12/8/25

​Hi parents and students! 

The entry list for Saturday's speech tournament at Granada Hills is now finalized! It is attached to this email. 

I will need at least one more Speech judge for Saturday (ideally, I could use 2), so if your child is competing, please consider being a judge! It is very easy and we will train you (I am the trainer and I promise I will answer all your questions!) as well as feed you! 

You just need to commit to being available for all rounds. 

Here is the schedule:

08:00am - 08:30am Registration (coaches & judges check-in)

08:30am - 09:30am Judges Instructions

09:30am - 11:30am Round 1

11:30am - 01:30pm Round 2

01:30pm - 02:00pm - Lunch Break

02:00pm - 04:00pm Round 3

05:00pm - 06:30pm Final Round

If you are willing to judge, please let me know by responding to this email. 

Also, just as a reminder, if you'd like to compete at the Spring Debate Tournament at Hart High, I need to know before we go on break, as the entry deadline is 1/9 and we don't return to school until 1/12. 

LOOKING AHEAD TO JANUARY:

Spring Debate Tournament @ Hart High - Sat 1/17/26, entry deadline is Friday, 1/9 (BEFORE WE ARE BACK FROM BREAK- LMK before break if you'd like to compete!!!!)

Spring Congress Tournament @ Valley International Prep (Northridge) - Sat 1/24, entry deadline is Friday, 1/16

Spring Speech Tournament @ West Ranch High - Sat 1/31, entry deadline is Friday, 1/23

12/1/25

Hello students and parents!

I would like to extend a very sincere THANK YOU to everyone who helped out at our tournament last Saturday. Everything went very smoothly, and I felt so grateful for all of you for pitching in and helping out. THANKS SO MUCH to all the parents who brought food, made coffee, picked up pizzas, etc.  I really could not do it without you. And a special thanks to all the parents and siblings who judged for us! You are amazing and I thank you from the bottom of my heart! 

Our season continues next Saturday, 12/13, with our Open Speech Tournament hosted by Granada Hills. I encourage everyone on the Speech team to compete if they are able!

Remember that in order to compete, you need to have money in your Speech and Debate account (packages can be purchased on ASB), and a working Tabroom account. Please let me know if you'd like to sign up.

If you don't have a speech prepared yet,  remember that several fun limited prep events are offered, such as:

SPAR - spontaneous argumentation (mini debates)

Impromptu Speaking - you have 2 minutes to prepare a 5 minute speech on a given topic

Duo Improv - you and a partner have 2 minutes to prepare a 5 minute improv on a given prompt

The entry deadline is THIS FRIDAY so please let me know ASAP if you'd like to compete. 

LOOKING AHEAD TO JANUARY:

Spring Debate Tournament @ Hart High - Sat 1/17/26, entry deadline is Friday, 1/9 (BEFORE WE ARE BACK FROM BREAK- LMK before break if you'd like to compete!!!!)

Spring Congress Tournament @ Valley International Prep (Northridge) - Sat 1/24, entry deadline is Friday, 1/16

Spring Speech Tournament @ West Ranch High - Sat 1/31, entry deadline is Friday, 1/23

We have a tight turnaround from Winter Break to all of these tournaments, so please be thinking NOW about whether or not you'd like to prepare and sign up for one of these tournaments. The schedule and more information about all tournaments can be found on our website. 

In order to compete at our State Qualifier Tournaments in Feb/March, you must compete at AT LEAST ONE TCFL OPEN (not novice) TOURNAMENT. Those three tournaments in January are the last opportunity to do so and establish eligibility for the State Tournament. 

Thanks again for all your help and support, and please reach out to me with questions! 

11/14/25

Hi students and parents! 

First things first; I desperately need judges for our debate tournament next weekend. We will need at least 3 judges to cover our entries. Parents, if you are able to judge, please reply to this email and let me know. Remember that you DO NOT NEED ANY EXPERIENCE; we will provide training the morning of the tournament. However, we will have to drop entries if we do not have judges.

Next, thank you SO much for signing up for shifts for our tournament next weekend. I truly appreciate all of you. 

Remember that we will have a meeting on Tuesday night at 7pm on Zoom where we will go over the details, so if you're feeling at all confused, please make sure to come! I will also record the meeting and send it out afterward in case anyone cannot make it. 

Sarah E. Ford is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Sarah E. Ford's Personal Meeting Room

Join Zoom Meeting

https://hartdistrict-org.zoom.us/j/8339291707?pwd=WjM5aEZ2aFRPRzRVeTNIaVh4TFJtUT09

Meeting ID: 833 929 1707

Passcode: Ford

Join instructions

https://hartdistrict-org.zoom.us/meetings/8339291707/invitations?signature=VN_ACdhx-j-yT9hNIRFiWwq0ubdmfhyg0UZ8auGG5t8

I also wanted to let you know that since rain is forecasted for next Saturday, we have decided to put student concessions in the Gymnasium rather than the MPR. This will allow more students to have indoor space. Parli prep will be in the MPR. This mainly affects the morning set up shift; remember to set up concessions in the gym rather than MPR. 

Also, if any families have EZ Ups (so we can keep our welcome table dry) or coolers that you'd be willing to lend us, please drop them off with your donation next week. Label them with your name so I can make sure they make it back to you! We will need several large coolers for the judge's lounge and several for the MPR. 

If you forgot what you're responsible for for donations, here is that list again.

Thanks so much!!! 

Email me with questions: seford@hartdistrict.org  

11/12/25​

Hello all! Sign ups for the Winter Debate Tournament (which we are hosting here at VHS) are due by FRIDAY.

Currently, we have only one parli team signed up, Rishi & Matt. 

Remember that we are also offering CONGRESS at this tournament, in addition to the other forms of DEBATE.  

If you'd like to sign up to compete, please be sure you have purchased a package and that you have enough money in your account, and then let me know ASAP! 

All students also need to sign up for a shift to volunteer at the tournament!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090B49A9AD2EA2FA7-38194315-112225#/

Parents are able to sign up too!

Parents, we will have a meeting to go over last minute tournament details and ask questions on Tuesday, 11/18 at 7pm on Zoom! I will send you an invite with the link that day. 

Finally, I am collecting donations for items to sell at our concession stand and to give out to volunteers (such as water, snacks, etc.).

Each student is responsible for one item; it can be dropped off at school next week, either in my room or in the front office or front gate (if that's more convenient for you). Just be sure you label them - Mrs. Ford, Room 933! 

If for some reason you can't get your item let me know and we can swap your item with another student! :) 

Here is the link to the list :) ​

 DONATION LIST 2025

​

Thanks as always for your help and support- email me with any questions! 

11/6/25

Hello students and parents! 

Please excuse me if you get this message twice; some students have told me that their parents are not receiving emails from me, so I am sending this one via Parent Square as well as my email list. (sidenote: please check you spam folders to see if there are any messages from me, seford@hartdistrict.org). 

In just a few weeks, Valencia will host the Winter Open Debate & Congress Tournament, and for things to run smoothly, I will need all hands on deck! 

I need several parents who are available to pick up food on 11/22 and deliver it to VHS, as well as some parents to help me keep the judge's lounge stocked with food, snacks, & coffee!

Here is the link to the Sign Up Genius: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090B49A9AD2EA2FA7-38194315-112225?authuser=0 

Parent slots are marked "PARENTS ONLY" or "PARENTS NEEDED".

In addition, all students should sign up for a slot; students will get a grade for signing up and completing their shift. Students who will be out of town or unavailable on 11/22 should sign up for an 11/21 shift. Students who are competing in the competition (debate and congress competitors) should sign up for the final clean up shift. 

Also, I am asking for donations from each family for our concessions stand. Donations can be dropped off at the front office during the week of 11/17 (make sure they are labeled "FORD 933"). Please let me know if you need to swap an item or if you have suggestions for other items that we should include. I know there was a suggestion to do nachos; if anyone would like to get the items needed for that, I can reimburse from our profits on that day. 

HERE IS THE LINK TO THE DONATION LIST.

I will be holding a parent meeting on Zoom on Tuesday, 11/18 at 7pm to answer questions and go over any questions you might have about the tournament or your role in it! Please mark that on your calendars and plan to attend! 

Remember that our calendar of events is also posted on our website, which you should bookmark if you haven't done yet! 

Finally, the sign ups for this weekend's novice tournament are posted on the spreadsheet (use tabs at the bottom to navigate to "novice debate"). The tournament is at Saugus High School. The schedule is posted here. Students and student judges should plan to arrive no later than 8:30 am!

Thanks as ​always for all your help and support!  

10/31/25

Hello all! 

For those judging and competing at novice debate, I'll see you tomorrow at Hart High! Judges & competitors should plan to arrive no later than 8:30. Round 1 will start at 9:30, so that will give you plenty of time to connect to the wifi, and figure out where to go for prep! 

Don't forget water, laptops & chargers! 

Also, tonight is the signup deadline for Novice Speech! If you're not sure if you're signed up yet, check the SPREADSHEET (use the tabs to navigate to Novice Debate or Novice Speech). 

If you'd still like to go, purchase your package on the ASB store and let me know ASAP - I do not stay up very late, so sending me a message at midnight probably won't work :). 

