Texas Forensic Association

Archived News Items (2008-2009 Season)

May 21, 2009
On Saturday, May 16^th, the Texas Forensic Association Executive Committee (EC) met for a business meeting. Present were President Karen Wilbanks, Vice-President Robert Shepard, Secretary Raul Ruiz, Region 1 Representative Carol Hildebrand, Region 4 Representative Adam Woodward, Region 5 Representative Yolanda Silva and IQT Coordinator Alicia Dunson.

A quorum established, the following executive items were discussed and voted on (vote):

The EC accepted the bid from Ysleta ISD to host the 2010 TFA State Meet from March 10-13, 2009. (Unanimous)
A tentative IQT calendar was approved for the 2009-2010 school year. (Unanimous)
IQT's will now be assigned a weekend number. The EC will now use this number as the marker for planning tournament schedules for years to come. So, instead of Sandra Day O'Connor having the Sept 25-26 weekend, O'Connor is on Weekend #5. Weekend #1 will be the first weekend of school allowed by the Texas Legislature. (Unanimous)
The EC accepted a proposal to spend $1,000 a year for outside bookkeeping and CPA services, as requested by Treasurer David Gardiner. (Unanimous)
The EC created a Late Fee structure for TFA Membership. (Unanimous)
- Late Memberships received November 1-30, $250
- Late Memberships received December 1-January 15, $500.
- No memberships will be accepted after January 15th.
A standard IQT correction form will be created by the EC to turn into Alicia Dunson. It will be on the website this summer. (Unanimous)
- Changes to a pending IQT must be turned in within 7 days of IQT Coordinator posting.
- Fees will be assessed after that: $25 within 8-14 days, $50 within 14-30 days.
- No corrections will be made after the 30 day window.
The EC authorized a $3200 payment to Brent Hinkle for services rendered in 2008-2009; including, but not limited to, web hosting, TFA State honorarium, and website and database maintenance. (Unanimous)
Committees for the 2009-2010 school year will be named before September 1, 2009. If you are interested in serving on a committee, please let your Region Representative know.
Each IQT sanctioned by the EC will have to turn in a tournament Profit/Loss statement by April 1st. This will ensure transparency within the organization and allow the EC a tool to make sure tournaments are following Requirement #17 of our By-Laws. (Unanimous)

May 20, 2009
The tentative IQT calendar for 2009-2010 is now available for download. View as PDF or EXCEL.

April 30, 2009
Barbara Garner has sent out the official call for 2009-2010 TFA IQT Congress Legislation. Schools wishing to submit legislation must do so by Friday, May 15. E-mail all bills or resolutions to Barbara Garner.

Legislation is to be formatted according to NFL guidelines and submitted as a Word Document. See Student Congress requirements for legislation on p.35 & 36 of the TFA constitution and refer to the Student Congress manual at www.nflonline.org for additional assistance. Please see the TFA Constitution for general questions concerning Student Congress or you may contact Barbara at 214-395-2309 if needed.

The official docket should be available on the TFA web site no later than June 1.

April 3, 2009
Raul Ruiz has put together a newsletter with several notable items. The newsletter includes a letter from incoming president Karen Wilbanks, information about the other incoming and outgoing officers, and details about the 2009-2010 IQT Application process. Click here to read the newsletter.

March 31, 2009
The EC has voted to change the IQT application process for 2009-2010. Applications now will require a PAID TFA membership by October 1 or one week prior to the approved tournament date (whichever is earliest). Tournaments will be removed from the IQT calendar if this earlier deadline for membership is not met by the IQT host. Click here to download an updated IQT application form (PDF). The online option for TFA membership is now ready for 2009-2010 memberships. Click on Join TFA in the left-hand menu to join TFA or renew your membership.

March 24, 2009
Applications to host 2009-2010 Qualifying Tournaments are now being accepted.

