Anyone else face this conflict: debate finals and MABL finals?

[Anonymous]

Wondering if anyone else in MCPS has kids (or knows of) who face the potential conflict of finals for the MCPS debate league and the MABL finals this Thursday? My kid is competing in the debate “playoffs” tomorrow and the top 16 teams go to finals on Thursday. The MABL finals are also Thursday and he has been told he needs to choose one or the other. We realized the potential conflict a few months ago and he alerted his coaches, but nothing was done. I am honestly furious. I can’t believe we are the only ones in this situation. Anyone else?
Also, I could use a gut check on my frustration. These things aren’t like sports seasons— they have each been going on since the very start of the school year and the dates for these playoffs were not made clear at the start. It seems really unfair to the kids who have worked so hard— not just my kid but his debate partner and MABL teammates, too. Am I wrong to see this as the school failing my kid? And it seems like something could have been done to fix this— these aren’t competitions that involve hundreds of kids, or travel, etc.
Thanks.

[Anonymous]

What is MABL? Are there many kids involved in both? Otherwise, conflicts happen.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry for your kid, but these things don't coordinate with each other.

[Anonymous]

Geez, pick one and move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wondering if anyone else in MCPS has kids (or knows of) who face the potential conflict of finals for the MCPS debate league and the MABL finals this Thursday? My kid is competing in the debate “playoffs” tomorrow and the top 16 teams go to finals on Thursday. The MABL finals are also Thursday and he has been told he needs to choose one or the other. We realized the potential conflict a few months ago and he alerted his coaches, but nothing was done. I am honestly furious. I can’t believe we are the only ones in this situation. Anyone else?
Also, I could use a gut check on my frustration. These things aren’t like sports seasons— they have each been going on since the very start of the school year and the dates for these playoffs were not made clear at the start. It seems really unfair to the kids who have worked so hard— not just my kid but his debate partner and MABL teammates, too. Am I wrong to see this as the school failing my kid? And it seems like something could have been done to fix this— these aren’t competitions that involve hundreds of kids, or travel, etc.
Thanks.

What did you expect to happen? That somehow one of those organizations would rearrange an entire schedule that hundreds of other kids planned around to accommodate your specific kid? If you knew months ago that there was a conflict, your kid should have dropped one of the activities and given another kid the opportunity to participate.

Kids can't be involved in everything. They have to make choices. Life lesson to learn here.

[Anonymous]

There are so, so many extracurriculars now. There aren't enough weeks in the year to separate all of them. Your kid doesn't have to do all of them.

[Anonymous]

Give another kid a chance to do one of the activities.

[Anonymous]

There are many kids on our childs team, only a couple made it to the semi finals

[Anonymous]

What is MABL

[Anonymous]

Op here. Thanks for the input. I will stand down from sending the email I was drafting in my head. Will keep my frustration, though, as it seems like more could be done to accommodate. For those asking, MABL is the quiz bowl-like team. On TV, It’s Academic. In school it’s called MABL (maybe Montgomery Academic Bowl League?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thanks for the input. I will stand down from sending the email I was drafting in my head. Will keep my frustration, though, as it seems like more could be done to accommodate. For those asking, MABL is the quiz bowl-like team. On TV, It’s Academic. In school it’s called MABL (maybe Montgomery Academic Bowl League?)

Out of curiosity---what do you think could/should be done to accommodate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thanks for the input. I will stand down from sending the email I was drafting in my head. Will keep my frustration, though, as it seems like more could be done to accommodate. For those asking, MABL is the quiz bowl-like team. On TV, It’s Academic. In school it’s called MABL (maybe Montgomery Academic Bowl League?)

Out of curiosity---what do you think could/should be done to accommodate?

I'm curious, too. What did you think would happen when you realized and alerted the coashes months ago? Did you think that one might move? But then what if another kid has a conflict with the new date/time? I think the purpose of letting you all know the dates months in advance is so that you could plan accordingly (e.g., drop one, rather than investing additional time/effort and then being frustrated that the date is still the date that you were told it would be).

[Anonymous]

As a coach for one of these programs, I can tell you the kids knew at the beginning of the year. If not, that’s an issue to take up with the coach. But, you should have signed a permission slip at the beginning of the year with the dates for all competitions….

I agree with everyone else on this thread. These two programs do not relate to each other and have no need to coordinate. I lose kids every year to other clubs like Model UN, D+D, sports, etc. You kid needs to stop complaining and pick one thing if the schedule overlaps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thanks for the input. I will stand down from sending the email I was drafting in my head. Will keep my frustration, though, as it seems like more could be done to accommodate. For those asking, MABL is the quiz bowl-like team. On TV, It’s Academic. In school it’s called MABL (maybe Montgomery Academic Bowl League?)

I still don’t understand exactly what you think should be done to accommodate the schedule of a *single student*. You haven’t indicated that any other kids are affected by the overlap, so it sounds like it’s only your child who has this conflict.

Other families have made plans around these dates that were announced months ago. How would it be fair to move an event now, when it will almost certainly create new conflicts for others who DID make any necessary adjustments when the dates were originally announced?

Frankly, I’m surprised the responses here have been so neutral. DCUM is usually pretty vicious at the slightest whiff of entitlement.