By Laws

Bylaws of the

Peter J. Murphy Chapter of the National Honor Society

ARTICLE 1

Section 1: The name of this organization shall be the Peter J. Murphy Chapter of the National Honor Society of Secondary Schools.

Section 2: The purpose of this organization shall be to create enthusiasm for scholarship, to stimulate a desire to render service, to promote leadership, and to develop character in the students of Merrimack Valley High School.

Section 3: The purpose of these bylaws is to create local rules as allowed by the National Honor Society Constitution. This chapter will abide by the NHS Constitution.

ARTICLE 2

Section 1: The principal shall reserve the right to approve all activities and decisions of the chapter.

Section 2: The principal shall annually appoint a chapter adviser, who may serve consecutive terms.

ARTICLE 3

Section 1: The chapter adviser shall be responsible for the direct, day-to-day supervision of the chapter and act as liaison between faculty, administration, students and community.

Section 2: The chapter adviser shall maintain files on membership, chapter history, activities, and financial transactions. The chapter adviser shall send the annual report to the national office.

Section 3: The chapter adviser shall regularly review each member for compliance with the Peter J. Murphy Chapter standards and obligations.

Section 4: The chapter adviser shall help the chapter officers understand and carry out their duties.

ARTICLE 4

Section 1: The faculty council shall consist of five faculty members appointed annually by the principal.

Section 2: The term of the faculty council shall be one year. Members may be appointed to consecutive terms.

Section 3: The faculty council shall meet once a year to select members. They will also meet to consider dismissal, non-selection, and warning cases.

ARTICLE 5

Section 1: It shall be the duty of the President to preside at meetings, and to delegate duties to members. It shall also be the President’s duty to handle internal correspondence for the organization including sending out meeting notices with agenda.

Section 2: It shall be the duty of the Vice President to preside at meetings in the absence of the President and keep membership files including attendance.

Section 3: It shall be the duty of the Secretary to keep minutes at all meetings of the chapter and to present the minutes at the following meeting for approval of the group and to update the website and calendar as needed.

Section 4: It shall be the duty of the Treasurer to handle all financial transactions for the chapter and to keep a journal recording of financial transactions. Once a month, the Treasurer will be responsible for reporting on the current balance of the organization.

Section 5: It shall be the duty of the Public Relations officer to carry on all community correspondence for the organization including submitting news to the MVHS newsletter, The Valley Voice and the school website.

Section 6: It shall be the duty of the Historian to keep a record of all events held and document with pictures to be kept in a scrapbook.

Section 7: The offices of Treasurer, Secretary, Public Relations and Historian shall be filled at an election in June; a majority vote is required. The office of Vice-President will be filled at an election in October; a majority vote is required. The Vice-President shall serve two terms. The first term will be as Vice-President and the student will be in his/her junior year. The second term will be as President and the student will be in his/her senior year.

Section 8: If any officer is unable or unwilling to perform his/her duties OR has been dismissed, a special election will be held to fill the position.

ARTICLE 6

Section 1: Membership in the Peter J. Murphy Chapter NHS is an honor bestowed upon a student. Selection for membership is by a faculty council and is based on outstanding scholarship, character, leadership, service, and an interview by a member of the faculty council. Once selected, members have the responsibility to continue to demonstrate the former qualities. Students transferring from other schools who hold National Honor Society membership in another chapter shall be invited as a member as long as he/she meets the grade point average requirements.

Section 2: Outstanding scholarship shall be determined to be a numerical grade point average of 3.5 attained after the completion of 7 quarters of high school work. This average must be maintained in order to continue as a member of the chapter. Members inducted before June 2011, will have their GPA recalculated based on a 6.3 scale if needed after the MVHS GPA policy change.

Section 3: Character, leadership, and service will be judged by the faculty council based on information submitted by the candidate as well as by his/her high school records.

Section 4: Members who fall below the standards which were the basis of their selection shall be promptly warned in writing by the chapter adviser and given one marking period to correct the deficiency, except that in the case of flagrant violation of school rules or civic laws a member does not necessarily have to be warned. Flagrant is defined as cheating, plagiarizing, violating the school’s drug or alcohol policy, fighting or violating any of the school’s co-curricular expectations.

Section 5: New members shall be inducted at a special ceremony in the spring. There are two opportunities for membership, once in the sophomore year and once in the junior year.

Section 6: Members who are seniors in good standing are eligible to be nominated by their chapter to compete in the NHS Scholarship Program.

Section 7: Members who resign or are dismissed are never again eligible for membership.

ARTICLE 7

Section 1: The Peter J. Murphy Chapter shall have a regular meeting every month. Meeting dates and times will be presented and approved by a majority during the first meeting of the year.

Section 2: Any member who is absent from more than two meetings per year shall be considered for dismissal by the chapter adviser. Missed mandatory meetings can be made up by attending two non-mandatory meetings. Members missing a meeting need to fill out the missed meeting form. This will be collected by the vice-president or secretary.

Section 3: Special meetings approved by the executive committee (officers and adviser) may be called by the president.

Section 4: Meetings shall be conducted with respect and manners.

ARTICLE 8

Section 1: The chapter shall complete at least one service project each year.

Section 2: All members shall actively participate in one major service project with NHS.

Section 3: This project shall have the following characteristics: fulfill a need within the school or community; have the support of the administration and the faculty; be appropriate and educationally defendable; and be well planned, organized, and executed.

Section 4: Each member shall have the responsibility for choosing and participating in a service project which reflects his/her particular talents and interests. This is an addition to the chapter project(s) to which all members contribute.

Section 5: All members must complete 30 hours of community service in order to graduate as a National Honor Society member. Students must complete at least 10 hours a year and can complete the other 20 hours in the other year. Senior projects, ELOs, community service for credit, teacher helper and helping family members shall not count as part of these community service hours. All community service needs to be pre-approved by the NHS Student Approval Committee.

Section 6: All members need to take an active role in at least one committee per year.

Section 7: All senior members will present a reflective portfolio of service and NHS activities at the first meeting in June. Members not meeting the community service hour commitment or other commitments outlined in Article 8 will not be recognized at graduation as a member of NHS.

Section 8: Each chapter shall publicize its projects in a positive manner.

ARTICLE 9

Section 1: These bylaws may be amended in the fall to use in the current school year.

(changed from amending in June, June 5, 2014)