IHSA Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes - 2006-07
Speech Advisory Committee
April 4 , 2007
The IHSA Speech Advisory Committee met at the IHSA Office in Bloomington on Wednesday, April 4, 2007, beginning at 10:00 a.m. Committee members present were: William Colson, Chicago (Morgan Park); Rino Della Vedova, Rock Island; Joyce Hubbard, Lincoln; Kevin Martin, Harvey (Thornton); and Adam Jenkins, Belleville (West). Deb Woodard and Connie Link were unable to attend. Mike Colletti, State Final Debate Manager (Palos Hills, Stagg) was also in attendance. Susie Knoblauch, IHSA Assistant Executive Director, conducted the meeting.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS RECOMMENDATIONS
Debate
1. Item VIII-C-4f-1a. Tournament Rules - Elimination Round Procedures - Semi Final Congress
Recommendation: Eligibility for the Semi-final session will be determined in the following manner at the end of the session 3. The high point speaker, all speakers with judge nominations, and the winning presiding officer from each chamber will advance. Four Semi-final chambers will be established.
Rationale: Since no awards are given to presiding officers, there is no incentive to serve. By giving presiding officers an opportunity to advance to semi finals, there would be an incentive to run for the position and the quality of the chamber will improve.
Approved
2. Item VIII-C-4f-2 b. Tournament Rules – Elimination Round Procedures - Final Congress
Recommendation: Five coaches (judges) will be assigned to judge the Final Session. Each judge will evaluate all speeches.
Rationale: Five judges are used in Public Forum, Lincoln Douglas and Policy Debate. For consistency and fairness to the competitors, congress should follow suit.
Approved
3. Item VIII-C4f-2 d. Tournament Rules – Elimination Round Procedures – Final Congress (Super Congress)
Recommendation: To determine final awards, each of the five judges will nominate two contestants each. A preferential ballot will be established containing those nominees, and the judges will rank order those contestants. The contestants with the smallest cumulative number will be ranked Champion, and the student with the second smallest cumulative number will be ranked Runner-Up.
Rationale: In light of the fact that students have been competing against their peers all season, students do not necessarily vote for the best speaker. Students often vote against someone as much as for someone and so we question the validity of the student’s choice for the State Championship. Judges choice would eliminate this conflict.
Approved
4. Item II B-Dates
Recommendation: Dates for the tournament shall be March 13, 14, 15, 2008 (Week 37 of the IHSA standardized calendar).
Rationale: The date changed last year to accommodate a venue change. Next year the traditional tournament date can be in tact which also helps with securing judges, debate tournament calendar conflicts and spring break concerns.
Approved
Drama/Group Interpretation
1. Item II–B Dates
Recommendation: State Final to be held on Week 40 of the IHSA Standardized Calendar
Sectional March 28-29, 2008
State April 4-5, 2008
Rationale: With Easter Sunday falling on week 39 of the IHSA standardized calendar in 2008, the IHSA needed to explore alternate dates for the Drama/Group Interp State Championship for one year. Some members of the advisory committee felt that more time was needed between the IE state final and the Drama/Group Interp state final (4-6 weeks minimum with 6 weeks being ideal). Many Drama/GI coaches are also the IE coaches and are just wrapping up a busy February post season. Others felt that taking the tournament any later into April could conflict with spring sports, spring activities and proms. UIS Sangamon Auditorium is only available on Week 37 in 2008. The IHSA has a hold to return to UIS for the State Drama/Group Interpretation Competition in 2009 on the standardized IHSA week 38.
Rejected
Individual Events
1. Item V – 4 d Regional Entry
Recommendation: Individual students may not participate in more than three (3) Individual Events.
Rationale: To encourage programs to submit a full roster of entries into Regionals, it would benefit smaller programs to be able to triple enter students.
Rjected
ADMINISTRATIVE RECOMMENDATIONS:
Debate
1. Recommend to revise the NFL Public Forum Debate Ballot to allow a more open ended format.
2. The committee reviewed the Debate State Final at UIS and a recommendation that the site be considered for another year based on ISU’s construction concerns.
