Independent Entries

Independent Entries

In an effort to balance opportunities for competition with the need for a safe and efficient tournament, we will ask students who wish to enter as Independent Entries to follow the following Procedures:

PROCESS and DEADLINE: Students wishing to attend the Meadows tournament as an independent entry or as an entry from a home school must complete the process below no later than Sept 26^th, 2014

SUBMITTING LETTERS: Please scan and submit completed letters to timalderete@yahoo.com. All students from one school must enter as One Independent Squad and submit all of their documents in a single PDF email attachment. All students from a given school must be entered from the same account.  We will not accept multiple independent entries from the same school submitted from multiple "independent" accounts.

CHAPERONES: Even though an entry is "independent," the attending students must still be accompanied by a parent or designated ADULT chaperone.

FEES: Independent entry payment MUST be received no later than Sept 26^th, 2014. Judge Fees for a Hired Judge must be included by Sept 26^th.

TEAM NAME: The students must use a variant of the school or city name if the students attend a "school," but must use the addition "Independent" as a portion of the name. If you have difficulty with registering an account with Tabroom.com, please contact the website.

LETTERS/PERMISSION: To be accepted as an independent entry the attending group must include an authorization letter from the school and each set of parents or guardians no later than Sept 26^th, 2014.

BIDS: We will indicate in our tournament results to the TOC which entries are independent, as independent entries are precluded from receiving bids.  

A letter signed by a school administrator (principal or vice-principal) on school letterhead, with the text as in the template below. This letter must list the names of all students competing, and must also list the name of the chaperone. THE TEXT OF THE LETTERS CANNOT BE CHANGED OR ADDED TO IN ANY SUBSTANTIVE WAY; FOR EXAMPLE, WE CANNOT AND DO NOT INDEMNIFY SCHOOLS AGAINST LIABILITY - that is an issue between the family of the attending student, their school, and their respective legal counsels; and The Meadows has no jurisdiction, legal or otherwise, to oversee, rule upon, or pass judgment on such assertions or declarations.

A letter from a parent of each participant, with the text as in the template below/on the next page.

THE TEXT OF THE LETTERS MUST READ AS FOLLOWS:

Parent Letter (template--copy/paste the text and fill in the blanks as appropriate):

Date

Dear Meadows Forensics:

This letter is to inform you that we would like our child, ___________________, to attend the Meadows Invitational from Oct 31-Nov 2, 2014 and that she / he does so with our full consent and permission. We have arranged for our child to be fully chaperoned and for transportation to our satisfaction, and accept full responsibility and liability for our child during the entire course of the event. We understand and agree that Meadows Debate and The Meadows School, their employees, and their agents provide no chaperones for the event, and further agree that Meadows Debate and The Meadows School, their employees, and their agents are hereby relieved of any responsibility or liability of any sort for the supervision of our child.

The following person will be chaperoning our child:

Name: _________________

Cell phone: _______________

Relationship to our child: _________________

By signing this we are certifying that we are in fact the legal guardians of the listed child, and have full legal authority to act on the listed child's behalf.

Name, Sign, Date Contact info:

e-mail

phone

School Letter (template--copy/paste the text and fill in the blanks as appropriate):

Date

Dear Meadows Forensics:

This letter is to inform you that we have no objection to children from our school attending the Meadows Invitational from Oct 31-Nov 2, 2014 as independent entries. We understand that the parents of the children have arranged for their children to be transported and fully chaperoned to their satisfaction, and they have agreed to accept full responsibility and liability for their children during the entire course of the event. We further understand and agree that Meadows Debate and The Meadows School, their employees, and their agents provide no chaperones for the event, and we have explained this to the parents of the children listed in this letter. These are the names of the children who attend our school for whom we are certifying that we do not object to their participation in the above described event:

[list of students, with full names, goes here]

By signing this I am certifying that I am an official of the school and that I have full authority to act on the school's behalf in matters of this kind.

Name, Sign, Date Contact info:

e-mail

phone