Parents' Meeting - Our Next Regular Club Meeting
Tuesday June 20, 2006 from 7:00-8:30 PM at the Snodgrass's home
Thank you John and Silvia for opening up your home for this meeting!
(if you need to bring some or all of your children, please call Sylvia at 250-9209)
The Parents will be discussing ARC's future. We will pick up where we left off at April 14's meeting, paying particular attention to Item III. (These are not the minutes)
SUMMARY OF PARENT SURVEY FOR UPCOMING 2006-07 ARC YEAR
Parents unanimously prefer to keep meetings on Fridays.
Length of meetings:
4:30-6 speech (alternating speech 1 week, extemporaneous the next)
6-6:30 pizza etc. (everyone together, occasionally we will take longer than 1/2 hour)
6:30-8:30 debate (concurrent: Team Policy & LD Values Debate)
ALL parents agree that it’s best to meet once/week rather than try to meet a different time/day for more training.
II. No parent wanted to start a new chapter of ARC.
III. Parent volunteers to facilitate debate/speech are as follows
(As new families join, they will likely fill in the needed positions below):
Team Policy Debate: Lincoln Douglas Values Debate:
Joanne Rodgers Kate Sullivan
Sylvia Snodgrass Cynthia Umstattd
Thomas Umstattd, Jr. Monica Alford (?)
________________________ ________________________
________________________ ________________________
Limited Preparation Events Interpretive Events
Apologetics Ginger Umstattd, over all interps
Jeff Rodgers ________________________
________________________ Original Interp
Extemporaneous ________________________
Bill Morgan Dramatic Interp
Tom Umstattd ________________________
________________________ Humorous Interp
Impromptu ________________________
________________________ Duo
Platform Events ________________________
________________________ ________________________
Expository Junior Track
Joanne Rodgers Emily Lill
________________________ Monica Alford
Persuasive
Pat Hastings
________________________
Original Oratory
Pat Hastings
Miscellaneous
Thomas Umstattd, Jr.: Open Air Preaching; 1 on 1 Evangelism; Limited Prep
Carlos Calderon: help irregularly as needed when in town
Cynthia Umstattd: TP; IE’s
Linda & Jim Randall: possibly get professionals from church to come in and give a one-time instruction session
David Alford: Webmaster updates
IV. Club hosting: A vote has already been taken at a previous parent meeting to limit our club to hosting one major event/school year (major event defined as a 2 or more day event). From the survey, however, most parents agreed to this, with a small number citing the possibility of hosting more than one event IF the events were not close together in time (within 2 months) and IF there was a better workbase; distribution of duties; improved communication and organization.
V. Trading parent volunteer hours for tournament fees:
There was definitely interest in this, although many expressed the need for more information i.e. have other clubs done this?; what were the guidelines and results?; someone would have to be willing to research & set this up; it would be difficult to be fair and count all of the hours as some put in a tremendous amount of hours behind the scenes. Parents from the clubs we know of put in a great number of hours and do NOT trade hours for fees.
VI. Scholarship Funding
Most parents were interested in this, but once again, we need more information on this: Have other clubs done this? What were the guidelines? What were the successes/failures of this? Who would be willing to be on a committee to research this? A committee of Liz Morgan and Jeff Rodgers was formed to make a recommendation to the board.
VII. Fundraisers for Scholarships
The parents were split on this issue. Ten parents did not want to do this, often citing no time/energy for this. Six parents were interested, but most parents said they did NOT want to organize/contribute time to this. The consensus was that many parents are already overwhelmed with schoolwork, debate, hosting events and therefore have no time for one more activity!
VIII. Accountability Checklist
Liz Morgan had started an accountability checklist last fall, 2005, to aid the students and parents in reading, doing homework and research for debate/speech. Most parents were not aware of this checklist nor did they use it, if aware. They felt that it would be most helpful to have it again this year, if it were used EVERY WEEK in the meetings.
IX. Summer Meetings
If in town, nearly ALL PARENTS are happy to meet during the summer to plan for the fall (although not weekly).
AGENDA FOR PARENT’S MEETING, JUNE 20, 2006
2006-07 Calendar Year for ARC
A tentative planning calendar was discussed for the upcoming year to help with planning and to prevent burnout:
June 23-34, Fri-Sat., CHEACT Summer Book Fair, Palmer Events Center
August 26: Day Workshop: Intro to ARC
Late October or early November: Weatherford 2 Day Tournament
Nov. 15-18: CFC 4 day Conference, Austin
Jan. 4-6?, 2007 Houston (or Austin) Practice or Qualifier Tournament, 3 day
Jan. 10-18, 2007 CFC Masters, Location, TBD Probably in the South: TN or AL
Late Jan. or Early Feb: StatePractice
Tournament, 2 or 3 day, Corpus Christi?
Late Feb, or early March, State Tournament, Houston?
Late March: Bedford Open Tournament, 3 day
Late April: Houston Regional Invitational Tournament, 3 day
Early June: Nats maybe at UMHB
ARC meeting, Spring 2006: