<div dir="ltr"><br><div>Good morning, coaches! I want to draw your attention to a couple of deadlines you might want to know about.</div><div><br></div><div><b><u>PUBLIC FORUM TOPIC VOTING</u></b></div><div><br></div><div>A heads up for member Chapter schools of the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA). Voting for the 2017 September/October Public Forum Debate topic is now open. The topic area is the Korean Peninsula. </div><div><br></div><div><span style="color:rgb(94,81,78);font-family:"Open Sans",Arial,sans-serif;background:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-size:14px">NSDA chapter school advisors and member students can vote by logging in to their accounts on <a href="http://speechanddebate.org">speechanddebate.org</a>. </span>Cast your votes <span style="font-size:14px">before 4:00 p.m. CT on August 7. The final resolution will be released August 8.</span></span>  <br></div><div><h3 style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 10px;border:0px;outline:0px;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:22px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(94,81,78);font-weight:500;line-height:1.4em;font-family:Bitter,Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif"><strong style="font-family:"Open Sans",Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;background:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline">OPTION 1 – Resolved: Continued nuclear weapon development and missile testing are in North Korea’s best interest.</strong><br></h3><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(94,81,78);font-family:"Open Sans",Arial,sans-serif"><strong style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">OPTION 2 – Resolved: Deployment of anti-missile systems is in South Korea’s best interest.</strong></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(94,81,78);font-family:"Open Sans",Arial,sans-serif"><strong style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background:transparent;vertical-align:baseline"><br></strong></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(94,81,78);font-family:"Open Sans",Arial,sans-serif"><b><u>GFCA FALL MEETING</u></b></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(94,81,78);font-family:"Open Sans",Arial,sans-serif"><strong style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background:transparent;vertical-align:baseline"><br></strong></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(94,81,78);font-family:"Open Sans",Arial,sans-serif"><span style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">The GFCA Fall Meeting is quickly approaching. Mary Kay sent out an email with information, including a link to sign up for specific sessions. Please sign up when it is convenient to do so. We are using the numbers for planning purposes. Not signing up does not preclude anyone from attending any given session. Knowing numbers helps in planning the sessions.</span></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(94,81,78);font-family:"Open Sans",Arial,sans-serif"><span style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background:transparent;vertical-align:baseline"><br></span></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(94,81,78);font-family:"Open Sans",Arial,sans-serif"><span style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Additionally, any agenda items you may have for the business portion of the meeting should be sent to myself and Mary Kay. I'll send out received agenda items by Tuesday, August 8, so everyone has time to look over them and to discuss the items. At this point I know the Lauren Donnenfeld is on the agenda to discuss resources/curriculum for classrooms and Robert Walker will discuss bidding for the State tournaments. We will also have a Treasurer's Report from Richard Bracknell.</span></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(94,81,78);font-family:"Open Sans",Arial,sans-serif"><span style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background:transparent;vertical-align:baseline"><br></span></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(94,81,78);font-family:"Open Sans",Arial,sans-serif"><span style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Hard to believe school has started so early! I hope your summer was productive and you had some fun over the break!</span></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(94,81,78);font-family:"Open Sans",Arial,sans-serif"><span style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background:transparent;vertical-align:baseline"><br></span></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(94,81,78);font-family:"Open Sans",Arial,sans-serif"><span style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Feel free to reach out should you have any questions or concerns.</span></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(94,81,78);font-family:"Open Sans",Arial,sans-serif"><span style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background:transparent;vertical-align:baseline"><br></span></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(94,81,78);font-family:"Open Sans",Arial,sans-serif"><span style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Mario Herrera</span></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(94,81,78);font-family:"Open Sans",Arial,sans-serif"><span style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Henry W. Grady HS</span></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(94,81,78);font-family:"Open Sans",Arial,sans-serif"><span style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">Chair</span></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(94,81,78);font-family:"Open Sans",Arial,sans-serif"><span style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;background:transparent;vertical-align:baseline">GFCA Executive Board</span></p></div></div>