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Debate Club

2024-2025 Co-Chairs: Chris Zhang and Priyanka Kamran

For 4th and 5th grade only. Students learn and practice researching topics, taking both sides of an argument, and presenting, refuting, and defending cases.

Jump to: Registration | Club Meetings | Tournaments | Recaps

General Information

Students are trained step-by-step with an emphasis on activities that engage students with each other and where students put into practice the skills we teach. Elementary students debate at a challenging but supportive level. They research topics, take both sides on the topics, present cases, refute opposing cases, defend their cases and summarize the debate to persuade their judges. Topics have included ending plastic bags, video game effects on kids, and whether zoos should be banned.

Fall topics are home cooked versus eating out meals and organic versus conventional farming along with cell phone use in schools. During the course of the program, students will engage in debates with significant feedback from our instructors for improvement. In addition, at three points during the class session, we recognize the skills, talent and supportive debating that students do.

We will provide online certificate which can be printed for top teams and speakers.

INFO NIGHT

Math Club and Debate Club are co-hosting an Info Night is on Tuesday, September 10th, 2024, 6pm-7pm in the Medina Elementary Cafeteria. The club chairs will share information about the club and answer any questions. Please join us! Both parents and students are welcome to attend!

Registration

Registration Opens: Monday, September 16 at 12:00pm for 4th and 5th grade only.

9/16 UPDATE: The club is full. Registration and waitlist are now closed.

How to Register: Please purchase/renew your PTA annual membership before registration day. Otherwise, you will not be able to access there registration form.

Find the Debate Club registration form in My Family's Forms/Paperwork once registration opens. Complete the form and payment. Your registration is confirmed only after payment is received.

You can choose to send a check. If the spots you want are all sold out, please join the waitlist.

IMPORTANT: To register, you must agree to all Debate Club policies on the registration form by initialing next to each policy. Read the policies now.

Club Fees: $1,100

Fees cover instruction, materials, and year-end party. Does not include any tournament fees.

If you need financial assistance to pay the club fee, please choose the "pay by check" option when checking out, so your registration will not be delayed. Then, contact our counselor Ms. Geck (gecke@bsd405.org) to initiate the process.

Club Meetings

Club meetings begin Sep 30 and run on Mondays, 2:45pm-4:15pm through May.

Month	Days
Sep	30
Oct	7, 14, 21, 28
Nov	4, 18
Dec	9, 16
Jan	13, 27
Feb	2, 10, 24
Mar	3, 10, 17, 24, 31
Apr	14, 21, 28
May	5, 12

Debate Tournaments

Debate Club will offer opportunities to participate in the Seattle University speech and debate tournaments.

The first tournament will be on Sunday, November 24th, 2024, 9:00am-6:15pm at Seattle University.

Policies

Updated: September 9, 2024

FEES: For a student to participate in any after-school club, there cannot be an outstanding balance on the family's PTA's account. Tuition and all outstanding fees must be paid in full by September 30th, 2024 (or by the next class date if registering after September 30th). If you do not pay all fees by this deadline, your child will be withdrawn from Debate Club and a 5% tuition processing fee will be added to your account.

To remain enrolled in Debate Club, families must timely pay any Medina PTA fees (not just club fees) incurred during the course of the school year. You understand that failure to pay fees on time may result in your student being withdrawn from the club with no refund.

ELIGIBILITY: Our afterschool clubs (including Debate Club) are ONLY for CURRENT-ENROLLED Medina students with ACTIVE Medina PTA membership. Your child must be enrolled with Medina Elementary school at the time they are attending the club and you must have a valid Medina PTA family or individual membership for the 2024-2025 school year. You agree that if your kid is not currently enrolled with Medina Elementary school OR you do not purchase PTA membership by the first class, your child will be withdrawn from all afterschool clubs with no refund.

REFUNDS: A refund can be applied before the First class with a 5% tuition processing fee. A refund also can be applied between First and Second class with a 10% tuition processing fee. There are no refunds after Second class for any reason.

PROCESSING FEE: Any student registration for an afterschool club that you cancel will incur a 5% processing fee. This includes cancelling a duplicate registration (e.g., when the parents sign up the same child twice for the same club) or cancelling one registration to sign up for a different Medina PTA club on the same day. The 5% fee applies for all transaction types (credit card, cash, or check).

BEHAVIOR:

Debate Club's goal is to teach students to debate in a respectful, reasons-based approach. For the purposes of this section, "disrespectful" behavior includes:

anger-driven, unproductive attacks against their opponents
disparaging language or personal attacks against their opponents
yelling or verbally aggressive behavior

Intentional violent behavior directed at another individual during the club (including another student, teacher, coach/instructor, parent, or volunteer) and resulting in physical harm is grounds for immediate removal from that club without refund. Medina PTA retains the discretion to remove this student from all other enrolled afterschool clubs/programs and prevent this student from registering for future afterschool programs in the same school year.

Parents and students are expected to behave respectfully to each other and the coaches/instructors:

If the club chair determines that a student’s behavior is disruptive during the program/club, or the student is consistently disrespectful, a warning will be issued to the student and parent. After the warning, a second offense will result in removal of the student from the club with no refund, unless the club chair decides to issue a second warning. The chair my also require the parent to provide full-time adult supervision of the student for the duration of the club. The adult supervisor must be a PTA member and have a BSD background check. A third offense will result in removal of the student from the club program with no refund.
If the club chair determines that a parent’s behavior is disruptive or consistently disrespectful, a warning will be issued to the parent. After the warning, a second offense will result in removal of that parent’s child from afterschool clubs with no refund.
At the discretion of Medina PTA, any withdrawal due to disruptive or disrespectful behavior may also affect the family’s ability to register for future afterschool programs.

PICK-UP: Our parent classroom volunteers are required to stay until the last child is picked up from class. Please respect our volunteers’ time by picking your child up promptly at dismissal time unless your child is staying at Medina Elementary with the Boys & Girls Club. If you wish to permit your child to sign him/herself out from class and walk/bike home, you must complete the Medina PTA Permission Slip for Self-Checkout of Afterschool Clubs 2024-2025 found on our website, and return it to our Debate Club Co-Chairs. Repeated late pickups may result in withdrawal from Debate Club with no refund, and you may forfeit the ability to register for future afterschool programs.

ABSENCES: If your child will not be at Debate Club, you must email debateclub@medinapta.org prior to that day’s class start time. You understand that two unexcused absences may result in removal of your student from the club without refund.

Questions? Contact debateclub@medinapta.org