February 28, 2009
TFA State Judging Paradigm Information is now available. Check the ANNOUNCEMENTS page of the registration website for details. Judge strikes are now being accepted. Each school will be allowed to record up to 3 judge strikes for Speech Events. Pref sheets for L-D and C-X debate judges are also now being collected. Public Forum debate will not have pref sheets nor will strikes be collected for Public Forum. All pref sheets and judge strikes are due at NOON on Wednesday, March 4, 2009. An updated copy of the TFA State Tournament Schedule has also been posted on the Joy of Tournaments registration website.

February 19, 2009
Coaches are reminded that original sources for interp selections must be available upon request at the tournament.

February 19, 2009
The following students have been selected to serve as Honor Crew Members for 2009:

Mathew DeWaal--MacArthur HS
Skyller Armenta--Mansfield HS
Ryan Wallace--Seminole HS
Evan Turner--Aldine HS
Katie Elder--Ronald Reagan HS
Kathlyn Christman--Austin HS
Mala Ramkumar--Westlake HS
Mason Colley--Atascocita HS
Veronica Lazo--Westfield HS
Kathryn Christensen--Oak Ridge HS
Miranda Grummons--Magnolia
Sanjana Puri--Flower Mound HS
Lauren Sechrist--Randall HS
Zoe Christiansen--Stratford HS
Terrence Young--Angleton HS
Stephones Brown--Eisenhower HS
Johnnie Boatright--Burges HS
Austin Hays--Central HS

February 18, 2009
T-Shirt orders are now being collected. See the TFA State page for more information and an order form. Orders are due Tuesday, February 24, 2009 at 3:00pm.

February 12, 2009
For schools that plan on utilizing LATE REGISTRATION on Thursday morning: please be advised that you will forfeit your opportunity to verify strikes for IEs. Strikes will be entered online again this year. One of the steps during registration is to verify that the strikes for your school have been recorded properly. Round 1 of IEs will start early on Thursday morning, so late registration will preclude your verification step. Again, you will still be able to enter strikes online, but you will miss the chance to verify that your strikes have been entered correctly. If you do not enter your strikes online, you will miss the opportunity to strike judges for IEs.

February 4, 2009
Judging applications for TFA State are now being accepted. If you are interested in being a hired judge for the state tournament, fill out an application here.

February 4, 2009
Registration for the 2009 TFA State Tournamament is now open.

January 30, 2009
Congress legislation for TFA State has been selected and is now posted and available for download on the TFA State page.

January 29, 2009
Honor crew nominations are now being accepted. You may place the name of a student into nomination by sending a recommendation to William Schuetz - TFA President (email: wschuetz@g-pisd.org; you will receive a confirmation that your nomination was received). All students chosen will need to commit to be available for the duration of the state meet. If coaches and students are unwilling or unable to agree to this request, we respectfully ask that you not submit a nomination for that student.

Two members from each region will be chosen. Please understand that the expense to travel to the tournament, housing, and meals must be borne either by the school or the individual student. The student must also have an adult supervisor with them as well. We hope that you consider for nomination students who do deserve to attend the tournament, but for some reason have failed to qualify.

Nominations must be submitted no later than February 15. Nominations should include a statement from the coach as to why the student is deserving of the nomination and the student's t-shirt size.

Coaches may not substitute students in the event that the nominee qualifies for the state tournament or can not attend. An alternate will be named for each region and that student will be asked to attend.

January 23, 2009
Scholarship Committee Chairman Cheryl Potts has provided the TFA Scholarship application which is now available on the Scholarship page. Applications are due February 7, 2009.

December 20, 2008
TFA State Hotel Information is now available on the TFA State page.

December 19, 2008
The list of schools eligible for participation in Congress at the 2009 TFA State Tournament is now available. Click here to view.

December 9, 2008
Only ONE piece of legislation from each school will be accepted.

November 19, 2008
All Congress legislation needs to be submitted by December 15 to forbesd@cisdmail.com. You will receive a confirmation within 24 hours. In order to bring any student to compete in Congress, whether House or Senate, you MUST submit legislation for consideration. NO legislation....NO Congress entry. A template for legislation can be found on the NFL website at nflonline.org. Please submit all legislation in a word document. The committee will select the top 25 pieces of legislation to be debated in the preliminary rounds. All legislation will be posted to the TFA website by February 1.

