Roehrich,+Carol

Carol Roehrich, Coach, Traverse City (MI) Central High School (9 years)

High school debate should be a positive, educational experience. I have no tolerance for rude or mean-spirited debates, and will reflect my displeasure in speaker points. I will reject policies that are proven to be theoretically abusive if the abuse arg is made and won. I expect stock issues to be addressed within the context of the plan, CP, or K. I vote primarily on Impact Calc. Tell me WHY you have won the round. I will not do your work for you. I will vote on the K if the debaters advocate a useful policy action, but I'm not crazy about them. I will listen to and evaluate theory args if they are topical. I will evaluate any argument objectively and as fairly as possible. I allow tag-teaming and shadowing, but I do believe each debater should be giving 3 speeches/round, so I tend to lower speaker points if one team member is always doing the majority of the talking. Politeness is a bonus. If you are speaking too fast or unclearly, I will say, "Clear" and expect you to adapt. Paperless debate is great, but you need to be good and fast at it. My expectations are: you're debating, you're prepping, or you're flashing your speech. No prep should be occurring during the paperless-debate process.