As always, text me with issues :) 

10/27/25

Hi students and parents! 

Sign ups are now complete for this weekend's novice debate tournament at Hart High! Attached is the list of novice students who have signed up to compete, and the veterans who have signed up to judge (the novice tournaments are the ONLY ones in which students are allowed to serve as judges). 

Any students who have signed up to judge must be available for ALL ROUNDS. If you are unable to commit to the entire day, please let me know so I can drop you; this will help the tournament to run more smoothly. 

Here is the anticipated schedule:

Tentative Schedule

08:00am - 08:30am - Registration (Coaches & Judges)

08:30am - 9:30am - Judge Orientation

09:30am - 11:30am - Round 1

11:30am - 01:30pm - Round 2

01:30pm - 02:00pm - Lunch Break

02:00pm - 04:00pm - Round 3 (Hi-Low Power Match within brackets)

04:00pm - 06:00pm - Round 4 (Hi-Low Power Match within brackets)

Awards to follow immediately after last round in Cafeteria!

Furthermore, THIS FRIDAY is the deadline to sign up for the novice speech tournament at Saugus High! 

Please let me know ASAP if you'd like to compete!

Also, looking ahead, we will be hosting the Winter Debate Tournament here at Valencia on 11/22!

For this event, I will need all hands on deck! Students should plan to take a shift at our concession stand or welcome table.

In addition, I will need parents to pick up food and to help set up coffee and refreshments in the judge's lounge! 

Parents, if you can please fill out this form to let me know what you'd be willing to help out with, that would be great! 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfCWoNgiDIq0ApgEKGk8dIqdcs090JcukiPGHjvs39ZaiiIMw/viewform?usp=sf_link

Thanks as always for all your support and help! 

10/21/25

​Hi Parents and Students!

We had a great weekend at the Fall Speech & Debate Tournament this weekend! 

See the Awards page on our website to see how Valencia did!

It's now time to shine a spotlight on our NOVICES, as our next two tournaments are:

Novice Debate, 11/1 @Hart High School - Sign up by FRIDAY 10/24

Novice Speech, 11/8 @Saugus High School - Sign up by FRIDAY 10/31

Please let me know ASAP if you'd like to compete!

Also, looking ahead, we will be hosting the Winter Debate Tournament here at Valencia on 11/22!

For this event, I will need all hands on deck! Students should plan to take a shift at our concession stand or welcome table.

In addition, I will need parents to pick up food and to help set up coffee and refreshments in the judge's lounge! 

Parents, if you can please fill out this form to let me know what you'd be willing to help out with, that would be great! 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfCWoNgiDIq0ApgEKGk8dIqdcs090JcukiPGHjvs39ZaiiIMw/viewform?usp=sf_link

Thanks as always for all your support and help! 

10/17/25

​I'm looking forward to seeing many of you this weekend at Burbank High School (click link for map), 902 N 3rd St, Burbank CA, for our Fall Tournament and Workshop.

Attached to this email is our entry list.

Thanks so much to Prashanth Jaligama (Rishi's dad) for judging debate, and for Ranjith Pasumarthy (Sanvi's dad) for judging speech! We could not do it without you!!!! 

Remember that if you're judging, you should bring an internet connected device (laptop is best, but phones or tablets will work) with which to submit your ballots and feedback. You may also want to bring a notebook and pens/pencils if you prefer to take physical notes (not required, but some people prefer it!). 

Judges' food will be provided in the judge's lounge, which is the library at Burbank High. 

For those attending the workshop, your meal is included in the $10 entry fee. The rest of you need to bring your own lunch or snacks if you have not yet prepurchased a meal. 

SCHEDULES - SPEECH is tomorrow, DEBATE is Sunday. First is the tournament schedule (judges will follow this schedule), followed by the workshop schedules.

Saturday, October 18th - Speech

08:00am - 08:30am - Registration (Coaches & Judges)

08:30am - 9:30am - Judge Orientation

09:30am - 11:30am - Round 1

11:30am - 01:30pm - Round 2

01:30pm - 02:00pm - Lunch Break

02:00pm - 04:00pm - Round 3

05:00pm - 06:30pm - Final Round

Awards to follow immediately after in the Cafeteria!

Sunday, October 19th - Debate

08:00am - 08:30am - Registration (Coaches & Judges)

08:30am - 9:30am - Judge Orientation

09:30am - 11:30am - Round I

11:30am - 01:30pm - Rd II

01:30pm - 02:00pm - Lunch Break

02:00pm - 04:00pm - Rd III (Hi-Low Power Match within brackets)

04:30pm - 06:30pm - Round IV (Hi-Low Power Match within brackets)

Awards to follow

Speech Workshop Schedule: 

09:00am – Welcome to TCFL/Speech & Debate 101

10:00am – Rotating Clinic 1

11:00am – Rotating Clinic 2

12:00pm – Rotating Clinic 3

01:00pm – Lunch Break

02:00pm – Observe Speech Round 3 OR Congress Clinic

05:00pm – Observe Speech Final Rounds

Speech Rotating Clinics: Platform, Interp, Limited Prep (plus optional Congress in the afternoon)

Debate Workshop Schedule: 

09:00am – Welcome to TCFL/Speech & Debate 101

10:00am – Rotating Clinic 1

11:00am – Rotating Clinic 2

12:00pm – Rotating Clinic 3

01:00pm – Lunch Break

02:00pm – Observe Debate Round 3 OR Congress Clinic

04:30pm – Observe Debate Round 4

Debate Rotating Clinics: Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, Parliamentary/World Schools Debate (plus optional Congress in the afternoon)

​Please let me know if you need a ride either way on either day. 

Text me if you have any questions or concerns! 

Looking forward to a great weekend!!!!

10/14/25

Hi students and parents! 

Attached is our list of entries for this weekend's speech and debate tournament at Burbank. 

As a reminder, Speech events and workshop will be on SATURDAY, and Debate events and workshop will be SUNDAY.

Thanks to Prashanth Jaligama for judging Debate on Sunday! I still need ONE MORE JUDGE FOR SPEECH ON SATURDAY! Please let me know if you're able to judge. 

Tentative Schedules

Saturday, October 18th - Speech

08:00am - 08:30am - Registration (Coaches & Judges)

08:30am - 9:30am - Judge Orientation

09:30am - 11:30am - Round 1

11:30am - 01:30pm - Round 2

01:30pm - 02:00pm - Lunch Break

02:00pm - 04:00pm - Round 3

05:00pm - 06:30pm - Final Round

Awards to follow immediately after in the Cafeteria!

Sunday, October 19th - Debate

08:00am - 08:30am - Registration (Coaches & Judges)

08:30am - 9:30am - Judge Orientation

09:30am - 11:30am - Round I

11:30am - 01:30pm - Rd II

01:30pm - 02:00pm - Lunch Break

02:00pm - 04:00pm - Rd III (Hi-Low Power Match within brackets)

04:30pm - 06:30pm - Round IV (Hi-Low Power Match within brackets)

Awards to follow 

10/7/25

Hi parents and Students! 

Please read the following email from our TCFL League President about upcoming tournaments and changes to our schedule! The most urgent is that the sign up deadline for our Fall Speech & Debate Tournament and Workshop is THIS FRIDAY, October 10! 

This is a tournament for our veteran speech and debate students to COMPETE IN and for our novice speech and debate students to learn more about their chosen events and spectate some high quality rounds! There is also a PARENT WORKSHOP for parents who are nervous about judging or would just like to learn more about how to support their student in Speech and Debate. I highly recommend that EVERYONE who is available attends this tournament at Burbank High School. The Speech Tournament & Workshop is Saturday, the Debate Tournament & Workshop is Sunday. Students are allowed to compete in BOTH. 

The cost for entry is $20 for competitors, and $10 for the workshop. The $10 covers lunch! The parent workshop is completely free, including lunch! 

 The current sign up list is on this spreadsheet (use tabs on the bottom to find the Fall Speech & Debate tournament).

Here is the SCHEDULE:

Tentative Schedules

Saturday, October 18th - Speech

08:00am - 08:30am - Registration (Coaches & Judges)

08:30am - 9:30am - Judge Orientation

09:30am - 11:30am - Round 1

11:30am - 01:30pm - Round 2

01:30pm - 02:00pm - Lunch Break

02:00pm - 04:00pm - Round 3

05:00pm - 06:30pm - Final Round

Awards to follow immediately after in the Cafeteria!

Sunday, October 19th - Debate

08:00am - 08:30am - Registration (Coaches & Judges)

08:30am - 9:30am - Judge Orientation

09:30am - 11:30am - Round I

11:30am - 01:30pm - Rd II

01:30pm - 02:00pm - Lunch Break

02:00pm - 04:00pm - Rd III (Hi-Low Power Match within brackets)

04:30pm - 06:30pm - Round IV (Hi-Low Power Match within brackets)

Awards to follow immediately after in the Cafeteria!

I will ALSO NEED judges, so please reply to this email if you're available to judge for either Debate or Speech. At this point I will need at least one of each! And please of course, let me know if you'd like to attend either the parent or student workshop! 

Here is the email from our league president, Brandon Batham, with more details! 

