Samo’s new Bill of Rights
On Friday, Jan. 9, the Human Rights Watch Club hosted an event in the Innovation Quad during the school day, informing students about their upcoming project, the Student Bill of Responsibilities and Rights (SBBR). The bill is focused towards the Samo community, ensuring that all students—including staff—are involved in measuring their responsibilities while being held accountable on campus.
Art by Florence Fraiser-Macduff
Reaching out to different teachers, the club spoke to around three classes per period to give presentations. At each tent, there was a different topic discussed such as a brief overview of general human rights, specialized information for the SBRR and a questionnaire for students to fill out. From that data, the club worked together to update new revisions to the SBRR to take action in finalizing their new policy. In discussing certain revisions to the SBRR, Co-Vice President Luna Sackett (’27) shared information.
“It [SBRR] will say that I have the right to this, and then it’ll say your responsibility next to it,” Sackett said. “An example would be, I have the right to go to the bathroom during class and then the responsibility is, I have to be responsible for not overusing this privilege.”
Breaking down the SBRR, the document outlines the basic rights of students on campus and is designed to protect the well-being of both students and faculty. There are no explicit consequences for the violation of any of the privileges, however, such actions are discouraged. When talking to Sackett, she shared that the violations would be on paper so that students and admin can be more aware if they are broken.
The club has been involved in a partnership with the Human Rights Watch nonprofit organization, which sends yearly action plans for its chapters to implement within their school. This year, Samo’s chapter was tasked with the SBBR and began the process at the beginning of last semester. “We had a big meeting with other STF (student task force) chapters where we read over the Palisades Charter High School SBRR to get inspiration,” Sackett said. “Then at the beginning of this semester, we had a tent event where we told students what we’re doing and got their input to give us ideas of what we should include.” Working in a timely manner, club meetings hosted on Tuesdays are critical for their discussions of ongoing current updates of their projects. While the Human Rights Watch club continues finalizing the SBRR, the next plan is presenting it to the administration for their approval. If approved, the bill will be implemented throughout campus, with plans to display it in accessible locations to ensure that everyone at Samo is aware of their rights and responsibilities.