In March of this year, Claremont High’s Associated Student Body (ASB) created a new constitution without notifying the student body. Three notable clauses stand out. First, under Article 7, ASB now requires one year of in-class experience to run for major positions such as President, Vice President, and Inter-School Council Member (Claremont High’s school board position). Secondly, the selection process for Inter-School Council Member will now be an election from and by ASB, rather than a selection by the ASB director. Finally, under Article 10, ASB has the potential authority to decide the outcome of a school-wide vote on student petitions that affect them internally under a vague clause that ASB has not implemented in years.

These changes sparked confusion from student groups—such as the recently formed Student Union—after the revision was miscommunicated as an amendment to an existing constitution, which would have required a school vote under ASB’s own bylaws rather than an executive decision.

ASB Director Dylan DiGrazia explained the creation of the new constitution, what brought about the change, and the vagueness of Article 10. 

“The [constitution] that we based our new one off of was 20 years [old] and wasn’t being used,” DiGrazia said. “We realized that there was a lot of stuff missing that needed to be in there, so we took [the old constitution] and combined it with [a modern and detailed example constitution] to make a new constitution that was legally correct.”

While it is unclear if the changes under Article 10 are a result of past controversies, such as having to re-run the 2024-2025 school year’s Senior Class President elections due to a student petition. ASB has repeatedly cited past administrative issues with a lack of experience as a reason for mandating one year of class time for those running for Executive Council positions.

Candidate for Junior Class President and current ASB Sophomore Class President Alison Vuong gave ASB’s rationale behind requiring in-class experience for these roles.

“From what I’ve seen, past presidents who had experience performed much better,” Vuong said. “I think the change may have come at a poor time. But I think that if people look at the overall picture, it is super important for our big positions to know how the class works, what we need to do, [and] how to get things done.” 

Questions have also been raised about ASB’s authority to impose changes to the position of Inter-School Council Member, which in other districts is typically chosen from the broader student body, not a vote among ASB, as the new constitution implies.

“The concept behind it is that the people in the ASB class are representative of the entire school,” DiGrazia said. “So the theory is that having a vote in the ASB class will be similar to having the voices of the school in that decision-making.”

For the CHS Student Union, the issue was rarely about the policy. The organization, founded this year, describes itself as a voice for the student body that aims to make the needs of all students known. On April 22, 2026, the union publicly posted a list of demands from ASB on their Instagram account. These included a school-wide vote on the new constitution and any future changes via an amendment to Article 12, a rewrite of the constitution to remove the ASB Executive Council’s potential veto power on petitions in Article 10, and a rerun of the April 1 elections if the new constitution is rejected. This is because the original elections were run under the framework of the new, unapproved constitution. Student Union steering committee member Olive Haynes-Bendian commented on the rationale behind their demands. 

“The main point of all this is less so saying ASB’s requirements are bad, but that the lack of transparency is what makes this a harmful precedent,” Haynes-Bendian said. “When the student government is not transparent with the people it represents, we see that people are not being adequately represented. How can we represent ourselves if we don’t know the rules?”

According to DiGrazia and ASB’s bylaws, any future amendments to the constitution will be decided with a student vote. What needs to be decided is whether ASB’s Executive Council will have the authority to vote down any school-accepted petitions. To clarify the role of Article 10 transparently, more talks are needed. 

“[Article 10] was one of [the Student Union’s] requested changes, which ASB students can look at and provide updates for clarification,” DiGrazia said.

In their meetings, the Student Union has also expressed a desire to communicate openly with ASB. However, they are also fearful that their own petition, which has garnered over 300 signatures and criticizes ASB’s “one year of experience rule,” may be voted down by ASB under Article 10.

“There’s a real risk that they’ll just vote down our petition,” Haynes-Bendian said. “If absolutely necessary, we will go to the school board to work out a solution for all parties.”

DiGrazia also raised some concerns about being able to comply with some of the Student Union’s demands, especially when it comes to rerunning the April 1 elections. 

“The expectation is to confirm any student that had already won their schoolwide elections as detailed in the ASB bylaws,” DiGrazia said. “The expectation is that the one-year requirement for three ASB positions will be approved the following school year, ’27-’28.”

Now it is up to ASB and the Student Union to work out a solution to Articles 7 and 10 that allows for all students to be represented, and for ASB to ensure that it is representing all students in their decision-making. Next year, ASB plans to launch several new initiatives to be more involved in the school community, outside of event planning.

“We want people to be excited to come to rallies,” DiGrazia said. “We’re going to work to do more social stuff, outside of events, [like] Wellness Wednesdays and Mindful Mondays and special events during finals week, and bringing mental health into the ASB mindset.”

The major concern of the Student Union is that if students disagree with these changes or any future ASB activities, then their right to petition may not be respected due to the vagueness of Article 10. It is the responsibility of ASB, therefore, to work with students and student organizations such as the Student Union to make sure that everyone’s voice is heard. After all, these are changes that affect the entire school. The student body has shown its desire not only to be aware of changes that have occurred, but ultimately to have a say in any that may come. 

[Editor’s note: Some quotes were edited for the online publication after a delayed checking period.]