Competitive Event Policies

Eligibility

To be eligible to participate in a debate competition, a student must be currently registered for and attending a Westfield debate class. Similarly, to be eligible to participate in a MUN Conference, a student must be currently registered for and attending a Westfield Model United Nations class. To be eligible to participate in a Westfield event, all outstanding accounts due prior to the event must be paid up.

Partner & Conference Assignments

Mrs. H. will designate partners for competitions and make assignments for Conferences. She makes these decisions based on a variety of considerations. Requests - sent by email - will always be considered, but the ultimate decision will be made by Mrs. H. or the instructor.

Parent Coordinator Role

Parent Coordinators are parents who volunteer to help coordinate a specific event. A Parent Coordinator is assigned for each Westfield community event (such as World Affairs Council lectures & Connecticut Forums) and for each debate competition or Model U.N. conference. As we are planning an event, we send out an email asking for a parent to volunteer to be a Parent Coordinator for that event. No experience is necessary. This has been extremely successful and we greatly thank those volunteers who have done such a wonderful job in the past. We are pleased to continue this initiative which helps us to make even more interesting and beneficial opportunities available to all Westfield students. Information will be on the website prior to each event.

Parental Attendance and Participation

Parents do not attend debate competitions or MUN conferences unless they are judging or helping Westfield in some other essential capacity. Parents are warmly invited and encouraged to attend the Civics First competitions in the spring. You are more than welcome to sign up to judge at competitions although please realize judging does not allow you to watch your own child debate. If attending a competition or a MUN Conference as a judge, mentor, chaperone or in any other capacity, parents are representatives of Westfield. If they have questions or concerns about the competition or conference, they should bring these to the attention of the Westfield Coach attending the event. Parents are not to initiate any contact, either before, during or after any event, with any person in charge of, or working at, events that Westfield is attending or may attend including, but not limited to, judges, directors, organizers, chairs and tournament, competition or conference staff. While a student is enrolled at Westfield or participating in any Westfield program, any and all contact with any tournament or conference director or staff of any debate competition or MUN Conference will be made only by the Westfield coaches or staff. When attending out-of-state competitions and conferences and those that require an overnight stay, students travel and stay together in the hotel as a team. Parents do not attend. The exceptions to this are the Boston Middle School MUN Conference in January and the GCI Middle School MUN Conference in March where parents may stay with their children in the hotel. Logistical questions about a competition or a MUN conference should be addressed to the Parent Coordinator. Substantive questions are to be addressed to Ann Walsh Henderson.

Pickup Procedure

Although it is sometimes difficult to forecast the exact end time of an event, please make every effort to pick up your child on time. After a long event when everyone is tired, it is a lot for both the chaperone and the child to have to wait long periods of time. We know sometimes unavoidable things happen. When they do, we ask you to do your best to reach out to other parents to arrange alternative transportation options. If it is an emergency, please reach out to us right away so we can help you make arrangements. Transportation details will be emailed to you prior to an event, but in the case where the end time is unsure, please have your child contact you once they know when you should pick them up; either from the venue or the car pool location. If your child does not have a cell phone, please tell them to ask the chaperone who will always let them use theirs. If you pick up your child from the venue, it is absolutely critical that you go to the chaperone and tell them that you are taking your child. Please do not assume that your child has told the chaperone. Also please don't just text and assume the chaperone has received it. The chaperone is busy chaperoning and fulfilling their responsibilities and keeping your children safe often in the midst of a busy event. For everyone's safety, we absolutely want to avoid a situation where a parent takes their child without the chaperone knowing who is then left frantically searching for the child.

Event Fees and Refunds

Debate and Model UN events require payment up front. This payment is not refundable. Before a student registers to participate in these events, Westfield makes decisions and commitments, including non-refundable payments, based on an estimate of the number of students who will register. In addition to paying non-refundable fees to organizations, Westfield calculates the expenses that could include but are not limited to: transportation, tolls, parking, meals and hotel based on the number of estimated students who will register. Hotel and transportation charges will be tallied after the competition or conference has been completed and divided by the number of debaters/MUNers who registered. In the event of a multiple day debate competition, we don't know in advance who, if any of our debaters, will break (debate speak for qualify to move on to the final rounds of the competition). Therefore, it is necessary that we reserve and pay for hotel rooms. In the interest of fairness, this cost must be split equally among all the participants regardless if they decide not to take advantage of the extra accommodations. Likewise, in the interest of fairness to all attending, if a student registers for a debate or MUN competition/conference which requires travel and then does not attend, they will still be responsible for all event charges including those determined post-competition/conference.

We understand that things happen and that sometimes a child is unable to keep the commitment they have made. This policy is necessary to allow Westfield students to be able to attend competitions and conferences. Westfield spends so much time preparing for all the logistics and doing these events. When someone has to miss for any reason, it requires someone to spend hours finding a replacement, getting the replacement up to speed and figuring it out with the organizers. This is the only way it all works.

Financial Aid Details

Coach Expenses

All event related expenses incurred by the team coach or advisor will be calculated and shared by all who register to participate. We will calculate these expenses prior to registration when possible otherwise we will do so post event. It is our sincerest wish to keep these expenses as low as possible. The usual coach/advisor expenses per event include but are not limited to: transportation, tolls, parking, meals, hotel.

Dress Code

Students should wear western business attire. Boys wear a jacket and tie; girls wear a skirt, pants, or dress and a sweater or jacket. If you are in need of any article of clothing please email us at Admin@WestfieldAcademy.net so we can put out a group email. We have been pretty good at coming up with clothing to share.