New CMSDL Conference Structure

Part of our operational problems at CMSDL T2, particularly at the Ogden site, related to the league’s burgeoning size. We have outgrown most of our high school sites, unless we expand to a third conference. At the same time, we have not been able to configure two conferences in a manner that has provided for some kind of balance among the kind of school (low-income, higher-income) winning awards. So we need a third conference for the same reasons that led to the establishment of a conference structure originally, in both the high school and middle school leagues: tournament site capacity and competitive comparability.

At a special meeting on 12/11, the Chicago Middle School Debate League Coaches Council discussed a third conference and endorsed the idea. Here are the conferences that the Council and the CMSDL administration put together, for rough equivalency in numbers of debaters (based on registrations so far) and rough competitive comparability. Let us know by December 20th, either by posting to the CMSDL Listserv or to the CMSDL administration backchannel, if you have any strong objection to either the third conference idea generally, or to your school’s placement below in particular. We’ll post conferences officially, and for the duration of the 2012/13 season, on December 21st.

The 2013 Chicago Middle School Debate Championship will involve all schools at one site, on March 9th, competing together for championship honors in each division (Novice, JV, Varsity), without conferences.

Conference “A”
Hardey
Lincoln
Ogden
Sacred Heart
Zapata

Conference “AA”
Alcott
Beasley
Anshe Emet
Haven
King Lab
Nichols
Bessie Rhodes
South Loop
Wildwood

Conference “AAA”
Ariel
Carroll-Rosenwald
Chicago Jesuit
Kershaw
Key
May
Lovett
McCutcheon
Morgan Park
Shoop
Spencer