November 3, 2009 • 1:00 pm 1
a thousand days without your love.
my weekend schedule for the rest of the semester:
November 6-7: Grady (hired by tournament)
November 13-14: Fayette County (running tournament)
November 20-21: Carrollton (hired by Johns Creek)
December 5-7: Ohio Valley
December 12: Griffin (running tournament)
Yay for money!
Filed under: daily blogging, debate, fayette, money, tournaments, work
October 14, 2009 • 1:58 am 0
A month from today is the Fayette Classic. This tournament gives me soo many sleepless nights and tireless days. It’s so worth it. This tournament is one of the reasons I do debate. I enjoy running the tournament so much. This year I am having to give up control of what I’ve done for the past 4 years because of student teaching. Instead of running the tab room for the policy divisions, I will be running IE’s.
Ugh, nerves are going crazy already. Crazy dreams/nightmares… tournament’s filling up. I’m ready for this to be over.
Filed under: daily blogging, debate, fayette, november, tournament
September 7, 2009 • 4:12 am 0
I’m a fourth year coach at Fayette County HS in southern Georgia. In my short four year coaching career, I’ve also coached at Wheeler High School in North Georgia and Sandy Creek HS in southern Georgia. I’ve coached a 70 person team, a 25 person team, and a 8 person team. I’ve coached a team that receives significant funding from the Board of Education. I’ve coached a team that runs entirely off of parental donations. I’ve coached a team that receives no funding and/or donations, and must fundraise for their budget.
Richard Bracknell proposed last month to the Georgia High School Association to withdraw debate from the auspices of the GHSA. As the Assistant Director of Debate at Fayette County High School I fully support him.
Everyone will concede that Georgia debate is slowly evaporating. Everyone should also note that South Georgia debate is rapidly dying. In my four years, I’ve seen over 10 Southern Georgia programs fold. The GFCA is actively promoting programs to try and grow Georgia debate in all regions – but the easiest solution is impossible under the GHSA. The Georgia Independent Schools Association was created in the early 1900′s as an answer to integration in schools. Today, the GISA still exists and the GHSA has rules where GHSA / GISA schools cannot compete against each other. If debate was removed from the auspices of the GHSA, we would add more than 15 schools automatically from GISA to compete in Georgia tournaments. Additionally, a majority of debate schools in GISA are located in South Georgia and other areas dying for new programs.
The main argument posed against withdrawing was schools would lose their funding. My problem with this thinking stems from Mario Herrera’s comments – why are we letting money determine the best educational outlet for our students? I believe that funding is crucial in this activity and keeps teams rising to the top nationally, however I do not think that the GHSA is uniquely key to funding. Activities such as the Academic Team & the Math Team exist without GHSA supervision. They receive limited funding from their schools. Why can debate not be treated the same way? Additionally, if your school would automatically lose funding because we’re not GHSA-affiliated– it is partially your fault for not advocating your program better. It is the responsibility of the coach to display every aspect of greatness the debate team creates for its students. If you advocate your program effectively, I do not know of one principal not willing to fight for funding at the Board meetings. Remember the goal of our activity is education- we need to do what is best for our students and not let the best extra curricular activity die in front of us.
I encourage you to comment with your opinions – I will be updating you on the issue and post some more reasons as to why we should withdraw.
Filed under: daily blogging, complain, debate, fayette, gfca, GHSA, succession
