schools shall be eligible for membership.

ARTICLE IV - Organization

Section 1: General Assembly
Subsection a. There shall be a General Assembly consisting of the voting delegates and observers from each member school, the officers of the MCJC, the chairpersons of the standing committees, and a representative of MCR. Advisors shall have the same rights and privileges of observers.
Clause 1. The voting members of the General Assembly shall be the voting delegates from member schools, the committee chairpersons, the officers of MCJC, and a representative of MCR. All other members of the General Assembly shall have the same privileges as the voting members save suffrage.
Clause 2. The president shall vote only at such times as his/her vote shall change the outcome of the vote.
Clause 3. Voting delegates shall be apportioned according to individual school enrollments. Said apportionment shall be set forth in the bylaws.
Subsection b. The voting members of the General Assembly shall be the legislative body of MCJC.
Subsection c. The General Assembly shall have a minimum of six meetings annually. The President and/or two-thirds (2/3) of the legislative body shall have the power to call any additional necessary meetings.
Subsection d. A quorum consists of one more than half of the member schools.
Subsection e. All meetings shall be governed by the procedural rules set forth in Robert's Rule of Order, Newly Revised, provided that they are not in conflict with those set forth by the voting members of the MCJC General Assembly

Section 2: Executive Committee
Subsection a. There shall be an Executive Committee consisting of the officers of MCJC, the chairpersons of all committees, and the president or representative of each member school.
Subsection b. The purposes of the Executive Committee shall be:
(1) to plan the General Assembly meetings
(2) to evaluate the General Assembly meetings
(3) to distribute adopted motions to appropriate committees
(4) to approve appointments made by the president
(5) to approve information programs for the General Assembly meetings
(6) to provide a forum for airing the views and concerns of member schools
(7) to approve the presidential appointments of the parliamentarian and secretary
Subsection c. There shall be at least one Executive Committee prior to each General Assembly meeting. The President shall be empowered to call any additional meetings of the Executive Committee he/she deems necessary.
Subsection d. Each member of the Executive Committee shall have one vote; the President shall vote at such times as his/her vote shall change the outcome of the vote.
Section 3: Committees
Subsection a. All standing committees shall be composed of a group of students and a chairperson who shall be appointed by the President.
Subsection b. All members of a standing committee shall have one vote, except the chairperson who shall vote only at such time as his/her vote will change the outcome of the vote.

ARTICLE V - Officers and their Duties

Section 1: The four Executive officers of MCJC, elected by the General Assembly shall be; President, Vice President, and Treasurer, and Secretary. The Parliamentarian and Historian shall be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Executive Committee.
Section 2: Duties of the President shall be:
Subsection a. To preside at all meetings of the General Assembly and of the Executive Committee.
Subsection b. To represent MCJC at all MASC Executive Committee meetings; In case the president is absent, a representative, may take his/her place at the meeting, with full voting privileges.
Subsection c. To appoint the Parliamentarian and Historian and all committee chairpersons with the advice and consent of the Executive Committee.
Subsection d. To be an ex-officio member of all committees.
Subsection e. To appoint a liaison to MCCPTA with the advice and consent of the executive committee.
Subsection f. To perform all other duties and functions that shall fall upon the Office of the President.
Section 3: Duties of the Vice President shall be:
Subsection a. To serve as the Acting President in the absence of the President
Subsection b. To attend MCR General Assembly and MCR Executive Board meetings.
Subsection c. To assist the President in the execution of the duties of the office
Subsection d. To organize programs for MCJC General Assembly meetings
Subsection e. To succeed to the Presidency in the event that the office is vacated.
Section 4: Duties of the Treasurer shall be:
Subsection a. To prepare a budget for the fiscal year, which shall be defined as the school calendar year
Subsection b. To supervise the collection of dues
Subsection c. To supervise the disbursement of organizational moneys
Subsection d. To maintain complete and accurate financial records for MCJC.
Section 5: Duties of the Secretary shall be:
Subsection a. To maintain the roll of all General Assembly meetings and Executive Committee meetings
Subsection b. To maintain and publish complete and accurate records of all MCJC business
Subsection c. To itemize by school any roll call vote taken on a main motion and record said votes in the minutes
Subsection d. To handle all MCJC correspondence.
Section 6: Duties of the Parliamentarian shall be: to advise the President on procedural rules during all General Assembly and Executive Committee meetings.
Section 7: Duties of the Historian shall be:
Subsection a. To organize, maintain and contribute to the historical record of MCJC by keeping a pictorial record of all General Assembly, Executive Committee meetings and other MCJC activities
Subsection b. To compile a documented scrapbook of all MCJC activities for the year and submit this historic visual record at the end of the school year