Hi Everyone—

We had a great first league tournament of the year at our TCFL Fall Congress this past weekend! Thanks, as always, to our incredible hosts at Hart High School, and to the incredible Eleanor Tinio for kicking us off with such a great start to the season.

Our next tournament is our TCFL Fall Open Speech & Debate Tournament and Annual League Workshop at Burbank High School on Saturday, October 18th and Sunday, October 19th. Registration is due no later than THIS FRIDAY, October 10th, at 11:55pm. You can make drops until 01:00pm on Tuesday, October 14th. Speech events will happen on Saturday only, and Debate events will happen on Sunday only. Your competitors and judges can do both days, so feel free to place your judges in both the Speech judge pool for Saturday and the Debate judge pool for Sunday if they are able to do both days. Register for the TCFL Fall Open Speech & Debate Tournament here: https://www.tabroom.com/index/tourn/index.mhtml?tourn_id=36173

While the competition is happening, we will also run our Annual TCFL Workshop—with rotating sessions to familiarize people with the different events, and then observing actual rounds while they are happening. Remember—Speech events will happen on Saturday, and Debate events will happen on Sunday. This means that Speech Workshop participants should plan to be there on Saturday, and Debate Workshop participants should plan to be there on Sunday. A student can absolutely attend both! The student workshop participant fee is $10, and includes their lunch for the day. And remember, we are offering new parent/judge track of our league workshop—free of charge—so please encourage your parents to attend, too!

Finally, I wanted to mention that we have a fairly substantive change to our league calendar that the board wanted to make everyone aware of ASAP. This past weekend, the TCFL Board voted to remove this year’s Winter Congress Tournament at Oak Park High School on Saturday, November 15th from the calendar and add our Congress event offerings to our Winter Open Debate Tournament at Valencia High School on Saturday, November 22nd. This means that Congress will be offered at our Winter Open Debate Tournament on Saturday, November 22nd at Valencia High School. There will not be a tournament on Saturday, November 15th at Oak Park High School.

For some time now, several coaches have expressed interest in potentially moving towards a calendar that combines our Congress tournaments with our Debate tournaments, in an effort to both lower the number of weekends our league tournaments take up each year, as well as minimizing the financial impact of our league Congress tournaments (due to smaller entry numbers, we always operate our Congress tournaments at a steep loss compared to our other tournaments where, as a non-profit, we tend to break even). While the board is not in a place right now where it is ready to make this change permanently or for other tournaments this season, we had wanted to see what this might look like at one of our lower-attended Congress tournaments during the year as a pilot effort. This is the only Congress tournament that will be impacted by this decision this year.

We considered many factors when making this decision—one of the biggest ones was considering how many students last year competed at both the Winter Congress and Winter Open Debate, and determining how many would have been impacted had we made this decision last year and required those students to choose one or the other. After reviewing the data, we can share that it would have impacted only 12 total students, or 5.6% of the total entry field for the Winter Open Debate tournament. We also considered the impact of removing a State Qualifier-eligibility-granting tournament from the calendar, but believe that such an impact would be outweighed by us offering two additional days this year when a student can earn eligibility to compete at our State Qualifier tournaments. Our Winter Congress is also usually our lowest-attended Congress tournament, so we felt like this was the best option for a test run when compared to either the Fall Congress or the Spring Congress. It also has the added benefit of breaking up the only super long streak of four weekends (November 1st, November 8th, November 15th, and November 22nd) with back-to-back tournaments on our calendar, giving students, parents, and coaches who do all of our tournaments a chance to breathe.

After this pilot effort, and as we start to look ahead for planning next year’s calendar, we anticipate that we will be proactively gauging all of our coaches’, students’, and parents’ opinions about the future of dedicated Congress tournaments in the TCFL, and keep folks updated if/when we are ready to bring this up for a discussion with the league coaches. The Student Leadership Council is also doing a very good job at engaging our students already, and we anticipate they will be instrumental in helping us understand the sentiment among our students.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me. I hope you all have a great week, and hope to see you in a couple of weeks at Burbank High school!

9/26/25​

Hi parents & students!

The deadline to sign up for our fall Congress tournament is tonight at midnight! Please let me know if you'd like to compete. 

Attached is the current sign up list. 

I also need at least one parent judge for the tournament, which is next Saturday, 10/4, at Hart High. 

It's okay if you've never judged before and have no idea what you're doing! We will train you.

This is one of the best tournaments for new competitors and judges because it is a novice tournament, it is local, and it is a very easy schedule:

Schedule

8:00- 8:30 AM - Registration/Check-in (Coaches & Judges)

8:30 - 9:00 AM PO meeting

8:30 - 9:00 AM Judges Instructions

9:00 - 11:00 AM Round 1

11:30 AM - 1:00 PM Round 2

1:30 - 3:00 PM Round 3

Awards will follow ASAP

​Please let me know if you're able to judge by responding to this email! Have a great weekend, and thanks so much for all your support of program!

9/22/25

Hello students and parents! 

The deadline to sign up for our Fall Congress Tournament at Hart High is this Friday! (TCFL deadlines have moved to the Friday before the tournament this year, a change from last year!)

The list of students who are currently signed up  is on our Spreadsheet! (use the tabs at the bottom to navigate to Fall Congress).

Remember: students must have a working tabroom account, have signed and returned the Code of Conduct, and purchased a tournament package from the ASB store in order to compete! 

Meals are available to prepurchase for the tournament as well. It is highly suggested to prepurchase food or pack a lunch so you won't be hungry. A few snacks will be available for sale in the cafeteria, but they won't order a lot of extra meals, so preordering is better!

Here are the options, each is $10. Let me know if you'd like to preorder!

Student Lunch Pre-Order: 2 Slices CHEESE Pizza, Chips or Cookie

Thu, October 2, 2025 3:00 PM PDT

$10.00

No limit

Student Lunch Pre-Order: 2 Slices PEPPERONI Pizza, Chips or Coo

Thu, October 2, 2025 3:00 PM PDT

$10.00

No limit

Student Lunch Pre-Order: Chicken Sandwich, Chips or Cookie

Thu, October 2, 2025 3:00 PM PDT

$10.00

No limit

Student Lunch Pre-Order: Roast Beef Sandwich, Chips or Cookie

Thu, October 2, 2025 3:00 PM PDT

$10.00

No limit

Student Lunch Pre-Order: Salami Sandwich, Chips or Cookie

Thu, October 2, 2025 3:00 PM PDT

$10.00

No limit

VEGAN Student Lunch Pre-Order: Falafel, rice, salad & Drink

Thu, October 2, 2025 3:00 PM PDT

$10.00

No limit

9/15/25

Hey all! Sign ups for Jack Howe are now complete! 

Here is the finished roster. Thanks to Gerardo Tapia and Janie Jeon for judging - as always, you have our gratitude! 

For those who are going, here is a live doc from the tournament with TONS of important information, including the schedule, wifi info, and judging obligations! Please consult it when/if you have questions and I'm not available/answering my phone! 

However, to make it easier for you, here are some highlights:

PARKING & GETTING AROUND: 

Here's the link to the mobile app, which has a nice map: Attendees should download the CSULB mobile App  HERE

I'm attaching a screenshot of the map from the mobile app to show you where I usually like to park. The bookstore is the yellow building and I usually park in E10 or E11, as it's pretty central and easy to get to! You will have to pay for parking at a little electronic pay post where you will put your license plate # - it does take cards which is nice.

BE SURE TO BE EARLY!!!!! The campus is LARGE and you will need time to orient yourself and find your rooms. Caleb, you'll need extra time to find the extemp prep area (could be a doc?...in the past at this tournament sometimes there is a doc instead of a prep room). 

Students whose parents are NOT judging: Please be sure to connect with each other about rides. I am available to drive up to FOUR students (three comfortably) in my car as well. However, I will need to be early on Saturday to register, and speech kids don't need to arrive until later in the morning, so you may want to ride with each other instead of me! 

FOOD:

They sell snacks at the bookstore, coffee in the library, and will have food trucks on campus both days. However, the coffee shop doesn't open very early so make sure to caffeinate before you arrive. 

There is a judge's lounge at this tournament, but last year it was kind of lame - they didn't have a lot of food or anything. I mostly just hang out outside if the weather is nice- near the bookstore is the best place to park and to meet up as a team, so let's plan to hang out around there. There are several tables around there. 

REQUIRED FORMS:

I need every competing student to fill out the general release form and have your parents sign it as well.

Janie and Gerardo - you ALSO need to fill out the general release form AND the chaperone release form. Both are attached to this email! 

JUDGING:

JUDGE OBLIGATION POLICY:

FIRST AND FOREMOST, when you are assigned a ballot PRESS START ROUND to let the tab room know you have claimed the ballot and are on your way to your room. 

Judges in debate are obligated to stay and judge the first elimination round on Sunday/Monday OR one round past any round in which their students are actively competing. Even if none of your entries advance, your judges are obligated for the first elimination round.Judges in TOC LD, Public Forum, and Policy who have entries that competed in the last elimination round on Sunday Night are obligated for the first elimination round on Monday Morning. Speech and Congress judges are obligated for all rounds at the tournament.

