Last week’s Isthmus reminded me that school board elections are happening this April. The lack of discussion this time around stands in stark contrast to the amount of discussion that occurred in 2007. Some of the 2007 issues stick out in my memory, because many of the candidates chose to highlight the value of speech and debate. Two year’s later, I wonder if the rhetoric of praising the value of speech and debate has translated into supporting the activity.
In the Spring of 2007, as an assistant forensics coach preparing for the state championship, it was nice to hear that members of the community had taken notice of James Madison Memorial’s success. (Memorial won state forensics championships in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2006. JMM also won last year and they’ve taken individual championships each year). Back then, we were just about the only game in town. Since then, Madison West, Sun Prairie, and Middleton have developed quality forensic teams. At last year’s state forensics tournament, Memorial went home with the championship, West placed eighth, and Sun Praire placed fourth.
Debate, however, is a different story. Madison West has lost most of their debate team; while Middleton has developed one. Madison East and LaFollette, are no where to be found for either debate or forensics. Sure, they have teams. But their teams do not compete in the same way that Memorial/West/Sun Prairie/Middleton do.
Since becoming the President-elect of the Wisconsin Debate Coaches Association, I’ve tried to facilitate the development of high school debate in Dane County. The Madison area is sitting on a virtual goldmine of talent that has largely gone untapped. The Dane County area has enough schools to support local debate tournaments at virtually no cost. If the four Madison schools participated in a competition with Middleton, Verona, and Sun Prairie – one could almost hold an entire season of competitions without ever traveling outside of the county. Since only Memorial and Middleton competed in debate this year, those schools were forced to travel two hours or more on some weekends just to attend a competition. With a limited budget, this makes it very costly and very difficult for students to participate in an activity that many school board members have said is important.
What have members of the school board said about debate and extracurriculars? Let’s review:
In 2007 Candidate’s Questionaire, Johnny Winston Jr. specifically mentioned debate and forensics as one of the critical extracurricular activities important for Madison area students.
“Extracurricular programs can be linked to the curriculum as a way of extending and enhancing the district’s educational programs. Madison Metropolitan School District students are fortunate to have a multitude of activities to become involved in. They include but are not limited to: sports, fine arts, debate, forensics, literary, newspaper, yearbook, science Olympiad, Distributive Education Clubs of America, foreign language and math competitions and Madison School & Community Recreation.”
Maya Cole made a similar response in 2007.
Extracurricular activities provide students with opportunities to learn more about their community, other cultures and themselves. They provide opportunities for self-expression and creativity while easing the stress of school. I’ve been lucky enough to participate in competitive rowing, recreational skiing, rock climbing and solo hiking in the wilderness. I’ve tried everything from forensics club to newspaper writing to photography to piano lessons.
While not defending, speech or debate, Majorie Passman defined herself as an advocate for all extracurricular activities.
Madison is fortunate that its schools have a rich extracurricular structure. As a board member, I will do everything I can to guarantee that students continue to have equal access to as many of these activities as they find interesting and have the spare time to pursue.
and in a different article, advocated for expanding speech and debate:
We must support programs such as strings, expand foreign language classes, and more extracurricular experiences (debate, forensics, drama) which are important for every child.
Moss has expressed interest in using the population size of Madison to reduce costs and provide a better product for students.
The district and Madison School & Community Recreation are working to increase access to extracurricular activities for all students by removing barriers to participation such as transportation, costs and location. I support continuing and expanding these efforts.
Despite all of this outpouring of support for debate and forensics from the school board (and this is just from the candidates that won – the losing candidates also spoke highly of the value of speech and debate), there has been no administrative action supporting these activities. Any work that has been done to expand these activities is solely the product of committed coaches and educators.
Strangely, no one in MMSD seems concerned that only Memorial participates in debate – but yet full head and assistant coaches are paid at each of the schools. I sent an email to the athletic directors in September asking each of them for the email address of their debate coach, so that I could set them up with materials and help them in their debate planning. Not surprisingly, I received no response. If the school board is really concerned about this issue – the administrators from each school should be finding active and supportive coaches, so that East/West/LaFollette can at least compete. Right now, students at those schools do not have an option. The experience difference in extracurriculars between Memorial and East or Memorial and LaFollette is drastic. To make the comparison in sports terms; it’s like East and LaFollette don’t even offer soccer.
While East/West/LaFollette are one extreme for debate, Memorial is on the other for forensics. The James Madison Memorial forensics team averages about 120 students – that doesn’t count students who participate in drama. No other forensics team in the state is that large. And yet, the salary level for JMM’s head coach is the equivalent of a basketball assistant – despite the fact that the Memorial head coach deals with more students and takes on much more responsibility (and has been more successful). What incentive is the district offering to teachers who want to offer this all-agreed upon worthy activity? Additionally, it fails common sense to expect JMM’s coach to continue what he does, when other schools in the district do relatively nothing.
If the school board is serious in its commitment towards debate and forensics, then it should strengthn those activities across the district. All students in the Madison Metro School District should be able to recieve the benefits of debate – not just the students who are fortunate to attend a school with a willing coach. Merely talking about debate when elections are around is ridiculuous. I hope the board is held accountable and that these individuals make good on their promises to improve speech and debate for all members of the MMSD.
