PROTOCOLS

Tab 09 / 11 · Operations

OPERATIONS

Absence, reading-compliance crisis, prep deadlines, the Forge Record: the machinery that keeps debates from canceling.

11 Tabs

START WHY MENTORS WEEKS CYCLE UNITS WORKSHOPS FINALE PROTOCOLS FADE DICT

PROTOCOLS · opener

Operations

THE FORGE · MENTOR GUIDE

Absence & Bench Protocol

The debate never cancels. Every role has a backup.

Two thresholds are named here once and referenced everywhere else: the attendance floor is fewer than 5 present: reschedule (seat collapse begins earlier, any time below the full roster; see the Seat Collapse page); the reading-compliance crisis is fewer than 4 current (next page). A healthy reading check wants 6 or more current.

01A debater is absent: the Bench debater (who prepped both sides) steps in. This is why bench prep is required of every student, every unit.

02The moderator is absent: Forge Coach moderates this week (a temporary reversion to Handoff), and the assigned moderator runs the next Forge.

03A researcher is absent: Text Coach distributes that researcher's packet if it arrived by deadline; if not, jurors share the evidence-map load.

04Notify early: absences must reach the Forge Coach before the Arms Room, not the morning of the Forge.

PROTOCOLS · 42

THE FORGE · MENTOR GUIDE

Operations

Reading-Compliance Crisis

FEWER THAN 4 STUDENTS HAVE READ

This is the one failure that can sink a Forge. Catch it at the Arms Room reading check, not the Forge.

01If fewer than 4 students are current: convert the Forge to a guided close-read of the unit's key passages, assign roles only to those who read, and push the formal debate concepts into the Tavern. Do not run a debate no one can source.

02If 4–5 students are current: run the Forge. Seat non-readers as Jury, they judge on the packets and the debate itself, not on prior reading, and add a 5-minute reader-led recap before openings so the room starts from shared footing.

03Signal, not penalty: the reading check is a temperature read. Late readers get jury or bench, they still have a job.

04Pattern: if compliance drops two units running, the books are too long or the pre-read strategy failed. Re-check pacing at the next workshop.

PROTOCOLS · 43

Operations

THE FORGE · MENTOR GUIDE

Prep-Deadline by Unit

Roles are assigned at the Arms Room, 7 days before the Forge. Deadlines below are stated to students relative to the Forge, but the real working time from "I learned my role" to "it's due" actually loosens across the year, not tightens.

Unit band	Deadline (stated)	Real prep time	What submits	To whom
U1–U2	5 days before the Forge	2 days	Evidence Map + researcher packet	Text Coach
U3	4 days before the Forge	3 days	Evidence Map + packet	Text Coach
U4–U8	48 hours before the Forge (hard)	5 days	Evidence Map + packet + bench openings	Text Coach

The 48-hour deadline is a hard line, not a tighter oneDon't narrate this as "the fire gets real", by real prep time it's the opposite. What changes at U4: December, is that the deadline stops bending: miss it and you jury or bench, no exceptions, no extension for holidays. Brand-new debaters get the least real prep time of the year at U1–U2; by U4 students have the most real prep time they've had all year to meet a line that no longer moves.

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THE FORGE · MENTOR GUIDE

Operations

The Forge Record: How to Keep It

01Update after every Forge. Two minutes per student. Role played, side argued, minds changed (if jury), one note.

02It is private. Not a grade, not shown to students. It is proof for the mentor and fuel for the 1:1 and the Final Gift.

032-mentor mitigation: keep it as a brief after-session note, never live transcription. Mentor B's fact-check observations feed it (see Section 2).

04Hard trigger — before stacking chairs. The Weaver staples the moderator's tally sheet and the collected reflections to the Forge run-sheet card, then writes the 2-min/student record on the stapled set. No staple, no leave. The stapled card *is* the Forge Record for that unit, reconstruction becomes mechanical. Miss two in November and the Anvil dies in April with no warning.

Record template

Student	Unit	Role	Aff/Neg	Minds changed	Note

Not a grade. Not shown to students. Proof for the mentor, not the room.

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