ARTICLE VI - Qualifications and Terms of Office

Section 1: Terms of Office. Terms of office of the elected officers shall be from the close of the last meeting of the General Assembly of the year in which the election occurs through the close of the final meeting of the following year. The Parliamentarian, and Historian shall assume their duties upon confirmation by the Executive Committee.
Section 2: Qualifications
Subsection a. All candidates, before assuming office, shall have attended three (3) meetings of the General Assembly during the school year in which they stand for election or shall have attended two (2) meetings in each of the two (2) years prior to the current school year or shall have the majority consent of the General Assembly to run for office. In addition, the president shall have attended at least one (1) meeting of the executive board prior to assuming office.
Subsection b. The Parliamentarian and Historian shall be nominated by the President and confirmed by the executive committee.
Section 3: Removal from Office MCJC may remove officers for nonperformance of their duties as set forth in this constitution; removal from office shall require a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the legislative body.

ARTICLE VII - Election of Officers

Section 1: Nominations: Completed nomination forms are due to the executive committee (c/o Student Affairs Office) by 4:00 p.m. one week prior to the election meeting of the General Assembly. If no nominatin forms are received for an office by the deadline, a special executive committee meeting shall be convened prior to the General Assembly elections meeting to accept completed forms. The elections meeting shall be the next to last regularly scheduled General Assembly meeting of the year.
Section 2: Election Campaign Procedures The Executive Committee shall determine all campaign and election procedures two months before the election general assembly.
Section 3: Succession The Vice President shall automatically succeed the Presidency in the event the office is vacated. The treasurer shall become Acting Vice President until a special elections meeting is held and a new Vice President is elected by the legislative body. In the event that the office of Treasurer or Secretary is vacated, an acting Treasurer or Secretary shall be appointed by the President until a new Treasurer or Secretary is elected by the Executive Committee. If the offices of Parliamentarian or Historian is vacated, they shall be filled as in Article VI, Section 2, Subsection b.

ARTICLE VIII - Finances

Section 1: The fiscal year shall be established as July 1 through June 31.
Section 2: Dues shall be assessed as stated in the bylaws.
Subsection a. A member school shall relinquish its voting privilege if dues are not paid by or at the third regularly scheduled General Assembly meeting of the year. Voting privilege shall be returned upon payment of dues.

ARTICLE IX - Amendments

This constitution may be amended by two-thirds (2/3) of the legislative body.

ARTICLE X - Ratification

This Constitution shall be in effect when it is approved by two-thirds (2/3) vote of the legislative body.

Ratified: May 21, 1981
Amended: March 23, 2000, April 20, 2001, June 10, 2003, February 2005

BYLAWS to the Constitution

Section 1: All member schools having an enrollment between 1 and 400 shall have three voting delegates; 401-650 shall have four voting delegates; 651-900 shall have five voting delegates; 901-1,500 shall have six voting delegates; and those over 1,150 shall have seven voting delegates.
Section 2: The annual dues shall be assessed on a student enrollment basis for a school with:

Enrollment	Dues	Voting Delegates
400 or less	$26.00	3
401-650	$29.00	4
651-900	$32.00	5
901-1,150	$35.00	6
1,151 or more	$38.00	7

Section 3: These bylaws may be amended by the majority vote of the exectuive body.
Section 4: All schools shall pay annual dues by the third regularly scheduled General Assembly. Failure to pay dues shall result in the loss of General Assembly voting privileges until such time as said dues are paid.
Section 5: Schools joining both MCJC and MASC on or before December 1st, shall receive a $5.00 refund.
Section 6: There shall be a Constitution Revision Committee that shall meet at least biannually and chaired by the Parliamentarian.

Adopted: September 2, 2004, amended January 6, 2005, June 6, 2008

Updated June 6, 2008 | Maintained by Karen Crawford