I received the following information from Dr. Juanita Krittenbrink , Redlands Community College.  The decision to terminate the High School Tournament of Champions was made by the Oklahoma Association of Community Colleges, not Dr. Kirkinbrink personally.

The decision made by the Oklahoma Association of Community Colleges does not affect the OAAC's Mid Level TOC!!

The OAAC Middle School Tournament of Champions WILL be held on April 19 of this year and will continue in the future. g 

Oklahoma Association of Community Colleges will not be hosting or sanctioning the Academic Tournament of Champions this spring of 2008 and quite likely not again. We regret that this is not possible and I wish to share the reasoning behind this decision. Last year (2007 Tournament) it was voted by the Two Year Council of Presidents that OACC simply could not provide this tournament on our campuses for a number of reasons. A partial list of those reasons include:

1.      1.  Community college budgets do not allow for an expenditure of this undertaking.

2.       2. Community colleges, without canceling classes or hosting this event on a Saturday, do not have classroom space nor sufficient faculty to “pull off” this event.

3.       3. Damages have been incurred on campuses from events held in past years which involved even greater expenses to those particular host institutions.

4.       4. Security measures have had to be increased simply to provide a safe atmosphere for all participants.

5.       5. The quality of the tests is not up to par; tests (with complete sets of questions), need to be revamped, upgraded, etc.  Community college instructors simply do not have the time to teach their course loads and be responsible for extra duties as this would require.

6.       Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been awarded throughout past years, through OACC, for merit scholars, either in the name of OACC or other academic sources.

We do not wish for students to feel slighted that this event is not occurring; in fact, we wish it could. Our suggestion would be that perhaps this belongs under the sanctioning of the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Association.