Academic Deadlines Are Near
By Dr. David Stevens, Academic Director | Thursday, January 24, 2013 2:37 PM
Ready or not, deadlines for academic district meets are upon us. We are available to answer any questions you might have about the online system, but urge you to read the excellent help instructions before you call.
Setting Up the Academic District Meet
If you are in charge of setting up your academic district meet and have not done so by the Feb. 1 deadline, you will be hearing not only from our office, but also from the coordinators in your district trying to enter their contestants. Many academic district directors or meet hosts have already entered meet information, but some have failed to click the correct ‘Status of the Meet’ link from the pull-down menu on the meet setup page. ‘This meet is closed to schools and public’ is the default setting, which you would use before you are ready for schools to use the entry process. However, meet directors must change the status by Feb. 1 at the latest to ‘schools may enter contestants in the meet’ to allow academic coordinators to enter students in events. Some meets that have been setup online do not yet have scheduled times of events, so meet directors will want to check this, too.
When your entry deadline has passed, change the status to ‘meet schedule is posted and available for review.’ Additional entries would be considered late entries. Any substitutions after that date would need to be sent to the district academic director, but the public can still view the schedule.
Entering Contestants
Academic coordinators entering their school’s contestants need a UT EID, but do not need to be authorized by our office. Be careful to type students’ names correctly. Use upper and lower case. Proof for correct spelling. The name you list in the online system will be what is used in programs, called at roll call and eventually printed in the state meet program. Unless a student actually prefers initials to a name, don’t use them. It’s a good idea to enter substitutes in each event. They will appear on the contest roster as eligible to compete if a replacement is needed.
Social Media
For those of you wanting to be in the loop though social connectedness, one of our distinguished colleagues has set up a UIL Academic Coordinators Facebook group. There is a lot of chatter about locating judges, invitational meets and regular questions about what you do to recruit students and prepare for contests. We need more members to join so we can make the page even more beneficial. If you have trouble locating it, contact me.
Check the UIL academic web page regularly. This is the fastest and easiest way to get important updates from our office. We also plan to use our academic coordinator email list this year, but it is always difficult to make sure we have everybody on the list. The website continues to be your best resource.
As the spring begins to get busy, do not hesitate to contact any of the academic staff or me with any questions or concerns you may have.