General Policies
Homework must be completed and submitted to the proper Coach on or before the date and time designated. If a student has a legitimate reason for being unable to submit the homework assignment punctually, then the student is responsible to communicate this information to the appropriate Coach prior to the stated deadline. Grace may be granted by the Coach on an individual basis depending on the legitimacy of the extenuating circumstance.

Accountability Notebook

STAR Forensics will use an accountability notebook as a method to determine which students will be allotted one-on-one club time with coaches. This notebook will be kept by both the coaches and the students and will be brought to the weekly meeting so that during club time students may enter into the notebook the speech/debate work they are committing to have ready for the following week. For example, if Bob commits to have his persuasive speech memorized by the next week, Bob will write that in the notebook so the coaches will know Bob wants 1:1 time at the next week's meeting to work on blocking/delivery of the speech. If Bob comes to the next week's meeting without having memorized his speech, Bob will forfeit the time the coaches set aside for him, giving the time to the student(s) who did honor their commitments. The notebook will be used only for the speech/debate work that the student commits to doing on his own, not the assignments made to the students as a whole as a part of the clubs' general instruction. The purpose of this exercise is to instill within the student the habit of setting goals that are achievable over a short period of time. When a student honors his commitment, he is rewarded with club time and coaches' attention, thereby enabling him to take the next step in achieving his overall goal of being prepared for competition. We believe this tool will help us to make the most of our club time, as well as facilitate the formation of good habits that will last a lifetime.