Shortening the Debate Season

The SDHSAA Speech Advisory Committee will be meeting on April 23-24 at Sioux Falls O’Gorman High School in Sioux Falls.  I would like to make a formal proposal and have a vote on shortening the debate season at this meeting. The agenda doesn’t seem to be online and I haven’t received a copy in the mail, so I don’t know if Ken is planning to have us talk about it; it doesn’t really matter because we can discuss it under other business.

I have some major concerns about going forward without specific feedback from a majority of you.

First, I don’t want this to be my proposal; it needs to be the forensic community’s proposal.

Second, although it seems that we have discussed this to death at two speech conventions, I’m unsure how to exorcise the devil from the details.  For example, we are cutting one invitational tournament and one conference weekend from the schedule.  No one has told me “we’re willing to give up our tournament, no questions asked.”  In fact, the only conversation I’ve had with someone about losing a tournament contained the sentence “I’m not going to be the only one to take a hit.”  I didn’t make that statement, but I share the sentiment.  Yankton will never be able to send a student to nationals if we don’t regularly host a tournament.

Third, no one has talked with me directly, but I have been told that some schools have indicated that they will not move from their weekend.  When I wrote out the schedule, I left Watertown on its weekend because it seemed as if over sixty years gave the program the ability to hold on to that date.  No part of the speech convention proposal, however, is written in stone.

If we shorten the schedule, everything will change.  Schools will have to host on weekends other than the one they have now.  I think that there are compromises that can work.  For example, if three schools share two weekends, we could alter the state rotation so that schools will host state on the year they don’t host an invitational.  I don’t have the answer and I don’t want to push something that the community doesn’t want.

Fourth, this proposal was put together under the assumption that the Rushmore and Northern districts would contract within 2 or 3 years.  Bryan Hagg has indicated that Ripon has said that such an assumption is incorrect.  This year we’re having trouble agreeing about how to hold simultaneous district congresses.  If we can’t agree on congress, it seems unlikely that a workable debate/ie qualifier can be put together.  If the two districts do contract, we will have to discuss location, a discussion that will further complicate the problems I’ve mentioned in the third point.

Fifth, I have heard nothing from West River coaches.  I really don’t remember if any of them were in the room during either speech convention discussion.  If the SDHSAA Board of Control is going to pass this proposal, a majority of the West River coaches need to be on board.

Sixth, what’s plan B?  We agree that we want to shorten the season.  We know that Ken believes that the Board of Control won’t pass this proposal.  We will apparently have to fight with the music people about some regional workshop.  If the odds of success are fifty-fifty or less, we should have an idea about how long we wait with a new proposal. I realize I’m paranoid, but I always like to have an outline of a back-up plan or an escape plan when I deal with bureaucratic situations such as this one, but SEE POINT ONE ABOVE.

Seventh, are there unintended consequences to this proposal?  We all need to realize that losing a tournament means that kids will get fewer NFL points.  That’s a foreseeable consequence, but there are probably dozens of others that I’m missing.

Eighth, I am seriously worried that people with serious reservations will not say anything.  Everyone needs to speak up. There’ll be more about speaking up below.

Ninth, if everybody wants things to stay the same, just tell me.

I believe I have just created a hydra.  Because I am not Heracles, I propose the following. 

     1. Forward this to people that I may have missed.  

     2. Look at the proposal again.  

     3. Talk with assistants, interp coaches, ADs. 

     4. Converse with other coaches.  Post comments here.  If you don’t want to post comments, email me and I’ll

         compile comments.

     5. Rushmore and Northern SD coaches should talk about this face to face at the joint meeting during the

        congresses that I believe will still happen on Thursday, April 22.

Here's the proposal so you don't have to look for the email attachment.

Debate Dates 2009-2010

Date	Event	Location
November 6-7	Warrior IE and Roughrider Debate Invitational(s)	Sioux Falls
November 13-14	Aberdeen Golden Eagle Cup	Aberdeen
November 20-21	McGovern Forensics Tournament	Mitchell
December 4 & 5	State Oral Interp	Sioux Falls
December 12	Central Forensics Conference Tournament (CFC)	TBA
December 18-19	Bell Invitational	Brookings
January 9	CFC	TBA
January 15-16	Lincoln Silver Bowl	Sioux Falls
January 22-23	Speech Fiesta	Watertown
January 29-30	Lewis and Clark Invitational	Yankton
February 6	CFC	TBA
February 12-13	Karl Mundt Tournament	Madison
February 19-20	Rushmore NFL District Qualifying Tournament	Sioux Falls
February 26-27	Northern South Dakota District Qualifying Tournament	Brookings
March 5-6	State Debate Tournament	Watertown
March 8-April 16	Assorted Stu Con Invitationals	TBD
April 17-18	State Student Congress	Pierre

The Season Under The Speech Convention Proposal Using 2009-2010 Dates. 

Date	Event	Location
October 30-31	Pumpkin Stakes or Conference Competition	TBD
November 6-7	Invitational Tournament	TBD
November 13-14	Invitational Tournament	TBD
November 20-21	Invitational Tournament	TBD
December 4 & 5	State Oral Interp—No Debate
December 12	Invitational Tournament	TBD
December 18-19	Invitational Tournament	TBD
January 9	Conference Competition	TBD
January 15-16	Invitational Tournament	TBD
January 22-23	Speech Fiesta	Watertown
January 29-30	NFL Qualifier	TBD
February 6	State One Act—No Debate
February 12-13	State Debate Tournament	Regular Rotation
February 15-March 4	Assorted Stu Con Invitationals	TBD
March 5-6	Student  Congress Qualifier