Team Rules & Regulations
Introduction
Speech & debate (sometimes called “forensics”) is one of the more unique extracurricular activities offered at Lincoln. Students will train and compete in a range of events, building skills in critical thinking, public speaking, argumentation, and even character acting and joke-timing. From September to June, we’ll be actively competing at schools across the state, and actively practicing at Lincoln.
We have a successful program in both debate and individual events with reigning state champions in each through out the year. In 2016-17, Lincoln was the champion of the Portland Interscholastic League and won the State Championship for 6A schools. And, we qualified eight competitors for Nationals in Birmingham. We have a long history of success at every level – local, state, and national – and our goal is to teach our students practical skills that will be useful throughout the rest of their lives.
A core benefit of Lincoln’s program is the team culture we create. Although we’re all committed to the academic side of speech & debate, we try to create a comfortable, open, mutually-supportive atmosphere for students. Speech & debate is a great opportunity for students new to the Lincoln community to meet other students with shared interests, whether those be politics, music, drama, or something else entirely.
These brief rules and regulations, codified in our Team Agreement Form below, are intended as a set of expectations and procedures to make sure we have a successful year, and to provide new members of the team (students and parents alike) an overview of what we do, and how we do it. If you have questions, contact Coach Jeff Koegler at jkoegler@pps.net. If you want to read more about the team, please review this website.
Our teams member may also qualify for a National Speech & Debate
Association Cords (yellow & maroon) for graduation.
As an OSAA-sanctioned activity, Speech & Debate students in Oregon are eligible to earn LETTERS. As our team values community, character and excellence, our criteria to earn LETTERS are designed to recognize those students who best demonstrate those values. Our members in good standing* who meet at least three of the following six criteria, are eligible to earn a "L" for Lincoln LETTER:
1. Earn a minimum of 150 NFL points in that school year from Speech & Debate team activities only (does not include alternate qualifying points such as MUN, Mock Trial, Constitution Team and others)
2. Attend seven speech & debate or Student Congress tournaments (preferably open division by January)
3. Place 1st, 2nd or 3rd at the State Qualifying Speech Tournament or earn alternate qualifying offer/student congress invite to State
4. Place 1st, 2nd or 3rd at the Oregon State Speech Tournament (counts twice)
5. Place 1st, 2nd or 3rd at qualifying tournament for the National Speech & Debate Association’s National Speech Tournament
6. Serve as team officer and/or regularly volunteer within & for team as requested by coach
*To be considered "in good standing" student must abide by the terms of the agreement below.
Agreement for students
I agree to regularly review emails from the team, and respond in a timely manner to all communications. I will communicate regularly with my parents and/or guardians about upcoming tournaments, the team’s practice schedules, pending deadlines, tournament fees, permission slips, and any other information my coaches ask me to share.
I agree that I will work to create a positive, mutually-supportive team environment. I understand that I am a representative of Lincoln High School and the Speech & Debate Team, and that my actions on the team reflect (either positively or negatively) on my peers and coaches. I will model good behavior and ethical conduct at all times.
I agree to regularly attend team practices and to be fully engaged at practice. I will fully participate in and be on-time for drills, practice rounds, informational lectures and tournaments where I’ve pre-registered. I will communicate regularly with my designated team officer / squad leader so that they can track my progress during the year.
I agree to abide by all of the above team regulations as well as the Student Conduct Code set forth in the Portland Public Schools Handbook, the National Speech and Debate Association's Tournament Handbook, the Oregon Student Activities Association (OSAA) Speech & Debate Handbook as well as any and all instructions from coaches and team officers. I recognize that tournament attire and etiquette require a level of professionalism more stringent than school dress codes and I will abide by those standards set by the coaches. I understand that my failure to adhere to team policies and procedures, and/or my failure to maintain behavior which reflects positively upon the program and Lincoln High School, may result in my disqualification from competition, removal from the team, and/or potential referral of student behavior to Lincoln High School’s administration.
Novice competitor agreements:
I agree to compete in at least one Speech event and one Debate event during my first competition year.
Agreement for parents
I acknowledge that, like many extracurricular activities, Speech & Debate may require my active participation. In particular, I acknowledge that I will be called on to judge at speech & debate tournaments, and/or drive students to and/or from competitions. I agree to participate as a judge and/or driver to the fullest extent of my ability and understand that for every four tournaments my child competes, I am expected to volunteer to drive and judge for one of those unless otherwise arranged. To volunteer for Portland Public Schools, I understand that I will be required to complete successful a background check and to drive students in my vehicle, I will need to file a driver/vehicle statement and provide proof of a driver’s license and car insurance. If I am unable to judge at or transport students to/from a given competition, I will communicate this to the team’s coaching staff as soon as possible. I acknowledge that this may increase my student’s fees for a given tournament, to cover judging costs.
I agree to pay all fees related to tournaments – including tournament-specific fees, the cost of hotel stays, National Speech and Debate Association membership fees, and other costs which may be incurred – starting with an initial $350 membership fee-- to the extent of my family’s financial ability. If I am unable to pay a particular fee, I agree to communicate this to the team’s coaching staff immediately.