Janie and Gerardo, as you are Speech and Congress judges, this unfortunately means that even if our students don't advance, you are obligated to stay through the end of the elimination rounds, which means driving down to Long Beach BOTH DAYS! Please be aware of this. I would suggest having the kids watch the elimination rounds even if they get eliminated; it's always a great learning experience to see what others are doing! 

Also, this is a large tournament with several different tabrooms. It's very important that you submit your ballot results RIGHT AWAY after the round; you can always go in and edit your specific feedback for students after the fact, but be sure to submit the results (rankings) immediately after the round. If you need tips on how to do this quickly, see me! I will be there good and early both days since I'm judging debate! 

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:

As a reminder, here is the tentative schedule. Janie, you are obligated for all SPEECH rounds. Gerardo, for all CONGRESS rounds (this includes all elim rounds). 

Novice PF, Novice LD, Jr LD, CA LD, Parliamentary, Speech

Saturday

Registration   7:00 AM-8:00 AM

Debate 1 8:00 AM-10:00 AM

Debate 2 10:00 AM-12:00 PM

Speech 1 12:00 PM-1:30 PM

Debate 3 1:30 PM-3:30 PM

Speech 2 3:30 PM-5:00 PM

Debate 4 5:00 PM-7:00 PM

Speech 3/Debate 5 7:00 PM-9:00 PM

Sunday

Debate 6 8:00 AM-10:00 AM

Speech 4 10:00 AM-11:30 AM

Debate Elim 1 11:30 AM-1:30 PM

Debate Elim 2/Speech Elim 1 1:30 PM-3:30 PM

Debate Elim 3 3:30 PM-5:30 PM

Speech Elim 2 3:45 PM-5:30 PM

Debate Elim 4 5:30 PM-6:30 PM

Speech Elim 3 (if necessary) 5:45 PM-7:00 PM

Debate Elim 5 ASAP If needed

Debate Elim 6 ASAP If needed

Congress

Open Congress (Saturday)

8:00 AM Chambers Released

8:40 AM Students Report to Chambers

9:00 AM Round 1 Begins (until 12:00 PM)

1:00 PM Round 2 Begins (until 4:00 PM)

5:00 PM Round 3 Beings (until 8:00 PM)

Advancing students to the first elimination round will be posted ASAP on Saturday Night

Open Congress (Sunday)

7:00 AM Chambers Released for Semifinal Round (if needed)

7:40 AM Students Report to Chambers (if needed)

8:00 AM Semifinal Round (until 11:00 AM)

Advancing students to Finals posted ASAP

11:00 AM Chamber Released for Final Round (if no Semifinal Round)

12:00 PM Final Round (until 3:00 PM) (if semifinal round happens, may be delayed until 12:30 or 1:00)

I know that this is a LONG WEEKEND - but it is a GREAT experience for the students. I thank you SO MUCH for judging. We cannot do it without you parents! 

9/11/25

Hello students and parents:

Because I need to time to find judges and to get a check ordered to pay for our tournament fees, I am closing sign ups for the Jack Howe Memorial Tournament at CSULB on Sunday at midnight.

The list of current sign ups is available here: use the tabs to navigate to Jack Howe signups! 

I will need at least one more judge in Speech for our current signups, and potentially a parli judge if we have parli sign ups and they will not allow me to cover both LD and Parli. 

Gerardo Tapia is our Congress judge (thank you so much!). 

Please let me know ASAP if you plan on competing! 

​9/1/25

Hello students and parents! 

It's officially September, which means sign ups are open for our fall tournaments.

All of these tournaments offer opportunities for new competitors to compete against other novices and are recommended for new students, with the exception of the Fall Speech-Debate-Workshop, which offers a chance for novices to spectate some rounds and ask questions before the novice tournament. 

For returning, veteran competitors, you are highly encouraged to compete at Jack Howe, Fall Congress, and the Fall Speech-Debate-Competition, as well as to judge at the Novice tournaments. 

A quick overview:

Jack Howe 9/20-9/21 @ CSULB (novice division offered)

Fall Congress 10/4 @ Hart High (novice division offered)

Fall Speech-Debate Competition & Workshop 10/18-10/19 @ Burbank High (novices can attend workshop, but not compete)

Novice Debate 11/1 @ Hart High (novices ONLY)

Novice Speech 11/18 @ Hart High (novices ONLY)

The cost for single entry at all tournaments except Jack Howe is $20, plus $10 if you want to pre purchase a lunch. 

Jack Howe entry fees are $45 for speech, $50 for Congress, $75 Parli, and $100 LD. 

To sign up for a tournament, students need to have filled out the Team Roster on Google Classroom, signed and returned the Code of Conduct, have a working Tabroom account, and have purchased one of our tournament packages (minimum $75) on the ASB webstore to cover dues and fees. After this is done, they can talk to me to sign up. 

More information about all tournaments, including schedules, are available on our website. 

If you are enrolled in the class but do not appear on the Team Roster, it's because you have not filled out the Team Roster form on Google Classroom. Here is a video with important information for students on how to make sure you are on the roster and ready to compete.

I'm attaching the recording of our Back to School night informational meeting and slideshow as well which contains lots of good info for parents.

Please make sure to bookmark our Website, as I continue to share tons of information there!

Looking forward to the season! Go Valencia! 

5/13/25: Nationals 

Hello students and parents attending nationals: 

I have finalized our entries & judging for nationals; each parent is required to judge for ONE day at Nats. Unfortunately, it does not tell me which day, but I assume you will judge the days your kids are competing! 

THINGS I NEED DONE ASAP (by Thursday, May 15, 3pm AT LATEST):

1. Finish filling out the NSDA release form (attached, hard copies given to the kids) and send it back to me (digitally or physically). 

2. Log in to your tabroom account and see if you can locate the required judge forms and videos. 

I am so sorry that I can't give you an exact tutorial on how to find them, because my Tabroom looks different as a coach, but I would suggest clicking on "upcoming judging" OR maybe searching for "National Speech and Debate Tournament" in "search for tournaments" field in the top right. Also, the tournament may have sent you an email with instructions, so check your email as well to  see if they sent you a link. You will need to fill out an  "NSDA Experience Questionnaire", and then there will be several links to training videos, which you will watch and then click to confirm that you've watched them!

If you are unable to find them, please let me know ASAP, and I can send you the links to the training modules and mark you off myself! 

Thank you so much! Sorry to be figuring this all out last minute, but with State being so late this year, it was a tight turn-around! 

4/22/25 - STATE UPDATES

I'm looking forward to our state tournament which is the first weekend in May in Culver City, CA! Here is the schedule.

JUDGING: Here are the judge assignments:

Saturday, May 3: Janie Jeon, Margo Butera, Sarah Ford (speech judges)

Weeda Bakshee (speech or debate judge- still needs to enter phone # on Tabroom), Steve Brown (debate judge). 

Sunday, May 4: Jordan Dinapoli, Breena Nakamura, Sarah Ford, Margo Butera (speech judges). 

PLEASE NOTE: We have enough judges that everyone only has to judge for one day (yay!) However, remember that you are obligated for ALL ROUNDS on the day you are judging. Please do not plan anything else for that day. You can check the schedule to see when you may have breaks between rounds, however, remember that tournaments don't always run on time. If you're a speech judge, your rounds are marked "speech".  If you're a debate judge, you will judge the rounds that say "CX, LD, Parli, PF". Here is the schedule again! 

Tournament fees have already been entered into the spreadsheet, as well as any dance tickets and shirt orders; please make sure your child has enough in their speech and debate account to cover the fees; several students owe a balance (check the Season Pass Tab on the Spreadsheet to see your child's current balance). 

Thanks as always for your support! 

4/14/15 - End of Season Business​

Hello parents and students!

With the school year coming to a close, here are some important announcements about the end of the season! 

GRADUATION SASH

Just a reminder that if you're a senior and you'd like to order a graduation sash, please fill out this form & pay by tomorrow, April 15. 

Attached is the list of students who have ordered a graduation sash, and whether or not they have paid. If you have not paid, please do so by tomorrow or your sash will not be ordered. 

You may pay for your sash on the ASB webstore; you also can use the money in your season pass account if you have some left. Here is the link for you to see how much is left (if any) in your account. Other options are cash or a check made out to ASB (bring to Mrs. Ford). 

BANQUET

We will be having a team banquet in the MPR on Monday, May 19th at 6pm (flyer attached). This event is open for the whole family to enjoy, so please plan to join us for dinner and awards and invite grandparents, siblings, etc. The cost is $15 per person (kids under 12 are welcome to come for free). Please save the date! 

You may pay for your ​banquet tickets on the ASB webstore; you also can use the money in your season pass account if you have some left. Here is the link for you to see how much is left (if any) in your account. Other options are cash or a check made out to ASB (bring to Mrs. Ford). 

​Please fill out THIS FORM as well so we can keep track. 

STATE

For those who still owe fees or shirt $ for state, please pay that via ASB webstore or by sending cash or check. Again, check the spreadsheet to get that balance. 

