House Competition events and the House Cup--Proposal

I'll get right into it with no introduction except this sentence.


Annual House Competition

Each year, the Houses shall have a year-long competition, based on the point system, for the House Cup, which shall be awarded to the House that wins the Annual House Competition.

Points earned for academic performance, and points earned or lost for student behavior, have been discussed in a previous section.

This section shall deal with the Competition Events that will also earn Houses points toward winning the Annual House Cup.


I. Types of events. Any type of competitive event that can be objectively scored may potentially be included as part of the House Cup competition.

A.Some such events that have already existed in the past can potentially be incorporated into the House Cup. These include:
1. Charter Olympics events
2. Homecoming flag or touch football tournament
B. Other activities that involve competitive activities that already exist may be approved for related events or tournaments for the House Cup. These include:
1. Academic league matches
2. Sports competitions
3. Chess, debate, or other clubs that involve potentially competitive activities
C. Other types of events may also be part of the House Cup competition. All such events must be approved by the Heads of House as far in advance of the event as possible; preferably in time for it to be included on the regular schedule of House Cup events, to be discussed below. These events could include:
1. Events based on activities students have done in the past, such as "Wall Ball" and "Ultimate Frisbee."
2. Events based on other sources, such as spelling bees, talent competitions, or indoor or outdoor games.
3. Events created by students or staff (with approval through appropriate channels) for the purpose of inclusion in the House Cup.

II. Approval of Events. The four Heads of House must approve the full calendar of events for the House Cup. This calendar can be modified by addition, deletion, or rearrangement of events at the discretion and with the agreement of the four Heads of House, at any time they see fit. However, the general practice should be to allow as much time as possible for each House to prepare to compete to its best ability in the event.

A. There shall be three classifications for events.
1. Single-team competitions shall be events in which each House may enter a single team into competition. Examples would include most team sporting competitions.
2. Multiple-team competitions shall be events in which each House may enter multiple teams into competition. Examples would include games or sports played with small groups of students forming single teams.
3. Individual competitions shall be events in which individuals from each House may independently enter the competition, such as a spelling bee. For the purpose of these classifications, events in which either individuals or groups of students may independently enter, such as a talent show, are classified as individual competitions.

B. The Heads of House, at a time and by a method of their choosing, shall approve an initial schedule of competition events as early in the school year as possible; preferably, it should be done before the school year begins. Events pre-approved by the Heads of House require no further approval process; however, pre-approval during one year does not guarantee that the same or a similar event will occur the next year, as the Heads of House set the schedule.
1. A suggested method for approving a calendar of events as early possible would be for each Head of House to propose a competition schedule for one quarter of the school year, then to review each other's proposals. Alternately, the Heads of House may request volunteers, which may include one or more Heads of House, to draft a proposal, to which they will then provide input.

C. Proposal of new events. If any student or staff member of a House has a proposal for a new event to add to the House Cup competition, the following procedure should be followed.
1. Submit a brief written explanation of the event to the Head of House. This is not to include all the details and rules; merely a description of the event, with a general overview of how it would work.
2. The Head of House shall seek clarification, if needed, from the person submitting the proposal, before presenting the idea to the other Heads of House.
3. The Heads of House shall jointly and informally decide if they will choose to reject the proposal, accept the proposal, or seek further information.
a. If the Heads of House require further information, the person submitting the proposal should be prepared to report in written or verbal form as much detail as possible about the proposed event, including all the details and rules of the event.
b. If the Heads of House accept the proposal, the event may or may not be scheduled for the current House Cup, at the discretion of the Heads of House; but it will be considered a pre-approved event, so that it may appear at some point in the future.
c. If the Heads of House reject the proposal after the first stage, the person submitting the proposal may request a meeting with the Heads of House to explain the proposal in whatever way he or she feels best suits the proposal. This may include bringing other people to the meeting to express their support for the proposal.
i. If the Heads of House still reject the proposal, the person submitting the proposal may request that the House Scribe(s) retain a copy of the proposal so that the Heads of House can review it again, if they desire, or so that the person making the proposal can submit it again at a later date with a shortened procedure.

III. Judging of events.

A. Whenever possible, General Faculty Members of non-competing Houses should serve as the facilitators and judges of competition events. For example, if House A and House B are competing in a basketball tournament, the judge(s) should come from House C and/or House D. In all cases, judges are expected to be fair and impartial, and to enforce the rules both in letter and in spirit of first ECHS, second the Houses, third the House Cup, and fourth of the competition event itself.
1. Judges shall be entitled to add or deduct points for individual behavior of students--exceptional in the positive or negative, separate from points earned by the competition event itself. For example, uncommon sportsmanship may be awarded points, while displays of poor sportsmanship may earn point penalties.
E. If sufficient General Members are unavailable to act as judges, unaffiliated teachers who have chosen to participate in the House system, while not being connected with any House, may serve as judges. They will be expected to maintain the same fairness and impartiality as the affiliated teachers.
F. If there are insufficient General Members and unaffiliated participant teachers, the faculty leaders of the House may serve as judges.
1. The Regents shall be the first choice. Given that they are the position intended to closely relate to students, their fairness and impartiality must be impeccable.
2. The Scribes shall be the second choice. Given their authority over the House Cup competition itself, their fairness and impartiality must be unimpeachable.
3. The Heads of House shall be the last choice. Given their position as the exemplar of the House, epitomizing the ideals of ECHS and their Houses, their fairness and impartiality must be utterly beyond reproach.
G. If the only option for judges includes members of competing Houses, the Heads of House or their representatives must agree that this is acceptable. Scores cannot later be contested with a basis of unfair judging if the Houses concerned approved of the judges present. If the judges are not approved, the event may be rescheduled or canceled, at the discretion of the Heads of House.
H. The judge of an event may entertain any appeals of a decision that he or she chooses; however, the only appeals he or she is obligated to entertain are from students directly competing in the event; with preference to a student team leader if applicable.
1. The judge may bar any player or spectator from the competition area if he or she feels the integrity and/or quality of the competition is suffering due to the individual's behavior.

