Central Minnesota District Qualifier

for the 2021 National Tournament

Central MN Judge Conflict Guidelines

Central MN NSDA Judge Conflict Guidelines

Judges Currently Affiliated with a School:  Any judge currently affiliated with a school should not judge students from that school.  A school affiliation includes coaches, teachers, administrators, and parents who have a child attending the school. 

Spouses and domestic partners:  Spouses and domestic partners of coaches shall be treated as affiliated with the school that their spouse/partner coaches at. 

Immediate Family Members of Coaches:  Immediate family members (parents, children, or siblings) of coaches should not judge the students that their immediate family member coaches. 

Former students:  Former students of a program who have not coached at another program shall be considered affiliated with the high school they attended.  This affiliation extends indefinitely because the assumption is that a loyalty to one’s own school exists.  Former students who have been employed as a coach by another program will be considered former affiliates. 

Former affiliates:  Any non-student affiliate—coach, teacher, administrator, parent, spouse/partner, etc. who has ended their affiliation with a particular school will not be assigned to judge that school for two full years after the affiliation has ended.  For example, if someone coaches at Happy High School through 2017 and then leaves to coach at another program, they would not judge Happy High School for 2018 and 2019 and would be eligible to judge Happy High School in 2020.  A student affiliate will not be assigned to judge that school for three full years after the affiliation has ended (this way, there is no overlap with past high school teammates). 

Summer Camps & Similar Affiliations:  Instructors who work with students in a general summer camp setting (or similar program) are not automatically considered conflicted.  However, if the instructor has a specific connection to the student or to the speech (e.g. helped student cut the piece or helped edit the oration), then a conflict does exist and the instructor is considered affiliated with that student (but may judge other students from the school).  In debate, a specific connection may be that an instructor had the student in his/her lab and worked closely for several weeks. 

Judge Discretion:  A judge should report any potential conflicts to the tab room prior to the start of the tournament.  A judge may remove him or herself from hearing a particular student or a particular school for reasons beyond those stated above.  However, a judge cannot override the conflict rules stated above to be placed as a judge.