​REFUNDS

​Finally, for those who will end the season with extra money in their Speech and Debate account, you have the option of rolling over the money to next season, or getting a refund. Seniors can either donate the remainder or get a refund. Please let me know which you'd prefer, once you finish ordering sashes/banquet tickets. 

​

​​Thanks so much for all your help and support this season! We literally could not have a team without you all. Thank you :). 

3/31/25: ATTN STATE QUALIFIERS

The State Tournament is coming up the first weekend in May in Culver City, CA! Here is the schedule.

Because this tournament is close to home, we are required to provide lots of judges. Each of our six competitors is required to bring a judge, so please respond to this email and let me know who will judge for you/your student that weekend. 

We do not have any debate entries, so we will only be required to provide judges for Saturday and Sunday.

LESS experienced judges will judge on Saturday, May 3, and more experienced judges will judge on Sunday, May 4 (as they can only use experienced judges for elimination rounds). As soon as I hear from everyone on who their judge is, I will let you know which day you are judging.

PLEASE NOTE: You are obligated for ALL ROUNDS on the day you are judging. Please do not plan anything else for that day. 

ALSO: The tournament has mentioned that they are always short on Debate judges so if any of you would PREFER to judge debate rather than speech, let me know and I can pop you into the debate pool (the tournament would love it!). 

Tournament fees have already been entered into the spreadsheet; please make sure your child has enough in their speech and debate account to cover the fees; several students owe a balance (check the Season Pass Tab on the Spreadsheet to see your child's current balance). 

In addition, if you or your child would like to purchase a shirt or a ticket to the dance, make sure they have enough to cover that as well. 

The dinner/dance on Sunday night after awards is optional; parents are welcome to come as well, and students are allowed to buy tickets for guests if they have non-competing friends or siblings who would like to attend. 

If you'd like to purchase tickets to the dance, they are $15 per adult, and $25 per student. The deadline to order these is April 4. 

The prices for the shirt pre orders are not yet posted but I will let you know when/if they are. Last year the prices were around $30 for a sweatshirt and $15 for a T shirt. 

Our payment is due by April 14; therefore I need to collect all fees by then. Please pay on the ASB store or send in cash/check. 

Also don't forget that I need all competitors to fill out the Media Release Form ASAP (attached). 

Thanks as always for your support! 

​3/19/25

I'm very excited about Nat Quals this weekend! :)

You're receiving this email because you/your student is competing at the NSDA National Qualifier tournament in Burbank this weekend. 

Attached to this email is the tournament schedule, and a map of Burbank High School, and the entry & judge list for the tournament.

 The address is:

Burbank High School

902 N. Third St.

Burbank, CA 91502

Things to note: 

Congress is Friday: I will excuse Congress competitors (Rishi, Daniela, Omar, & Sanvi) for ALL PERIODS on Friday so you can leave at whatever time works for your family.

Speech is Saturday with Sunday Elim Rounds: This means that you will know by Saturday night whether or not you need to return on Sunday. 

Judges & School Contacts: Mrs. Butera is the school contact and Congress judge for Friday. Mrs. Ford is the school contact and Speech judge for Saturday. Jordan Dinapoli is the school contact and Speech judge for Sunday elims. If you have any questions, issues, problems, protests, etc., that is who you should contact on that day.

Meals: The following students have prepurchased meals. If you have NOT prepurchased, I strongly recommend bringing your own food/snacks. While you may be able to Doordash etc., it's always good to bring some food in case you don't have time between rounds. I don't want anyone passing out from hunger! 

Friday: Sanvi, Omar, & Daniela

Saturday lunch: Omar & Deekshita

Saturday dinner: Deekshita

If any speech students need a ride on Saturday, please let me know. I can take 4 in my car. I would  pick students up at 7:30 at the bus loop by the theater. 

Please let me know if you have any questions. 

​3/12/25

We had a great weekend at the TCFL State qualifier! Highlights are on the AWARDS page of our website! 

For those students who qualified to state and their families, be sure to set aside the first weekend in May to go to Culver City! All qualifiers must also fill out the Media Release form, which I need to upload to Tabroom; please fill these out ASAP. 

More detailed information about state, including the schedule, can be found on Tabroom, and on our website.

The tournament is 5/2-5/4, but since all of our entries qualified in speech, we will only have commitments on 5/3 & 5/4 (Sat & Sun). We will need to provide lots of judges because we are considered part of the host area; in addition, there may be a sign up for parents to volunteer to serve food or do other jobs at State. Please watch for that and sign up!

If your child qualified for state, please let me know ASAP if you're able to judge on Saturday and/or Sunday. Sunday is elimination rounds, so I can only use more experienced judges on Sunday. If you have experience, plan to be there on Sunday; other judges will be used for prelims on Saturday. 

Finally, please check the spreadsheet to see if your child owes a balance to their Speech and Debate Account. I entered the fees for state in column W, which put some students in the red. 

The state tournament is also bringing back the CHSSA STATE DANCE on Sunday evening, 5/4. Students and adults are welcome to go; we can purchase tickets in advance for $25/student, $15/adult. 

The tournament will also have preorders for Swag (amounts and sizes not yet posted).

All of these items did run out last year, so if you'd like to attend the dance or have a shirt, make sure to preorder, and make sure there's enough of a balance in your account to order! 

If you visit the ASB store and choose "Class/Lab Donations", you can make a "debate donation" of any amount - just make sure to put your child's name on it. Another option is to use the "novice pass" tab in the Speech & Debate store to add another $75. 

Our last speech and debate event of the year after state will be our team banquet on 5/19 in the MPR - more details to come as the event gets closer! 

Thanks so much as always for all of your support! It means so much to the kids and to me. 

​3/10/25 - NAT QUALS INFO

See our spreadsheet for details on signups and judging assignments! Anyone who is judging must make sure they have completed the NSDA training videos - they are not long, and you don't have to watch them all. Watch the event you are judging for (Congress or Speech, 15 mins), and the Multicultural competence video (15 mins) and that should be enough. 

The tournament is looking for volunteers to help serve food at the tournament! Here is the link to sign up!

Reminder that students need to complete the SELI (single entry letter of intent) ASAP and return it to me so I can upload it for the tournament (attached to this email). 

Several students (Sanvi, Omar, and Daniela) are signed up for Congress. Be aware that Congress rounds are on Friday, 3/21. I will handle making sure student absences are excused for that day, but be aware that if you are a Congress judge, you will need to be in Burbank by 2:30 Friday. This is the tentative schedule.

The current plan is that Mrs. Butera will be there on Friday as our school contact, I will be there Saturday, and Jordan Dinapoli will be the school contact for Sunday. 

Please let me know if you'd like to be added as a judge!

3/5/25

Hello students and parents! I am looking forward to our TCFL speech state qualifier this weekend, on Friday March 7 and Saturday March 8! The full schedule is available here.

I am attaching the current list of entries and judging assignments to this email, but just as a reminder, our current judge assignments are as follows:

Friday only: Jordan Dinapoli, Naina Sharma

Saturday only: Karen Dinapoli, Sreenadh Sanam

Both Days: Armen Tatoian, Breena Nakamura 

Food for judges is provided, but you should bring a laptop or other internet connected device on which to judge! 

EXTEMPERS: There is an extemp meeting on 5pm on Friday night. If you do not attend, you will be DROPPED from extemp, so please be on time.

Here is some more specific information about the tournament from our league President and host school:

Now, on to a few site-specific things for our two days at Burbank High School:

• I have attached a campus map, also available on Tabroom, for your use. Note that there is only one entrance in and out of campus permitted, through the main gate on Third St. There is street parking available, but the best place to park is our parking structure/garage. The entrance to the parking garage is on Third Street, closer to the corner of Third Street and Delaware Rd. The parking structure will close at 10pm, so please do not leave your cars in there late or you will be unable to retrieve them until they open the next morning.

• Please do not arrive on campus before 4:30pm on Friday, or before 8am on Saturday. Every year, we have folks arrive WAY before we can put them anywhere, some even coming to campus before school lets out, and it leads to a bunch of confusion.

• The Judges Room will be in the Library. Students will be held in the Cafeteria, or in the covered outdoor space with tables next to the Cafeteria. Tab Room is in the Career Center. All competition rounds will take place in rooms facing the main quad area on campus. Campus Supervisors will monitor the campus to make sure folks remain in their designated areas. On Saturday evening, Awards will take place in the Auditorium. 

Next, a couple of notes about judging:

• Only a few of you still have not met your judging obligation. As a reminder: we need to be able to actually use your judge for them to count towards your obligation! This means that if your judge is not available for all rounds, they will not count towards your obligation. You will need to have judges on hand for all rounds to have met your judging obligation.

• Please tell your judges to bring a laptop or similar device! Judging on their phone will be insanely difficult, so please remember to have them bring an adequate device on which to judge rounds.

• We are running a formal judge house at our qualifier tournaments. This means your judges will need to report to the judge room no later than 15 minutes prior to the published round start time. We will be conducting a roll call of all judges prior to the start of the judge training, and 15 minutes prior to the start of each round. After the roll call, we will ensure that all judges have received their ballots and that all swaps have been made that need to be made. Your judges will be formally dismissed once all ballots have been confirmed as received, and should plan on staying in the judge room until that dismissal has occurred. If your judges are marked as absent during the roll call, and their absence puts you below your obligation, you will be asked to drop entries until they match the obligation you've actually met.

