Mario Herrera, President Maggie Berthiaume, Director of Operations Lauren Ivey, Director of Communications Richard Bracknell, Director of Finance Pam Childress, Director of Programs

Georgia Forensics Coaches Association Fall Meeting August 24, 2019 Hosted by Carrollton High School

Minutes recorded by Maggie Berthiaume.

Schools Present 1. — Adam Smiley 2. Briarwood Academy — Lee Robinson 3. Calhoun City Schools — Kelli DeGuire 4. Carrollton High School — Richard Bracknell 5. Cherokee High School — Jamie Wills 6. Columbus High School — Lyndsey Oliver 7. Cross Creek High School — John T. Baker Jr. 8. Druid Hills High School — Brett Flater 9. Frederick Douglass High School — Mike Robinson 10. Gordon Central High School — Renee Hughes 11. Henry W. Grady High School — Mario Herrera, Lisa Willoughby 12. Jackson High School — Laura LaChapelle 13. — Ben Schultz 14. — Walter Cotter 15. Milton High School — Paige Jacobson 16. Morgan County High School — Tara Mahoney 17. Northview High School — Matt Cekanor, Jonathan Waters 18. — Abby Schirmer 19. Sequoyah High School — Matt Bartula 20. Valdosta High School — Pam Childress and Brianna Crockett 21. — Bill Batterman, Maggie Berthiaume

Summary of Changes This is a summary of all votes taken at the meeting. Below is a detailed report on the discussion and voting on each of these items.

Sweepstakes Changes - Total number of entries that count toward sweepstakes points is now capped at the top 10 for speech and 10 for debate. - To be eligible for overall sweepstakes, schools must have at least one speech and one debate entry. - Informative Speaking and Original Oratory were added to the sweepstakes categories. - Wording was clarified that only varsity entries count toward sweepstakes.

Middle School Eligibility Changes - Rules were clarified to note that restrictions on middle school students apply only to travel within the state of .

Public Forum Timing Changes - Public Forum speech and preparation times were updated to match the new NSDA times.

Discussion and Voting Sweepstakes Awards Proposals - We’re following up on last spring — we tabled them to investigate and discuss. - Pam Childress — Proposed Changes to Section 4.39c o Goal = make state championships more meaningful to programs o Pam’s model was GHSA for other competitive events and dividing by school size

Proposal #4 — Cap total number of entries counted toward sweepstakes points. Discussion:

- Lyndsey Oliver — Proposal #4 o Goal = make sweepstakes more competitive — more equal playing field o Lyndsey’s model is NSDA and Alabama o 10-person cap on the number of students whose points count for sweepstakes o Sub-Proposal — “Overall” Sweepstakes would require at least one competitor in Speech AND Debate - Mario — sweepstakes exists because in 2009 we modeled based on other states — AZ, TN, WI o At that point we didn’t include Policy or Congress o Argued for revisions to account for how debate works in GA - Abby — discussion about how Congress counts for sweepstakes and how the qualification works

New Wording:

(2) Sweepstakes formula is determined as follows: a. Debate

(a) (1) Policy/Public Forum/Lincoln Douglas: 25 points for Championship entry; 20 points for runner-up entry; 15 points for semi-finals (non-advancing); 10 points for quarter-finals (non-advancing); points for octo-finals (non-advancing) 2 points for double octo-finals (non-advancing). (2) House/Senate Chambers: 10 points for Championship entry; 8 points for runner-up entry; 5 for 3rd place; 3 points for finalists; 1 point for semi-finalists (non-advancing). (3) Winner is determined by the summation of the points earned by the top ten debate entries from each school. The school with the highest point total shall be named Champion, the school with the second highest points named Runner-up, etc. b. Speech (1) 15 points for 1st Place, 10 points for 2nd place, 5 points for 3rd place, 3 points for finalists; 2 points for semi-finals (non-advancing) and 1 point for quarter-finals (non-advancing). (2) Winner is determined by the summation of top ten speech entries from each school. The school with the highest point total shall be named Champion, the school with the second highest points named Runner-up, etc.

Proposed: Lyndsey Oliver

Called for a Vote: Pam Childress

Seconded: Richard Bracknell

In favor: 12 present, 6 proxies

Opposed: 0

Abstaining: 1

Proposal #3 — Add requirement to 4.29c(3) that schools must be in both speech AND debate Discussion:

- Lyndsey — it’s an overall sweepstakes, should represent both speech and debate.

New Wording:

(3) The Overall Championship is determined by adding Debate and Speech sweepstakes categories. To be eligible for Overall Sweepstakes, schools must have at least 1 entry in speech and at least 1 entry in debate.

Proposed: Lyndsey Oliver

Called for a Vote: Richard Bracknell

Seconded: Pam Childress

In favor: 15 present, 9 proxies

Opposed: 0

Abstaining: 0

Proposal #1 — Reword 4.39c(1) to include Original Oratory and Informative Speaking Discussion:

- Lyndsey — this seems to be an error.

New Wording: (1) Speech Sweepstakes include Original Oratory, Informative Speaking, Dramatic Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Extemporaneous Speaking, Program Oral Interpretation, Impromptu and Duo Interpretation; Debate Sweepstakes include all divisions in Policy Debate, Public Forum Debate, Lincoln-Douglas Debate and all Congressional Debate divisions; Overall Sweepstakes includes all events sanctioned by the GFCA.

