Because she was summoned to a parent-teacher meeting early that morning, Flo then spent the rest of the morning completing paperwork, mostly related to the year-end. That, even though most teachers did the paperwork from home. She knows so many of them spent the majority of the Memorial Day weekend grading finals, and for some of them it wasn't enough. And certainly not for Warren, by virtue of coaching the VAs' quiz bowl team at the HSNCT, or the High School National Championship Tournament, in Atlanta.
Speaking of the HSNCT, at lunch time, the upperclassmen's guidance counselor (and also the career development teacher) sits next to her and starts talking about it.
"I guess, you missed out on this year's VA squad at the HSNCT by grading dozens of finals. Although it's not our best HSNCT showing by any stretch, because we finished fortieth, I still have good hopes for next year" Steven, the guidance counselor talks about what the quiz bowl team did over the Memorial Day weekend.
"Ah yes, there's only one player on the quiz bowl team graduating. But what worries me most, going into the next season, is the debate team. With the graduation of several players, we only have three players left, and this is not good" Florence then tells Steven about the debate team's predicament.
"What do you mean, it's not good?"
"Not sure the principal would want to keep an academic team around with so few players. I know, however, that debate tends to fly under the radar among the student body, at least compared to mathletics and quiz bowl. That, on the other hand, can prove to be a double-edged sword"
For as long as the VAs even fielded a debate team, the debate team always had a reputation of being intellectually intense enough to make some people balk. Now Flo says that the principal may not even keep the team around with only 3 players? Steven starts to wonder how important headcount is for a team to remain in operation.
"Do you have any idea of how to get more rising underclassmen to play? The way I see it, the team is back to what it was when you were playing" Steven asks her.
"I can't claim it's about the team looking good for college applications, so maybe I should ask existing players to share their experiences on the school's social media, or, if that fails, ask language arts and social studies teachers for potential students they feel ought to consider playing on the debate team. And hopefully saving the team will show the principal I'm worth giving tenure to. Speaking of which, I hate how opaque tenure criteria are, beyond seniority"
My impression is that students likely to play on the debate team will often have a lot on their plates. That is, if my high schooler self is anything to go by, Flo ponders the implications of trying to recruit players, given the context the VAs play in. She knows perceptions play a significant role in both building a team and keeping it in operation.
"Personally, I'd say extemp and Congress are the events that allow the most flexibility in time commitment" Steven suggests some focus areas to Flo.
"None of the current players do extemp or Congress, so I can't use my current players to do so. As far as I can tell, these two events have similar content coverage. And what I expect to change most between what the current players do and Congress, beyond content coverage, relate to bills and procedure. From a coaching standpoint anyway" Flo adds her concerns over extemp and Congress.
"I'll even judge tournaments if you let me try to get additional players!" Steven pleads with Flo, believing that he could be of use. "We might have failed each other in the past, and, unfortunately, if we lose you as a debate coach, there may not even be anyone else able to do it. And, without a coach, the team will be gone after the season ends"
"What do you mean, we failed each other in the past?"
"The school personnel, at the time, was very disappointed when you and your pair lost out on a Nats berth – twice. And I failed you because I failed to advise you properly about career choices, and so did the counselor of the time"
"Back to the business of the debate team. I know that, without the debate team, we will no longer have adequate extracurricular coverage in the areas of language arts and social studies. Quiz bowl is all-subject and does not provide much that's specific to these areas; what it does provide is a little shallow"
"So it's in the best interest of the school for you to get tenure, and then the best bet would be to not only grow the team, but also earn Nats berths next season"
Flo then writes an email to all English and social studies teachers who taught eighth and ninth-graders for the 2032-2033 school year, with a PDF brochure containing a high-level overview of all the speech and debate events available to the VAs (for some reason, policy and World Schools aren't), asking for names of potential players for next season, as well as their potential areas of fit as debate players.
Next, she attempts to cross-reference students in her non-AP sections to see if she can recommend students to the team herself. And, of course, remaining mindful of their ability to handle the intellectual rigors of playing on the speech and debate team. I can kind of see what would happen if a player whose intellect is a little shaky, but who could benefit from debating, wound up actually playing: they might gain some skills but at some point, the rigors of the activity could leave them vulnerable to a host of mental health issues, such as impostor syndrome, she starts thinking about who makes the best fits, and then about what potential students' attitudes towards learning mean for fitting in the debate team. Those who attempt to maximize their "grades-to-learning" ratio, that is, learn as little as absolutely necessary to earn a specific grade, won't necessarily be a good fit for the team.
But until she receives a response from the other teachers, she holds off on contacting the students so identified and their parents. In the meantime, she consults resources for other events the students on her initial scouting could be good fits for. And ponders what progress the existing players could make towards Nats berths for the upcoming season.
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
A few days later, the four teachers asked earlier (two each for English and social studies) all answer with their lists of potential prospects, along with Steven, complete with names, grade levels (for 2033-2034) and potential events. There's not terribly many of these, but better that than nothing, I guess, she sighs upon reviewing the lists given by the other teachers against her own. And against the team's budget for next season, as well as the limit of how big the team can be. Or perhaps I could have the principal add an email about the debate team's first meeting in early August, along with tryout dates for sports and other teams on top of that.