• Tabroom text blasts are no longer reliable. Please make sure your judges know to check their e-mails for round assignments.

Finally, a handful of event-specific items:

• As of the writing of this e-mail, the following events will have three preliminary rounds and break to a Final Round of no more than 7 competitors:

  • Declamation - 13 Entries

  • DUO - 10 Entries

  • Dramatic Interpretation - 8 Entries

  • Humorous Interpretation - 10 Entries

  • Informative Speaking - 16 Entries

  • International Extemp - 13 Entries

  • National Extemp - 14 Entries

  • Original Advocacy - 10 Entries

  • Original Prose & Poetry - 13 Entries

  • Program Oral Interpretation - 9 Entries

• As of the writing of this e-mail, the following events will have three preliminary rounds, a Semifinal Round, and a Final Round of no more than 7 competitors:

  • Impromptu - 41 Entries

  • Original Oratory - 27 Entries

• As a reminder, all prepared events MUST have a script available for review in the event of a protest. You can have this available via hard copy or electronic copy, but it MUST be made available upon request within a timely manner. 

• For entries in Extemp: There is a mandatory Extemp Meeting for all competitors in National or International Extemp. The meeting will take place on Friday March 7th at 05:00pm in Room 1144. Extemp competitors who fail to attend this mandatory meeting may be dropped from entry in Extemp. Don't forget that, in the Final Round only, there is cross-examination by/of fellow competitors. Per CHSSA rules, at the conclusion of a speaker’s speech, the last speaker who delivered a speech will cross-examine the speaker for two minutes. The questioner controls the time and may interrupt a lengthy reply.  

And I think that covers everything! Please let me know if you have any questions. See you all Saturday.

3/3/25​

Hello parents and students!

Just a reminder that our speech state qualifier is this Friday and Saturday at Burbank High School! Address and schedule here. 

The last day to bring paperwork and money and get signed up is TOMORROW, 3/4. 

Check the spreadsheet for a list of current signups and judges. Also on the sheet is the current balance in each students' speech and debate account. Remember that I must have the fees for the tournament before I sign you up. 

I also need to submit food orders ASAP. For Friday night dinner, you have a choice of chicken, steak or vegan tacos for $10. For Saturday, you have a choice of cheese pizza, pepperoni pizza, and sandwiches for $10. If you do not have enough money in your account to cover food, you will need to bring me cash or check or make another deposit to your ASB account for meals.

Burbank has asked me to communicate that they will ONLY be buying enough food for preorders, so if you do not preorder, you will need to pack your own food. 

Also, I will need at least two more judges for Friday, and one more judge for Saturday. Please let me know if you can do either! 

Keep in mind that round 1 does not start until 6pm on Friday, so if you've judged before and don't need to be there for judge's instructions, you can still probably make it after work :). I would say as long as you're on campus by 5:30 you should be fine! 

​Thanks as always for your support and help! 

2/25/25

Hi Parents & Students! 

I will need at least five judges for the Speech State Qualifier at Burbank High School on Friday, 3/7, and Saturday, 3/8. 

The schedule is here. Please let me know if you are able to judge! 

In addition, please let me know if you would like to purchase meals. Burbank will have tacos for $10 on Friday night, and pizza or sandwich on Saturday for $10. 

Food for judges will be provided; only students need to pre purchase meals.

Thank you!  

2/21/25​

Hello students and parents! 

I am looking forward to our Debate State Qualifier tomorrow at Oaks Christian. Address and tentative schedule here. 

Judging will be Weeda Reza, Steve Brown, and Dhana Chouta- thank you so much! Judges, please be sure to bring an internet connected device (laptop is best) on which to judge and provide feedback. Judge training will begin at 8:30, so plan to arrive by 8:15 or so. Students whose parents are not judging should arrive by 9 at the latest. 

As a reminder, judges are obligated for ALL ROUNDS, whether the tournament is running on time or not. Although we always do our best to hew as closely to the schedule as possible, sometimes we do get behind (or even ahead!). Plan on being available all day. 

Meals (breakfast and lunch) for judges will be provided in the judge lounge, so you will not need to leave campus. 

About half of the students have purchased a meal; those who did NOT should make sure to pack a lunch as it is a LONG day. I recommend that all of you pack snacks and water in addition to your laptops and chargers. 

Below is more information from our host school and from our league about how the tournament will run. Competitors: please take note of the information about parli prep! 

See you tomorrow! 

SOME INFORMATION ABOUT OAKS CHRISTIAN: 

When arriving at Oaks Christian, please enter through Gate A. There will be signs to direct you to the proper gate. All competition rounds and Tab/Judge/Prep rooms will be in the main academic building, which includes the Price Academic Center and Crockett Family Atrium (items marked 7 and 8 on this map: https://www.oakschristian.org/campus-map). There will be volunteers to help direct folks to the right places on campus, so keep an eye out for a friendly face!

For folks who have not been to the Oaks Christian campus before, it is a really lovely campus--and, as with all tournaments, we ask for you and your teams' help in keeping it that way. Please remind all attendees that rooms should be left in the condition in which they were found (including moving desks/chairs back to their original arrangement), and that no trash should be left in the competition rooms, parli prep, or the judge room.

SOME INFORMATION FOR COMPETITORS FROM TCFL: 

• First off, here is a link to the CHSSA Debate Rules, which is what we follow and use to run our tournament: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h7PEZoivEWTtiLtaJyTwQ9X4TUNPg1vo_Nmizw0hDsU/edit?usp=sharing

• All Policy entries are auto-qualified to the CHSSA State Tournament. Our entry numbers in Policy Debate are below the number of allocations our league sends to State, and we will not be filling the unused slots--so please do not e-mail me to ask if your students can go to State in Policy if they don't make it in their other Debate event. Due to the auto-qualification, I will be relieving the judge burden for Policy Debate entries only, so you will not be obligated to provide a judge for your Policy teams. Coaches of Policy teams: you will still be expected to provide the entry fees and Event Preference Forms for your students at registration.

• For entries in Parli: 

  • Parli Prep will be held in the Disciples Chapel prior to the start of each round. Parli Prep will be overseen by Campbell Hall Coach Doug Miller, Granada Hills Charter Coach/TCFL Sergeant-At-Arms Tim Meyer, and Arroyo Grande Coach/TCFL Co-Secretary Chris Ryan. 

  • Students should plan to arrive in Parli Prep 10 minutes prior to the prep start time for roll call. For Round 1, Prep will start at 09:30am, with the round starting at 09:50am; Round 2 Prep will start at 11:30am, with the round starting at 11:50am; Round 3 Prep will start at 02:00pm, with the round starting at 02:20pm; Round 4 Prep will start at 04:30pm, with the round starting at 04:50pm; Round 5 (if needed) Prep will start at 06:30pm, with the round starting at 06:50pm; and Round 6 (if needed) Prep will start at 08:00pm, with the round starting at 08:20pm.

  • We will have alternating Fact, Policy, and Value motions, and that motion type will be indicated on the motion that gets published. 

  • Remind your students that the only person they may communicate with during prep (both in-person and electronically) is their debate partner. They should not be communicating with teammates or their coach or anyone else, and that includes prepping together! At tournaments in the past, we have run into issues where teams cluster together in the prep room, and others have accused them of "team prep". The best way to avoid this? Have your team spread out during prep!

• Please remind your competitors of the generative artificial intelligence prohibition that the TCFL adopted. I have attached the rule language here, but put simply - all use of tools like ChatGPT or similar generative AI sites, tools, programs, etc, are banned in our league.  

• Your students are assigned entry codes at our State Qualifiers (except for Congress). The judges should have student names, but your competitors should NEVER be identifying what school they are with in a round. Please remind your competitors of this rule. 
  
  To answer what I expect will be the most commonly-asked question: No, I do not know how late we will run. How many rounds we run past Round 4 is determined by what each entry's record looks like at that point. Last year, we had qualifiers after Round 4 for Parli, and ran a partial Round 5 to determine the last qualifiers in LD and PF (with some qualifying after Round 4). Your judges are expected to be available until the tournament ends. If we can dismiss them, we will do so ASAP.
  
  We will be running an awards ceremony to announce our state qualifiers after the conclusion of the last round that runs. Last year, we just posted a list of qualifiers and the one elimination round that needed to run, which was pretty anticlimactic--so I'm having us revert back to an awards ceremony. In the event that we run a runoff/partial elim to determine the final qualifiers, this will mean your students won't know if they qualified or not until after the round. Remind your students not to be discouraged if they do not have to debate a Round 5 where they see only a handful of teams debating--you can point to the fact that we only had one elimination round last year to decide the last PF slot and the last four LD slots as justification for why they should hold out hope!

2/18/25

Hello students and parents! 

We had a great weekend at the Cal Invitational at UC Berkeley this weekend. Omar advanced to semis in Impromptu, Ava advanced to quarters in Impromptu and OO, and Jaden advanced to quarters in Impromptu! 

This Saturday is our first state qualifier, Debate, at Oaks Christian. Schedule and address available here. 