Drama
1. The committee requested that the IHSA pursue looking at other venues for a later date. Some members feel that the date needs to be moved later into the spring such as April 2 and 3, 2007. There is also concern on the committee regarding the GI space and a recommendation to look for a space that has a front view only would be ideal.
2. The committee recommending developing subcommittees to work on a best of show system for Drama specifically focusing on the technical elements such as lighting and sounds as well as make-up, set, and costumes. The group would also examine a rubric based scoring system for Drama and Group Interp. to assist in scoring consistency.
3. The committee recommended that a review sub-committee should be formed to examine rubric based scoring in drama and group interpretation competition.
Individual Events
Recommend continuing to balance and review regional assignments so the numbers of entries are equitable in regards to the number of sectionals that may have had events advance straight to finals.
The committee recommended continuing to use Speech Wire and the services of Ben Stewart for the IE post season.
ITEMS OF GENERAL DISCUSSION
Susie Knoblauch reviewed the process for rule changes at the IHSA. The above recommendations must be reviewed by the administrative staff and the IHSA board of directors for a final board vote.
The committee reviewed the 2007 Debate venue. Issues were discussed such as space, parking, facility and food service at UIS. Most felt that Springfield and UIS provided a wonderful venue. Ample hotel space and restaurants were readily available. Some suggestions were to clearly communicate when food is available on campus. The committee applauded how helpful Thomas Bartl and Mary Ellen were at UIS. Other items of discussion included the judging pool, location for postings, awards and tab room hospitality.
The Commemorative Debate Tournament in the summer of 2008 was reviewed. The IHSA is working in conjunction with other outside groups to continue to highlight the legacy of the LD debates in Illinois by offering a summer public forum competition with some national exposure.
The committee reviewed the need and goal of the IE Monday regional meeting. The rule book does address schools that would like to waive their right not to attend the meeting due to weather or other circumstances beyond their control. Many members did feel that the meeting had merit.
PIR was discussed focusing on the inconsistency of judging.
The logistic of Debate qualifying rounds was discussed.
A question was asked regarding where Extemporaneous topics for competition come from and Susie explained the NFHS resource for Extemporaneous questions.
Discussion regarding the use of radio scripts was reviewed – The committee suggested that a person be present in the radio performing room to assure copy is being used correctly.
The protest process at the state final was reviewed. Teams need to feel that their concerns are confidentially handled and that there are no repercussions to the competitors or their teams since coaches are used as judges. The IHSA will continue to improve the process in place for coaches to voice concerns during the competition.
Discussion of the addition of a new event, Improvisational Duet, led to the committee recommending that the event be piloted at invitational and conference speech tournament level to get a feel of the need for this addition.
The committee heard an overview of the regional and sectional assignment process for IHSA events.
There was a discussion of the use of previous Extemporaneous speeches in a students’ extemporaneous file led to the concern that students do keep previous competition speeches in their file and that should not be confused with prepared speech outline which are prohibited.
A suggestion was made that through ISTA and new coaches’ workshops the IHSA can continue to promote IHSA rule interpretations especially dealing with cutting and multiple characters.
The committee discussed the safety issues with the cast not wearing shoes during performance in Drama and Group Interp. The committee agreed that all crew members must be wearing appropriate footwear.
The committee discussed the need for a quality video at the state Drama/Group Interpretation Tournament.
The IHSA will continue to explore developing an online process for registering Debate, Speech and Drama-Group Interpretation judges. This will help update the database of current judges in the state and be instrumental in the process of recruiting new judges and making judging assignments. Future plans may include an online registration system with the capabilities of a system to rate judges similar to what is used to rate officials. Judges training was also a topic of discussion.
The IHSA and Advisory Committee thanked and complimented Rock Island HS School for hosting a nice state series in Individual Events.
The IHSA thanked Rino Della Vedova, Bill Colson, and Joyce Hubbard for their service on the IHSA Speech Advisory Committee.
Dr. Deb Woodard was the recipient of the NFHS coaches’ award. Nominees for 2008 can be sent to Susie Knoblauch at the IHSA office.
The next advisory committee meeting shall be Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008.