Proposed: Lyndsey Oliver

Called for a Vote: Richard Bracknell

Seconded: Pam Childress

In favor: 16 present, 8 proxies

Opposed: 0

Abstaining: 0

Proposal #2 — Clarify intention of wording in 4.39c(1) regarding debate divisions Discussion:

- Lyndsey — wording is confusing. We don’t count first/second year divisions, but the wording doesn’t include that.

New Wording:

- “Speech Sweepstakes include Dramatic Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Extemporaneous Speaking, Program Oral Interpretation, Impromptu and Duo Interpretation; Debate Sweepstakes include all varsity divisions in Policy Debate, Public Forum Debate, Lincoln-Douglas Debate and all Congressional Debate divisions; Overall Sweepstakes includes all varsity events sanctioned by the GFCA.”

Vote Taken by Acclamation: All in favor, no opposed, no abstentions.

Changes to Middle School Eligibility Discussion:

- Mario — need to clarify for coaches - Jamie — if a middle school student competes against a high school student at a tournament, then when they come to high school, they are not considered a novice. There’s a handout with FAQ on middle school events. - Abby — what about kids who did debate outside of GA in 7th grade? Where do they debate as 8th graders? (Not eligible for novice, not eligible for varsity.) Also, do the rules prohibit out of state debating as 7th graders? Does that impact eligibility? - Mario — we should only put rules on travel within Georgia, not outside of it. - Motion from Richard — the “in Georgia” additions to 1.12, 1.13 and 1.14/

New Wording: 1.12 — Students have ten (10) consecutive semesters or five (5) consecutive years of eligibility starting from the date of entry into their first high school speech or debate division in Georgia. Of these, students have (8) consecutive semesters or (4) consecutive years of eligibility starting from the date of entry into their first high school speech or debate division at the varsity level.

1.13 Students in Seventh Grade and Below

(a) Students in seventh (7th) grade and below may not participate in a high school division at a high school speech and debate tournament in Georgia.

1.14 Students in Eighth Grade

(a) Eighth (8th) grade students may compete in high school speech and debate divisions in Georgia provided they attend a feeder school of a member high school. They may also compete in middle school divisions at high school speech and debate tournaments.

Vote Taken by Acclamation: All in favor, no opposed, no abstentions.

Changes in Public Forum Debate Discussion:

- Richard described the changes in NSDA times

New Wording:

3.14 Public Forum Debate

(c) Once sides and speaking positions have been decided the order and time limits of the speeches are as follows:

Team A First Speaker – 4 minutes

Team B First Speaker – 4 minutes

Crossfire (First question presented by Team A First Speaker) – 3 minutes

Team A Second Speaker – 4 minutes

Team B Second Speaker – 4 minutes

Crossfire (First question presented by Team A Second Speaker) – 3minutes

Team A First Speaker Summary – 3 minutes

Team B First Speaker Summary – 3 minutes

Grand Crossfire – 3 minutes

Team A Second Speaker Final Focus – 2 minutes

Team B Second Speaker Final Focus – 2 minutes (d) Maximum allowed preparation time during debates for each team is set for two (3) minutes.

Proposed: Richard Bracknell

Called for a Vote: Richard Bracknell

Seconded: Lyndsey Oliver

In favor: 16 present, 8 proxies

Opposed: 0

Abstaining: 0

State Tournament Updates Dates:

- First/Second Year State — February 7-8, 2020 - Varsity State — March 6-8, 2020

Discussion:

- Maggie described the state tournaments and the process for qualifying. - Lyndsey reminded that we removed the “two tournament rule” for First and Second Year State

Treasurer Report Discussion:

- Richard updated on the state of the budget. - There was a balance from - Dues Update: $75 this year, $77 if you pay online (convenience fee) - Jamie requested an invoice and W-9 form posted online — Richard is doing this.

Novice Policy Packet Discussion:

- Maggie described the role and purpose of the packet. - Proposed Rollout Schedule sent via email and on the website was affirmed by all.

LD Debate Clarification Discussion:

- Note from Adam that Georgia does not use the national novice topic. Mario will send out an email clarifying this.

Advancing to Elimination Rounds at State Tournaments Discussion: - Mario reminded that at the Spring Meeting we voted to clear all 4-2s. This does not apply to divisions with fewer than 6 rounds.

Invitational Tournament Guidelines Discussion:

- Mario raised the issue that many tournaments say they “follow GFCA rules” but it’s unclear what that means — people don’t want to be surprised. - Mario is creating a “best practices” document for invitationals. - Richard noted that this is particularly important in sticking with the published schedule for number of rounds. - Adam noted that making sure your tournament schedule is reasonable helps a lot with this. - Matt expressed concern about judging — making sure that the numbers are appropriate for the division and timing, what event those people are judging. Sometimes when you get to the end of the tournament you end up with judges who have no experience. He also wanted to know about consistent judging fees. - Mario reminded that judging is often a matter of perception. - Mike Robinson noted that this is a community effort — if we want to improve judging pools, we need to make sure we are all bringing judges who we’d be happy to have judge our own teams. - Lyndsey mentioned that in Alabama, head coaches are required to judge through the end of the tournament. - Mario is putting out the documents to allow the membership to comment and edit over the next week.

Business meeting was adjourned for lunch.