November 1, 2008
The membership deadline for 2008-09 has passed. Click here to view the current membership list.

October 29, 2008
The membership deadline for 2008-09 is this Friday, October 31. In order to participate in the 2009 TFA State Tournament, you must have an active paid membership by October 31.

October 25, 2008
An updated copy of the constitution is now available which includes changes made by amendments at the 2008 Business Meeting in Corpus Christi. Links to the updated constitution are available at the bottom of this page.

October 24, 2008
The membership deadline for 2008-09 is next Friday, October 31. In order to participate in the 2009 TFA State Tournament, you must have an active paid membership by October 31. The current membership list is available here. There are three sections to this list. The top of the list breaks down by region the schools which are hosting IQT's but have not yet paid. The middle section of the list indicates schools which have in the past been members of TFA but do not have a current membership (this list is not meant to be exhaustive, but is representative of schools joining in 2007-08 plus schools submitting a 2008-09 membership application for which payment has not yet been received). Lastly, the list details individual memberships for which payment has already been received. If your name is not on the paid list, you should fill out an online application (via the Join TFA link) and submit payment immediately to ensure participation in the 2009 TFA State Tournament. TFA Membership payments should be sent to David Gardiner, TFA Treasurer (mailing address is available on the membership form provided as the last step of the online application process as well as on the Officers page).

October 13, 2008
Several IQT calendar changes were approved at convention, including:

Permian has been rescheduled for February 13/14

William B. Travis has been added on December 12/13

Desoto has been added on February 13/14

Stratford has been rescheduled for February 13/14

Mayde Creek has been rescheduled for January 23/24

Memorial has been rescheduled for February 20/21

The Woodlands has been rescheduled for February 20/21

An updated IQT calendar is available on the Tournaments page.

October 11, 2008
As requested in the Friday business meeting, the Executive Council has met with Cy Fair ISD representative Debbie Waddell to address arrangements for the 2009 State Tournament. Read the EC report here.

October 7, 2008
An additional proposed constitutional amendment (IQT calendar changes due to disasters) has been received and is now posted for review by the membership on the Convention page. This amendment will require a three-fourths majority for adoption.

October 6, 2008
An additional proposed constitutional amendment (adding a lifetime membership) has been received and is now posted for review by the membership on the Convention page. This amendment will require a three-fourths majority for adoption.

September 25, 2008
Hebron has been added to the tournament calendar for February 13-14.

September 23, 2008
The Georgetown tournament originally scheduled for October 17-18 has been rescheduled for December 5-6.

September 20, 2008
The Memorial tournament originally scheduled for next weekend has been canceled due to Hurricane Ike. They plan to reschedule later in the season.

September 19, 2008
When posting the amendment #4 from Raul Ruiz regarding transitional phrases in Duet Acting, I failed to correctly copy critical formatting which changes the meaning of the amendment. I have made the appropriate corrections to the text of the amendment and it is now posted on the Convention page. Please forgive my mistake.
- Brent Hinkle, Secretary

September 18, 2008
An additional proposed constitutional amendment has been received and is now posted for review by the membership on the Convention page. This amendment will require a three-fourths majority for adoption.

September 16, 2008
The Dulles tournament originally scheduled for this weekend has been canceled due to Hurricane Ike. They plan to reschedule later in the season.

September 11, 2008
The Stratford tournament originally scheduled for this weekend has been canceled due to Hurricane Ike. They plan to reschedule later in the season.

September 10, 2008
The Elkins tournament originally scheduled for this weekend has been postponed until October 3 due to Hurricane Ike.

September 10, 2008
Additional proposed constitutional amendments were received last evening are now posted for review by the membership on the Convention page. All amendments received after this point will require a three-fourths majority.

September 9, 2008 - amendments take 2
Additional proposed constitutional amendments have been received this afternoon and are now posted for review by the membership on the Convention page.

September 9, 2008
The Flour Bluff tournament originally scheduled for this weekend has been postponed until September 27 due to Hurricane Ike.