Be sure to be checking the spreadsheet to see if you are signed up for Quals and to check on the balance in your speech and debate account. People whose names are in red have a negative balance, yellow names have a low balance.

We need judges for Saturday! We will need at least 3 judges to meet our commitment, and our league President just reached out to ask if we can bring some extra judges this weekend, as we are concerned that we might not have enough to avoid conflicts! 

Please respond to this email and let me know if you are able to judge! We will have to drop entries if we do not at least meet our judging commitment! Thanks for your help :). 

2/3/25

Hi students and parents!

We had a great weekend at West Ranch competing at the TCFL Spring Speech competition, as well as the Open Debate competition on Zoom.

Ava and Omar took 1st in Duo!

Jules took 4th in Dec!

Jaden and Ava were 5th and 6th in Impromptu!

Rishi & Kapish went 2-1 in Parli! 

Thanks so much to our judges for helping out. 

I can hardly believe it but it's already state qualifier season! 

Students who have competed in at least ONE TCFL open (not novice) tournament are eligible to compete in the state qualifier. The state qualifier eligibility list is public on the last tab of the spreadsheet! It is also attached to this email.

Here are the dates and locations for state quals (more detailed info, such as schedules, here). 

Saturday 2/22/25

TCFL Debate State Qualifier

Oaks Christian

Saturday 3/1/25

TCFL Congress Qualifier

Arroyo Grande (Pismo)

Friday 3/7 & Saturday 3/8/25

TCFL Speech Qualifier

Burbank High School

Fri. 5/2-Sunday 5/4/25

CHSSA State

Culver City 

A couple of things you need to know about state qualifiers:

First, a general note: the purpose of the state qualifier tournaments is to send the very best competitors from our league (TCFL) to represent us at the CHSSA State Tournament. This hopefully will explain the "why" behind some of the rules listed below.

1) You must also be able to compete at the State Tournament in Culver City on Friday 5/2-Sunday 5/4. In addition, because we are relatively local, our judge burden will be much higher than usual, 1:1. This means that you must also be able to provide a judge for state. If you are not available on these dates, and/or you won't have a judge for state, you should NOT enter the state qualifier. 

2) You are only allowed to go to State in ONE event. Therefore, you must fill out a preference form PRIOR to competing in the State Qualifiers, ranking the events in the order you most prefer. Once you have qualified in your #1 event, you are not allowed to enter more qualifiers. For example, if Parliamentary Debate is your #1, and you qualify in Parli, you are not allowed to enter in the Congress or Speech qualifiers for "fun" or to win a trophy :). However, if you qualify for Parli, but your #1 is Speech, you can still enter into the speech Quali. You basically can compete as long as your #1 has not yet been achieved. THERE WILL BE NO CHANGING YOUR SELECTION AFTER THE FACT. If you compete in a Partner event (Parli/Duo), please discuss your choices with your partner. 

3) If you plan on competing in State Quals, you must fill out a permission slip from your parents and complete the preference form (both attached to this email) and get it to me ASAP.

4) In order to compete in State Quals, your speech and debate account should have enough money in it to cover the cost of the entry fees, and not have a negative balance. Some of you are in the red because although you've provided entry fees for the tournaments you have competed at, you have not provided the $10 TCFL/CHSSA dues that each student is charged when they purchase a package. This money covers our dues as well as school fees for competitions. For the state quals, TCFL is charging each school a "school fee." We all need to share the burden for dues and school fees (and $10 each very easily covers it). If you do not want to purchase a package, that's fine, but please add $10 to your fees for the qualifier to cover dues/school fees. This amount is already reflected in your balance on the spreadsheet. 

I think that about covers it for now! Attached are the forms you will need to fill out in order to be eligible for qualifiers!

I will also give the kids a hard copy in case you don't want to print them out! 

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP AND SUPPORT!!! 

PERMISSION SLIP     PREFERENCE SHEET ELIGIBILITY LIST

1/31/25

Hello students and parents! 

I am looking forward to this weekend's Speech tournament at West Ranch! The completed entry list can be found here - use tabs to navigate to Spring Speech.

Thank you to Christine Gabr, Janie Jeon, Benjamin Karney, Matt Weinberg, and Dattathreya Sharma for judging! 

Judges' instructions will begin at 8:30 in the library. Please be sure to bring a laptop or other internet connected device to access Tabroom.com and submit feedback for students.

Round 1 will begin at 9:30 (see full schedule here) so students whose parents aren't judging should plan to arrive no later than 9am. 

We will be running 3 preliminary rounds followed by a final round; students who do NOT make the final round are encouraged to STAY and watch the final round in order to get better! 

Remember that if your parents are judging, they are obligated to judge the final round, even if you do not make finals. Don't ask them to take you home or to get you food when they are finishing up their judge commitment! Instead, go watch finals!

Extemp students: the prep room is 502.

That about wraps it up! Below is some more general information about West Ranch and advice for tournaments in general.

Thanks for your support, and see you tomorrow!

Here's more site-specific information:

1. Judges should report to the Library. We will have maps available for use for judges so people don't get lost.

2. Coaches can report to the Tab Room in the Staff Lounge for registration.

3. Students can report to the Small Gym for warm/indoors space. This is also where food sales will be located.

4. Awards will be held in the Theater, which is near the Small Gym. The Theater will not be open until it is time for Awards.

5. Extemp Prep will be located in Room 502.

GENERAL NOTES FOR TOURNAMENTS:

Transportation: You are responsible for transportation to and from the tournament. If this is a problem, speak with other students about arranging a carpool. I can usually take a few students in my car.

Arrival: Arrive at least one hour before your first round begins so that you have time to park, orient yourself, and find your room. If you are not sure when your first round begins, check the schedules posted on our website or on Tabroom. They are also linked to this email.

Clothing: Dress to impress: suits, dresses, ties, etc. No need to spend a lot of money, but tuck in your shirt, keep your hair out of your eyes, etc.

Laptops: Bring laptops and chargers, especially if you are a debater or an extemper. Judges should also bring a device (preferably a laptop) on which to judge.

Food: Students who have prepurchased a meal will get lunch. It's always good to pack a few snacks in case pizzas arrive late and you are hungry, or in case awards take a while. I'd recommend water and some easy to pack, high protein foods like nuts or granola to keep you full and avoid hanger.

Walking: Make sure your footwear is still comfortable to be on your feet all day.

Etiquette: Do not enter any room unless an adult judge is present. Reminder to speech students: You must stay and watch all competitors unless you are double-entered. Be polite and stay off your phone. If you are double-entered and need to enter a room while a round is in progress, make sure that no one is speaking. Typically, this means waiting until you hear applause.

Judging: Judges are obligated for ALL ROUNDS in the pool they are placed in. This means if you are a Debate judge, you are obligated to be available to judge all debate rounds, including Elimination rounds. If you are a Speech judge, you are obligated for all speech rounds. If you are a Congress judge, you are obligated for all Congress rounds.

Extemp/Parli Prep: If you are in extemp or Parli, please check Tabroom and/or the tournament invitations the day before the tournament to see if there is information on where/how prep will take place. Sometimes there is a prep room you must report to. Sometimes there is a live doc where topics are posted at a certain time and you are allowed to prep wherever. You do NOT report to your competition room for prep, but only when you are ready to speak. This is something you need to think through before you arrive; if you arrive late and then realize that you need to figure out where the prep room is, you may end up missing half of your prep time, so please think ahead. You can also text another student, ask the discord, etc. 

1/27/25

Hello students and parents!

Mrs. Butera and the Congress team had a great weekend with Omar Reza taking 3rd in Varsity Congress, and Daniela Tapia taking 3rd in JV. Congrats to all!

This weekend is the LAST CHANCE to establish eligibility for the state qualifier season. 

Both tournaments are easy to get to: the speech tournament on Saturday is at West Ranch High, and the debate tournament Sunday is online; you don't even have to leave your house. 

Sign ups are due by tomorrow, 1/28, drops by Wednesday, 1/29.

I need at least ONE MORE judge for our current Speech sign ups, so please let me know if you'll be able to judge at West Ranch (easy drive!). 

More information on the tournaments, including schedule: HERE

Current Sign ups: HERE (use tabs to navigate to Spring Speech/Online Debate).

Thanks as always for your help & support! 

1/21/25

Hello students and parents!

Thanks so much to all who judged and competed at our debate tournament this weekend! 

This weekend is our Congress tournament at Valley International Prep in Northridge. The address and tentative schedule are available here. Gerardo Tapia is judging; the students who signed up are listed on the spreadsheet (use tabs at bottom to navigate to Spring Congress). 

I can't believe it but we're already down to the last few tournaments to establish eligibility for the State Qualifiers. 

In order to try to qualify for state, students must compete at ONE TCFL Open tournament during the season. 

We have three remaining TCFL tournaments; this weekend's Congress tournament, next weekend's Speech tournament (2/1) at West Ranch High, and one last chance, online Debate tournament on Sunday, 2/2.

To see the current signups for these three tournaments, visit the spreadsheet, and use the tabs at the bottom to check. 

Also attached is the list of students who have already established eligibility for the state tournament and the tournaments they have competed in so far. 

