The KESDA board met on April 19, 2008.  Voting members present were Joey Mau, Kellie, Crump, Stephen Jones, and Ryan Ray.  Co-Directors Dr. Edward and Betsy Smith presided.

The first item of business was whether to let college freshmen judge at high school tournaments.  This was tabled until the fall meeting.

A motion was made to ban cell phones from the competition rooms during KESDA.  The penalty for a competitor seen with a cell phone during a round will be a drop in rank to 5^th place.  There will be a $50 fine (or forfeiture of  the team’s judge bond) assessed to the team of any spectator or judge holding or using a cell phone.  This passed 4-0.

A motion was made to keep Group Interpretation as a middle school event for the 2009 forum.  This passed 4-0.

It was decided that board members will take home handbooks, make corrections, and revise them in the fall.

A motion was made to make Round I of broadcasting for the high school a commercial instead of on-the-spot reporting.  This passed 4-0.

It was decided to get coaches’ feed back on a number of issues.  These include:

1.  Not having a new experimental event because of the unwieldy number of existing events.

2.  Possibly dropping declamation from the high school roster (again, too many events)

3.  Possibly combining Persuasion and Informative into Original Oratory.

4.  Chance of starting competition at the forums earlier in the afternoon on Thursday to ease up the schedule.

5.  Flighting all events in succession—going AAABBBCCC instead of ABCABCABC

There is a conflict of dates for next year’s forum.  CFL, always the first weekend of March, is up against the Senior Forum.  Ryan volunteered to discuss with Katy Cecil the possibility of moving CFL.

Kellie Crump volunteered to work on a feasible inclement weather plan.

The high school traveling trophy will be awarded in 2009 under a new set of guidelines.

A motion was made to lower the qualifying number from sixty to fifty entries in order to break an event to quarters at the middle school forum.  This did not pass.

The board decided unanimously to include a set of rules for each event in the judging packets at the ballot table.

A motion was made for the quarters and semis certificates to be filled out and distributed to each competitor at the banquet, thereby recognizing each individual’s success.  This passed unanimously.

Because of some issues in the past, an etiquette section will be added to the handbook and reminders placed in the halls at the forum.

It was proposed that the website include more pictures, team and coach histories, and information about past teams, and it was also suggested that it be easier to use, linking visitors straight to the desired information on various topics.

A motion was made to drop the entry fees of the schools who were forced to cancel because of the weather.  The motion also stipulated that from now on all entry fees from a dropped team (in the event of an emergency) will be paid, but there will not be additional “drop” fees assessed. 

There will be a workshop in the fall for coaches and judges.