Houston, We Have Urban Debate
The NAUDL is thrilled to report that the city of Houston will join the Urban Debate Network with a UDL set to launch in the fall of 2008. Houston will join Dallas (launched in August, 2007) as cities in the Lone Star State with new, NAUDL-facilitated Leagues.
At its Thursday, March 13, meeting, the Board of Directors of the Houston Independent School District, led by President Harvin Moore, instructed the office of Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra to negotiate and execute a Memorandum of Understanding with the Houston UDL Advisory Board and the NAUDL to ensure Houston students are competing in a Houston UDL this coming fall.
While the details remain to be worked out, the Board authorized a Houston UDL with 15 high schools. Each school will commit two teachers on staff to coach the team and will provide those coaches with a $5,000 stipend. Training will begin this summer with workshops and competition to commence this fall. The Houston UDL Advisory Board, with support from the NAUDL, will contribute up to $203,000 to support this work. HISD will contribute approximately $151,000 for the participation of 15 high schools.
The Superintendent had asked for such authorization because “[a]cademic policy debate improves core academic skills: reading for comprehension, critical thinking, communication skills, research, and argument organization and support.”
Attending on behalf of the Houston UDL Advisory Board were co-chairs Ronald G. Bankston of Goodwin Pappas LLP and T. Griffin Vincent of Andrews Kurth LLP, together with Executive Committee member Barbara Radnofsky. A Houston Chronicle op-ed, written just before the new year by Mr. Bankston and Ms. Radnofsky, galvanized local support and led the NAUDL to concentrate its efforts in Houston a year earlier than it had planned.
Several HISD Board members, including both President Moore and veteran member Barbara Johnson (herself a former debate coach and whose husband is Houston Bellaire’s legendary coach David Johnson), expressed satisfaction and excitement at the prospect of bringing urban debate to Houston.
NAUDL Board Chair Lenny Gail echoed the board’s enthusiasm, and remarked that “the speed with which HISD learned about this opportunity and brought it to fruition for the benefit of Houston’s students is worthy of note. It is a testament to how seriously the Superintendent and the HISD Board take their commitment to HISD Primary Goal 1: To increase student achievement and narrow performance gaps between minority and non-minority students."