Which means she can take it easy, relatively speaking, for the summer and spend all the time she needs to make the presentation on that day happen, with an overview of all the events, as well as the qualities successful players of each event tend to have. And, of course, map a tournament calendar for the debate season.
And, of course, try to rework her AP French course so it won't be as heavy on the historical aspect, to the extent possible given the requirements of the College Board. Yet, history is difficult to escape from when trying to understand both a language and its literature at that level. Going to the essentials of history, as relevant to the study of French, but not necessarily in as much depth as she would have liked. Sacrament, this means I can't cover the Conquête (read: French and Indian War, or Seven Years' War) as much as I used to, even though I know full well it has affected French not only in Quebec, but also here in Louisiana! Yet, maybe I can have them write an essay on the Conquête's impact on Louisiana instead, she attempts to resist the urge to complain out loud about the areas the student complaints touch most upon.
However, there were no real content complaints to be had in the other French course and, as such, she didn't make any changes to it.
-------------------------
And yet, as the weeks go on, she is reminded of the need to set the calendar for the season so that she would have something concrete to show to prospective players as well as their parents when the day comes. The tentative schedule would include a total of 3 online tournaments and 5 in-person tournaments, district qualifier included, neatly sorted in chronological order and then by type, and must be submitted to the principal for approval.
When the principal receives the debate team's tentative schedule in her email inbox, along with the request to add the debate team to the list of tryouts to send to students and their parents...
"I see that Florence wants the team to regularly go to tournaments, a mix of local in-person and inter-state online tournaments, but with that schedule, I'll approve it with conditions" Marianne thinks out loud, before setting out the conditions in writing. At least 5 players, at most 12. With the caveat that the team's final budget will be awarded on a per-capita basis. "I really hope that putting the debate team on the list of tryouts will allow people who wouldn't otherwise join to do so, and it goes without saying that the debate team's performance this season will carry implications for Florence, as would student evaluations for the upcoming year"
Wattpad High had no academic team, and only offered 3 sports: football, basketball (both genders) and cheerleading. Coming here in the middle of the year, after the resignation of the previous principal, was a shock to me: sure, there isn't a whole lot of clubs either, but VA feels like an extracurricular heaven when compared to Wattpad High. To students and parents, anyhow; to me it means more paperwork about ECs, Marianne starts having a before-after mental image flashing in her mind of her inner-city, Title I school she calls her previous workplace vs now.
When the day comes and Florence returns to campus for the first time in August, she could now have a better idea of who would come and who would join the team. As well as the schedule for the season, so that parents can plan specific weeks around them.
"Dear members of the Venomous Agendas community, I am Florence Finney, French teacher, here at VA, as well as the coach of the debate team. Before we begin, even though the VA community always referred to the speech and debate team as simply the debate team, since, historically, the vast majority of the players debated, myself included, there's more to the debate team than just debate"
Flo then runs down the main events on offer on the team, along with the traits each event favors starting with the speech events. Yet, to the presentation of the speech events, the parents and the students in the room all roll their eyes. Not even extemporaneous speech. That, even though one of the past legends of VA debate, Chantal, was actually an extemper. But that changes when she starts talking about Congressional debate. She gets bombarded with questions about the format, starting with the general feel of a Congressional debate chamber.
"In Congressional debate, you get to LARP as a Congressman when the House is in session. You give speeches on bills, and you briefly get questioned on these; however, it's judged mostly comparatively, as one would a speech event" Flo explains the basics of Congressional debate.
It seems like people around here would prefer doing the actual debating vs speech. And several of the names faculty identified are present here as well, Flo starts seeing names of interested players being written on the tablet she left on her desk for that purpose. It gives me hope for the season.
After that, she starts running down the time requirements of Congress for players, and what these are made of.
When the turn comes to talk about public forum and Lincoln-Douglas, however, Flo feels like it's better to let the current players explain their events to prospective players, what these events require from players, and so on, starting with Jacob, a public forum player, talking about how it covers current events.
And then comes the turn of Henry to speak about Lincoln-Douglas. About how LD is one-on-one, more values-heavy, more philosophical.
"Thank you for being transparent with the prospects" Flo thanks the current players before they move away from the center.
She then continues to speak about the roadmap for the season, the expectations at practices as well as how students enter the tournaments in the roadmap. About how, normally, students on the team should enter all tournaments, and scheduling information shall be given in advance for all tournaments. About the skills gained across debate formats. About the playing fees being $20, due at the first practice, and covering NSDA membership for the player.
It becomes clear that the new players are much more interested in playing Congressional debate than in any other formats. And not simply because of Congress having more flexibility in the time requirements. The tentative roster then has 8 players, 2 LD, one PF pair and 4 Congressional players,
"Don't forget: some tournaments, such as Isidore Newman, will require us to leave during class time, in which case I will notify teachers the day before the tournament. Since these happen on Fridays, I would prefer practices to be held on Fridays as well"
After the info session ends, she sends the tentative roster to both Marianne and Steven, but in separate email. In her email to Steven, she even asks him if he's available to coach on top of judging Congressional tournaments, now that practices are also scheduled for Fridays after school.
To which he answers: I cannot guarantee anything, it depends on the students' needs. They tend to intensify starting in November.