IV. Scoring of Events. There shall be two basic methods that competition events shall earn points toward the House Cup.
A. Points earned by the rules of an event may be translated to points for the House Cup.
1. Each event shall be scored internally according to the rules of the event. For example, if a basketball game is being played, the standard rules of scoring for basketball shall be employed.
a. Points earned by the rules of the event may be directly converted to House Cup points. For example, 64 points earned in a basketball game may be awarded as 64 points for the House Cup.
b. Points earned by the rules of the event may be modified before conversion to House Cup points, to make more equal the value of events in which point scores are typically higher or lower than other events by a significant margin. For example, points earned during a soccer match might be multiplied by 3 or 4 (or some other predetermined modifier) to translate to House Cup points. In all cases, the Heads of House must determine and announce this modifier well in advance of the event.
c. For a tournament-type event, additional points may be awarded for placing at different levels in the tournament. For example, a House that wins first place in a volleyball tournament may earn 50 points, plus the total number of points accrued during the tournament; the second place team may win 30 points plus their accrued points, and so on. All such scoring schemes must be determined and announced by the Heads of House well in advance of the event.
B. If an event has no standard rules for scoring (examples could include chess games, talent competitions, spelling bees, etc.), points shall be awarded based on performance in the event.
1. There shall be no set requirement for how many places will earn points and what those points will be. It shall be up to the Heads of House to determine how these events will be scored.
a. As an example, it might be determined that the winner of a spelling bee or chess tournament shall earn 100 points for his or her House; the runner-up shall win 80 points; third place shall earn 60 points; and so on. Or it may be determined that the winner earns 200 points and no other places earn points.
2. In all cases, the Heads of House must determine and announce the scoring scheme for the event well in advance of the event.
C. Generally, the points awarded in events may not be protested. Appeals may be made to the judge of the event; however, the judge is only obligated to consider the appeals of competitors. The judge(s) of the event shall have the sole and final authority to render decisions on the awarding of points. After the fact, points may be protested by the process outlined in the section on the point system.


V. Calendar of Events.

I was going to actually propose a draft of a calendar...but after a brief chat with Jonathan, I'll just post the following, and then we should all contribute every zany idea we have to come up with an event calendar.

A. As a general philosophy, the mixture of events in the competition should:
1. Offer as many opportunities for the maximum number of students possible to participate
2. Represent a balance between "academic" competition (academic league matches, spelling bees, math competitions, etc.), "sporting" competition (soccer, basketball, volleyball, etc.), "game" competitions (chess, board game tournaments, capture the flag, etc.), "talent" competitions (like...talent competitions, art contests, battle of the bands, etc.) , and goofy "Charterian" competitions (Charter Olympic events, things I might make up, etc.). Also, any other categories we think of later.
3. Represent a balance between individual and team-based events, but again offering maximum opportunity for participation.
B. In general an average of one competition event per week would be ideal. Note that not all Houses would necessarily be involved in every event. If we did a "Muggle Quidditch" tournament (but called it something else to appease the anti-Potterians), for example, then each House would eventually play all the other Houses; but those matches would be spread out across the semester or year. The same would be true of Academic League tournaments, basketball tournaments, ferreting out student lurkers on the blog (Mr. O.D.), etc. The schedule, then could alternate weekly (or by whatever period) between "bigger" and "smaller" events.
1. We would forego competition events during hectic or problematic weeks; like finals weeks, STAR testing, the week of Thanksgiving and Saxon Day, etc.

VI. The House Cup.

A. At some pre-determined date, such as the week before second semester finals, the official competition period shall end.
B. At this time, the House Scribes shall verify the standings of the Houses. The House with the most points shall win the House Cup.
C. The House Cup itself should be an actual physical artifact; a trophy of some kind, preferably in the shape of a cup. It should be nice though--not a cheap plastic faux metal. I would prefer silver colors to gold colors, as silver is closer to the black and white of a white tiger. (That, and I like how silver looks better than gold.)
D. The House Cup should be awarded to the House--namely, to the Head of the winning House--at some (preferably pompous) sort of ceremony.
E. The House Cup shall then remain in possession of that House--either in that Head of House's classroom, or else on display somewhere prominently with the House's heraldry or whatnot, until it is awarded the following year.



As an afterthought...I do think it would be sort of neat if each House had its own area of campus somehow...but I don't know how we could. There are no obvious divisions, except the field, the theater/gym, and the senior lawn. But I'm in favor of the senior lawn remaining that; and the field and the gym don't and shouldn't be the domain of any single House. It just might be kind of a challenge to foster the whole "House" mentality without having some kind of physical location attached to it...any ideas?