September 9, 2008
Two additional proposed constitutional amendments were received last evening along with one this morning. All three amendments are now posted for review by the membership on the Convention page.

September 8, 2008 - amendments take 2
Additional proposed constitutional amendments have been received this afternoon and are now posted for review by the membership on the Convention page.

September 8, 2008
An additional proposed constitutional amendment has been received and is now posted for review by the membership on the Convention page.

September 6, 2008
Three proposed constitutional amendments have been received at this point and are now posted for review by the membership on the Convention page. Members are reminded that the 30 day notice deadline is approaching on Monday.

September 2, 2008
UTD was mistakenly left off of the schedule. UTD will hosting on October 24-25, 2008.

September 2, 2008
The Richard King tournament originally scheduled in December has been moved to January 16-17, 2009.

August 30, 2008
Important updates for all members:

Members wishing to submit proposed amendments to the TFA Standing Rules and/or TFA Constitution are reminded that the early notice deadline is nearing. Amendments that are received for posting by September 9 will meet the 30 day deadline and will require a simple majority vote for approval. Amendments proposed after that time will require a 75% vote of the membership present for passage.

Proposed amendments should be e-mailed to Brent Hinkle (brent@joyoftournaments.com) with a cc to Bill Schuetz (wschuetz@g-pisd.org). You will receive an acknowledgment within 24 hours of your submission. Otherwise, assume that your submission has been lost in cyber-space and follow up.
Amendments will be posted on the Convention page.
The Fall Newsletter is now available for download. Click here to view (as PDF).
The official 2008-09 IQT Calendar is now available for download (as Excel or as PDF).
The application for TFA membership is again online this year. Click on the Join TFA link to join (or renew your TFA membership).

August 26, 2008
Wharton will be unable to host on October 3-4, 2008 and has been removed from the IQT Calendar. An updated tentative 2008-09 IQT Calendar is now available for download.

August 22, 2008
Additional IQT calendar updates have been received. An updated tentative 2008-09 IQT Calendar is now available for download.

August 19, 2008
Additional IQT calendar updates have been received. An updated tentative 2008-09 IQT Calendar is now available for download.

August 11, 2008
Additional IQT calendar updates have been received. An updated tentative 2008-09 IQT Calendar is now available for download.

August 6, 2008
Additional IQT calendar updates have been received. An updated tentative 2008-09 IQT Calendar is now available for download.

August 2, 2008
Additional IQT calendar updates have been received. An updated tentative 2008-09 IQT Calendar is now available for download.

June 23, 2008
Additional IQT calendar updates have been received. An updated tentative 2008-09 IQT Calendar is now available for download.

June 5, 2008
Additional IQT calendar updates have been received. An updated tentative 2008-09 IQT Calendar is now available for download.

May 29, 2008
Several tournaments have been moved/added/removed from the original IQT calendar posted last week.

May 21, 2008
Congress legislation for the 2008-09 season is now available on the Congress page.

May 20, 2008
The Executive Council met this past weekend. The tenatative 2008-09 IQT Calendar is now available.

At the May Executive Council meeting, two other important decisions were made:

The Executive Council has tentatively accepted the state site committee's recommendation for the 2009 tournament host: Cypress Fairbanks School District. The state tournament is scheduled for March 5-7, 2009. The Executive Council has been informed that early release will not be available, so the following entry restrictions will be enforced at the 2009 state tournament: Students participating in C-X, L-D, or Student Congress may not cross-enter. Individual Events, Duo, and Duet participants will be allowed to enter two events. Acceptance of the Cypress Fairbanks bid is contingent upon the site visit which will occur before August 1.
Membership deadlines will be enforced more strictly this year. To vote at convention, you must be a paid member (that is, POs will not suffice). The October 31 membership deadline will also require payment by that date (that is, POs will not suffice). You may still submit POs for membership, but the PO must be processed and paid by convention in order to receive a card for voting. The PO must be processed and paid by October 31, or your students will not be allowed to participate at the state tournament.