Deadline for spring congress signups is TODAY, and Tuesday 1/28 for the Spring Speech and Last Chance debate. 

Let me know if you'd like to sign up!

Finally, be sure to check the spreadsheet tab called "Season Pass Spring" to see how much $ is left in your Speech and Debate season pass account. Students with names highlighted in yellow have very little money left; students with their names in red have a negative balance. 

Thanks as always for your attention and support!

1/13/25

We had a great weekend at Peninsula and I'm proud of all our competitors!

Jaden and Landon advanced to Quarterfinals in Parli, and Ava Dinapoli took second in Impromptu and was a semifinalist in Original Oratory.

This Saturday is our Spring Debate Tournament at Hart High! The schedule is posted on our website, and our current entry list is on the spreadsheet (Use tabs to navigate to Spring Open Debate.

I will need at LEAST two more judges to fulfill our requirement for Saturday. This one is only one day, and it is close to home; it's an IDEAL time to fulfill your parent judge requirement, so if your kids are competing, and you haven't yet judged, you're up! :) 

Please let me know ASAP if you're able to judge so that all the students who WANT to compete can :) 

Thanks as always for your support, and STAY SAFE! 

1/9/25

Hi all! 

The list for Peninsula is set, and the tournament has sent an email that as of yesterday, they plan to proceed with the tournament despite the fires in the LA area. I would recommend bringing a mask with you in case there is smoke in the air (not sure what the air quality will be in Rancho Palos Verdes...it is much further South than the areas currently affected, but you never know!). 

Thank you to Prashanth Jaligama and Kenton Goo for judging Parli, and to Benjamin Karney for judging Speech! 

Judges should be prepared to follow the schedule for their judging pool just like competitors. 

The parli schedule is here. All prelims will be Saturday, so if you do not advance to Octas, you will be through after Saturday. 

The speech schedule is broken into Pattern A and Pattern B. Judges should be prepared to judge for any round in any pattern (but you will probably not have to judge them all!).

Patterns:

Speech Pattern A: Dramatic Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Impromptu,

Informative/Expository, Original Prose/Poetry

Speech Pattern B: Duo Interpretation, Extemp, Original Oratory/Advocacy/Persuasive,

Oratorical Interpretation/Declamation, Thematic Interpretation/Program Oral

Interpretation

Remember that signups for Spring Open Debate at Hart are due by Tuesday, 1/14, and Berkeley money/sign ups are due Friday, 1/17!

10/31/24

Hello Students and Parents! 

Attached to this email is our donation list for the TCFL Winter Debate Tournament, which we are hosting here at VHS on 11/16. These items will help us to run our concessions stand successfully without too much cost to our program. I tried to keep everyone's cost at under $10. 

All items can be dropped off with your student the morning of the tournament if they are going to come early to help with set up or to compete. If your student will not be working an early shift or competing on 11/16, we do ask that you drop off the items at school before Saturday, 11/16. They can be left at the front gate/front office or brought to my room (make sure to label the items Room 933/Sarah Ford/Speech and Debate if you leave them at the front). I will let the office staff know to watch for these items. Please let me know if there are any problems or questions! The donation list is also available as a tab on our Spreadsheet. 

In addition, don't forget that I will be holding a parent meeting on Tuesday 11/12, at 7pm on Zoom to discuss what help I will need at that tournament and coordinate parent volunteers. For example, I will need parents to pick up and drop off food, to help make coffee and serve breakfast and lunch in the judge's lounge, and to be on standby in case of emergencies. We also always need loaned (and labeled!) coolers & wagons for the day- and EZ Ups if it looks rainy. In addition, I will need a number of parent judges. Please plan on attending that meeting; if you can't make it, feel free to email me and let me know how you can help!

Also, this Saturday is our Winter Congress at Oak Park. The list of registered students and judges is here (use the tabs to navigate to Winter Congress). The address and schedule here. Thank you to Gerardo Tapia for judging again! The Congress kids truly appreciate it! 

And now, a few site-specific items from our hosts at Oak Park:

When arriving, everyone should enter the school through Doubletree (& Kanan) and park under the solar panels/parking lot area.

Students will gather in the Pavillion, and this is also where student food and awards will be held. Coaches and Judges will be in Room C2, which is the Judge/Tab Room. All rounds will take place in the I building.

Attached is a map for folks' reference!

See you Saturday! 

10/18/24

Hey Speech and Debate Students and Parents: 

It's a busy weekend! I tried to put ALL INFORMATION regarding our 2 tournaments in this one email, so please refer back to this email when you have questions. 

NOTES FOR BOTH TOURNAMENTS:

• Transportation: You are responsible for transportation to and from the tournament. If this is a problem, speak with other students about arranging a carpool. I can usually take a few students in my car.

• Arrival: Arrive at least one hour before your first round begins so that you have time to park, orient yourself, and find your room. If you are not sure when your first round begins, check the schedules posted on our website or on Tabroom. They are also linked to this email. 

• Clothing: Dress to impress: suits, dresses, ties, etc. No need to spend a lot of money, but tuck in your shirt, keep your hair out of your eyes, etc. 

• Laptops: Bring laptops and chargers, especially if you are a debater. Judges should also bring a device (preferably a laptop) on which to judge. 

• Food: food at Bargain Belt is free for all students and judges. At Novice Debate, judges are fed for free, students who have prepurchased a meal will get lunch. It's always good to pack a few snacks in case pizzas arrive late and you are hungry, or in case awards take a while. I'd recommend water and some easy to pack, high protein foods like nuts or granola to keep you full and avoid hanger. 

• Walking: These tournaments are at much smaller schools than CSULB so you won't have to walk as far, but please make sure your footwear is still comfortable to be on your feet all day. 

• Etiquette: Do not enter any room unless an adult judge is present. Reminder to speech students: You must stay and watch all competitors unless you are double-entered. Be polite and stay off your phone. If you are double-entered and need to enter a room while a round is in progress, make sure that no one is speaking. Typically, this means waiting until you hear applause. 

• Judging: Judges are obligated for ALL ROUNDS in the pool they are placed in. This means if you are a Debate judge, you are obligated to be available to judge all debate rounds, including Elimination rounds. If you are a Speech judge, you are obligated for all speech rounds. If you are a Congress judge, you are obligated for all Congress rounds. 

• Extemp/Parli Prep: If you are in extemp or Parli, please check Tabroom and/or the tournament invitations the day before the tournament to see if there is information on where/how prep will take place. Sometimes there is a prep room you must report to. Sometimes there is a live doc where topics are posted at a certain time and you are allowed to prep wherever. You do NOT report to your competition room for prep, but only when you are ready to speak. This is something you need to think through before you arrive; if you arrive late and then realize that you need to figure out where the prep room is, you may end up missing half of your prep time, so please think ahead. You can also text another student, ask the discord, etc. 

INFO ABOUT NOVICE DEBATE SATURDAY:

View entry list here: use tabs to navigate to Novice Debate. 

Schedule here. 

Address: Oaks Christian

31749 La Tienda Rd.

Westlake Village, CA 91362

• When arriving at Oaks Christian, please enter through Gate A. There will be signs to direct you to the proper gate. All competition rounds and Tab/Judge/Prep rooms will be in the main academic building, which includes the Price Academic Center and Crockett Family Atrium (items marked 7 and 8 on this map: https://www.oakschristian.org/admissions/campus-map). There will be volunteers to help direct folks to the right places on campus, so keep an eye out for a friendly face!

Judges: Alina and Mithali. I am driving the two of them (will pick you up at the bus loop by the VHS theater at 7am). 

INFO ABOUT BARGAIN BELT:

View entry list here: use tabs to navigate to Bargain Belt.

Schedule here. 

Address: Claremont High School

1601 N. Indian Hill Blvd

Claremont, CA 

Judges: 

Debate: Soo Goo Kim (Saturday and Sunday), Prachita's mom (Saturday only)

Congress: Prashanth Jaligama (Saturday only)

Speech: Sarah Ford, Ani Markosyan, Farris Gabr (Sunday only)  

The judge's room is typically in the library. They will serve breakfast, lunch, coffee, etc, as well as give judging instructions and assistance. 

On Sunday I am driving Farris and Autumn to Bargain Belt. I have room for one more student if anyone needs a ride. I will pick you up at the bus loop by the VHS theater at 6:15 am. 

NOTE: I will not be at Bargain Belt on Saturday because I will be at the novice tournament. Soo Goo Kim (Landon's mom) will be the official contact for our school. Soo, please check in with the tournament in Room 800 when you arrive, since you will be our official school rep! 

Below is a picture of Soo (on the left) in case you need help. There will also be some judge training provided in the judge's room (usually the library) at 7:30 both days. 

Finally, signups for Novice Speech at Hart High next Saturday are open! Novices: Please let me know if you would like to compete!

Thank you all! Please email me if you have further questions! 

10/14/24

Check the Bargain Belt and Novice Debate tabs on the spreadsheet to view current signups and judging assignments for this weekend! 

Some students are waitlisted; I have been informed Bargain Belt is very full and not all students will come off the waitlist. If all students are removed from the waitlist, I will need 2 more speech judges for Sunday! :)