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Debate kit Grade 10 Careers & CTE

Kirtlebrook Water District: A Contract Operations Debate Kit

A grade 10 careers debate kit on whether a small water district should hire a contract operations firm or keep in-house staff, with two-sided evidence and a rubric.

Objectives

  1. Students will compare the cost of a contract operations agreement with the cost of in-house staffing.
  2. Students will argue a position on plant staffing using marginal costs and marginal benefits.
  3. Students will explain what a district keeps and what it gives up under a contract agreement.

Vocabulary

Key words: contract operations, in-house staff, marginal cost, institutional knowledge, permit holder

Teacher overview

This two-team structured debate runs across two class periods, with the first period used for reading the file and building cases. Teams argue for or against a fictional small district hiring an outside firm to staff and run its treatment plant. The question is genuinely contested, because the district's problem is real, its money is limited, and each option trades a different risk. One point should be settled before teams prepare, because the phrase "contract operations" is easily read as the town selling its water system to a company. Under a contract operations agreement the district still owns the plant, still holds the discharge and drinking water permits, and remains legally answerable to the state. What it buys is staffing and management rather than a transfer of ownership, and several points in the evidence file turn on that distinction.

Kirtlebrook Water District: A Contract Operations Debate Kit — Grade 10 Careers & CTE
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Resolution & Background

Resolution: "The Kirtlebrook Water District should hire a contract operations firm to staff and run its treatment plant instead of employing its own operators."

Background: Kirtlebrook is a fictional rural district serving 3,100 connections. It runs one small treatment plant, one storage tank, and about 26 miles of main. State rules require a licensed operator in charge, and the district has struggled to keep one.

Staffing a small system is hard everywhere. Roughly one-third of the water workforce becomes retirement-eligible within the next decade, and about 10,000 operator openings are projected each year, on average, from 2025 to 2035. Small districts compete for those workers against larger utilities that can pay more. The national median operator wage was $60,020 per year in May 2025.

A contract operations firm sells a service. It supplies licensed staff, covers vacations and sick days, answers after-hours alarms, and files the monthly reports. The district pays an annual fee and keeps the permit in its own name.

Roles. The affirmative team of three speakers argues as the district board's finance committee. The negative team of three speakers argues as the district's current operations staff and a local trades council representative. One student moderates and keeps time. The remaining students judge with the rubric and vote at the close.

Format. Each team gives a four-minute constructive speech, followed by two minutes of cross-examination. After a three-minute preparation break, each team gives a three-minute rebuttal. The moderator then runs a five-minute open floor before the vote.

Evidence File

Case for hiring the contract firm:

  1. In the fictional Kirtlebrook record created for this debate, the district has had four operators in six years. Twice the plant ran for months under a temporary operator borrowed from a neighboring town. (Illustrative figures created for this debate.)
  2. The fictional firm's proposal guarantees a licensed operator in charge at all times, plus coverage for vacation, illness, and after-hours callouts. The district currently has no licensed backup when its one operator is sick. (Illustrative proposal created for this debate.)
  3. The proposed annual fee of $412,000 is fixed for three years. The district's own plant payroll for its operator and three support staff, with benefits and overtime, ran $358,000 last year, but overtime alone varied by $40,000 between years. A fixed fee makes a small budget predictable. (Illustrative figures created for this debate.)
  4. The firm brings specialists the district cannot hire on its own, including an instrumentation technician, a compliance reporting group, and laboratory support. (Illustrative service description created for this debate.)
  5. Roughly one-third of the water workforce becomes retirement-eligible within the next decade, and small systems compete for the same shrinking pool. A firm that employs hundreds of operators can move staff where they are needed. (Source: EPA America's Water Sector Workforce Initiative and AWWA State of the Water Industry.)

Case for keeping in-house staff:

  1. The district keeps the permit and the legal responsibility either way. If a violation happens under the contractor, the state still cites the district, which then has less direct control over the people involved. (Illustrative point about the fictional agreement's terms.)
  2. The fee is fixed for three years and then renegotiated. In the fictional scenario the district would have no operators of its own left, which weakens its position at renewal. (Illustrative detail created for this debate.)
  3. The district's plant positions pay wages that circulate in Kirtlebrook. Median operator pay nationally was $60,020 per year in May 2025, and the top ten percent earned over $91,060, so these are careers rather than short-term jobs. (Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.)
  4. Long-tenured local staff carry knowledge that no manual holds, such as which valve sticks and which main breaks first in a cold snap. A rotating contract crew rebuilds that knowledge each time it changes. (Illustrative point created for this debate.)
  5. About 10,000 operator openings are projected each year, on average, from 2025 to 2035. A district that trains its own people gives local graduates a way into that field, and a trainee who stays becomes the next operator in charge. (Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook.)
  6. A fictional Kirtlebrook board member notes that contractor staff turn over too. The proposal guarantees a licensed operator, not a particular person, so the district may still see new faces every year. (Illustrative testimony created for this debate.)

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Rubric
Criterion Emerging Developing Proficient Advanced
Claim Position drifts or is never stated plainly States a position but does not tie it to the resolution States a precise position on the resolution and holds it through both speeches States a precise position, holds it, and refines its scope in response to the round
Marginal cost and benefit reasoning Names no cost or benefit Names a cost or a benefit but not both Pairs at least one specific cost with one specific benefit using file figures Pairs several costs and benefits, uses the file's figures accurately, and identifies which comparison decides the question
Evidence use Asserts points with no source named Names one source without explaining its relevance Names at least two pieces of evidence and explains how each supports the claim Names multiple pieces of evidence and separates documented facts from the file's illustrative material
Rebuttal quality Does not answer the opposing team Repeats its own case instead of answering Answers a specific opposing point with evidence Answers several opposing points and explains why its evidence outweighs theirs
Delivery and organization Difficult to follow, no structure Structure present but transitions unclear Clear claim, evidence, and conclusion within the time limit Clearly structured, within time, and directly responsive to the moderator and opponents

Differentiation

Support

Give each student a single-page card with the two strongest points for their side, the figures already pulled out, and the source line written. Provide a rebuttal frame such as "They argue ___, but that figure leaves out ___." Allow speakers to read from prepared notes throughout.

Extension

Assign a pair of students to propose and defend a middle option: the district hires the firm for two years while it trains a local apprentice to take over. They must show what that costs beyond either original plan and what the district gains, then face questions from both teams.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "contract," "in-house," "permit holder," "turnover," and "renewal" with short definitions and a two-column picture chart showing who employs the operator under each option. Allow the constructive speech to be delivered from a full written script, and give one prepared answer per cross-examination question.

Extensions

Have students find how their own community's water system is staffed, which is usually stated in the annual water quality report or on the utility's website, and report whether it uses district employees, a contract firm, or a shared arrangement with a neighboring system. Students can also write the one-page recommendation memo the district manager would send the board after hearing both cases, which forces a single decision rather than a defense of an assigned side.