Jeffrey Miller for GFCA Treasurer
I’m asking for your school’s vote in the upcoming GFCA Elections for the Treasurer position. It’s very important that every GFCA school votes in the upcoming election.
First, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Jeffrey Miller. I debated for Fayette County High School from 2002-2006. I have coached Fayette County for the past two seasons. Additionally, I also started and coached a program at Sandy Creek High School in 2007-2008. I founded the popular Georgia website – Georgia Forensics Daily. In order to fully manage GFD and run for GFCA office during 2008-2009, I have stepped down from my coaching positions at both FCHS and SCHS, but I have kept a position with Fayette County High School to remain a debate sponsor.
I am a current student in Mathematics Education at Kennesaw State University, where I am involved in the Baptist Student Union and National Educators Association.
An important duty GFCA Executive committee members need to display, in my opinion, is a presence on the circuit. Honestly, I don’t think there is anyone more qualified than me in this position. I have been to over 45 tournaments in the past two years (whether my team was there or not—I still managed to show up at almost all Georgia tournaments).
Below are six issues I hope to address with my time on the GFCA Executive committee.
Public Forum / Individual Events / Lincoln Douglas All State Championship
I fully support a reinstatement in the All State Championship for PF/LD/IEs for the 2008-2009 season. Georgia Forensics Daily tried to restart the championship tournament this past season but faced trouble. Many schools that are not currently active in the run for All State would be in this running- in 2007-2008 alone, over 30 schools had individuals who would have qualified.
What makes this different than regular State? This argument can apply to the Policy All-State as well and the answer is the same for both. The competition would be among proven winners. Just as in the Policy case, you would have to receive a bid to attend.
Recruiting Debate Programs
The board in the status quo has great ideas for recruiting debate programs, but failed to translate these ideas into actions. For the past two years, I’ve heard great ideas brought to the table and watched as they just stayed on the table. Action has rarely been taken to recruit these new debate programs.
This past season I participated first hand in recruiting a new debate program [Sandy Creek High School] and experienced the struggles one can face from administration and Board.
The barrier, I think, stopping us from getting things done is time. Most coaches don’t have enough time. Assisting in running the largest NFL school in the Southern Peach District took up a majority of my time. Not only the administrative end, but the actual cutting of files for each event and even helping the IE students practice takes time.
Imagine what Georgia Debate could be like if a third party could do this? I consider myself a third party because I’m only affiliated with Georgia Forensics Daily and on the faculty list as a Debate sponsor at Fayette County. Since I’ve suspended my coaching endeavors, I can devote the time I save to helping grow debate. I could help put together packets to send to different Boards of Education to start and grow debate programs throughout the state. I just recently finished a little research on where current debate programs are in the State. The research was astonishing; only f one active policy program exists below Macon.
Educating Debate Programs
I’m lucky to have a great mentor like Beverly Kelly, but not all new programs are. With Sandy Creek, I was able to model after what I learned at Fayette County. Most schools do not have this resource… but why not? I advocate developing a mentor program for all coaches and programs in the state. This has several advantages which includes solving school relationship issues, coach retention, communication, and several more.
A mentor program could be easily implemented as long as the veteran coaches would support the initiative. Veteran coach John McClellan of Warner Robins has implemented an unofficial mentoring program in Houston County and helped developed Sara Austin’s program at Northside High School. There is no reason why this cannot be state-wide.
Coach Retention Programs
As a new coach, I have had the privilege of seeing the response from veteran coaches. I never took a break from Georgia debate between High School and college, so I wasn’t necessarily a new face to the veteran coaches. I’ve talked to numerous new coaches and problems exist and nobody knows about it. I believe that coaches sometimes burn out or leave the debate community simply because there isn’t a type of retention program in place now. A mentoring program could offer a support system that any new coach would love to have. The main thing needed for coaching retention is support. Still as a new coach, my introduction of ideas may be as much as I can do; Georgia needs someone to step up.
Communication
Communication is currently in a state of disarray. This past week, I was talking to a former coach of a strong debate program in the south who has taken a year off and has only had two contacts with Georgia debate this year. This is not acceptable. After starting a new program in the Southern Peach district, I was left out of the circle for both district tournaments. The Congress information reached me so late my team was unable to travel. This also happened at All State to other newer coaches I know. I propose establishing some type of list-serv similar to the NDT/CEDA list or the NDCA list. It would be a very effective tool to providing information to the state. Georgia Forensics Daily began this venture at the beginning of the year, but soon after shut it down due to confusion with GFCA policies, which is understandable.
History
History plays a major role in every league and activity. Many activities have a historian in the executive committee. I propose we add either a historian position or assign a current official to keep track of the history in the state. Last September, I put together a history of GHSA States to see how debate state champions change over the years. You can find the list on the Georgia Forensics Daily wiki.
Despite the previous statement, kudos goes to the current GFCA Secretary Lee Robinson for putting together the All State booklet last year that had a lot of historical perspectives in it. These types of booklets should be done at tournaments throughout the year to remind the students what came before them and that they’ll be remembered in the future. For instance the Barkley Forum prides itself in having a historical tournament. When you walk into registration, you see the banners hanging of all the Policy Champions – why can’t this be a tournament norm? It adds a new sense of competition that can create positive discourse.
Anything else?
For any questions or clarifications, please just ask me by email [jmiller@gaforensics.com] or by phone [404-514-8002].
I hope to be your GFCA Treasurer in 2008-2009.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment, refer to this on your own blog with our permalink, subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Related Posts
- Breaking News from the GFCA -After 13 days of suspense,...
- Open Thread: IE/LD/PF All State -FAYETTEVILLE, GA: After this past...
- A New Chapter for Georgia Debate -KENNESAW, GA: Debate followers across...
- A Note on the GFCA - Georgia Forensics Confusion -Lately, I’ve been receiving emails...
- Hired Judges Spreadsheet - A Work in Progress -georgiaforensics has debuted its brand...
Comments
No comments yet.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.