What to do, what to do...
 

Our team kept hoping and praying every year that this wouldn't happen. I just found out today that the Bedford City School District will be cutting ~30 teachers from the entire district next school year due to a decline of funding. Sadly, most of them are the vocational teachers, including our team's mentor and the team itself, whom we feel shouldn't go.

I'm torn right now, because on one hand, we weren't that involved outside of FIRST, nor were we very successful within FIRST. We did had fun, and built a robot, most of us (read: me) learned how to use power tools and bandsaws. But at the same time, I saw a lot of the restrictions put on the team by the school, and feel that maybe this could be a good thing.

I certainly have the time to invest in a new startup. I'm just unsure about how well it would be received after Bedford losing theirs. Possibly include homeschoolers and nearby districts. I mentioned before how I was starting a team sometime last year, though it failed because they decided to carry over the team another year. Even if there had been a team next year, we would've lost our major sponsor.

This team became my introduction into this wacky world called FIRST, where it instantly became cool to be a robot geek, and it certainly did the same to the reset of the students involved. This area barely have teams as it is. I want to involve as many students as possibly in this program, but not sure if I should, or how I should.

Anyway, I had to type this out somewhere, since I can't hold a blog for long. Thanks for reading. :)

Re: What to do, what to do...
 

That happened to my team this year and what I did to keep things going was start sending emails to all the teachers asking if they are willing to mentor the team. Our team implemented a rotation for our build season as well we had teachers who couldnt commit to robotics take one or two days out of build to reduce the stress on our main mentor which worked very well.

Re: What to do, what to do...
 

If you're worried that adjoining school districts might not spring for a full-size FRC team, why not start one or more FTC or Vex Challenge teams? Most of the fun, for 1/6th the cost.

Re: What to do, what to do...
 

Sounds like the team was successful to me. This isn't about winning awards or gaining recognition/notoriety. This is about building relationships and futures and allowing high schoolers the chance to excel at things they normally wouldn't even consider.
There are many teams in the FIRST landscape composed of several schools, home-schooled students, or housed in a sponsor's warehouse. There are many possibilities and opportunities out there - the only limitations are largely your own. As has been stated, VRC or FTC is always an option, if only to set a (relatively) cheap hook on a new team.

Re: What to do, what to do...
 

Yes you should. There is really no downside to doing it.(assuming you have the time) Just choose which direction to go in and stick to it. Whether it is through FTC, Vex, or FRC I'm sure it will be beneficial to most if not all the students you can involve.

Re: What to do, what to do...
 

I would strongly recommend reaching out to the homeschooling community. As a former homeschooler, I got involved with FIRST as one and know many homeschoolers who would join a team if they could (which is why my team became a community team; read: we have public, private & homeschoolers on the team)

let me know if you need any help...

Re: What to do, what to do...
 

Thanks for the support. I think I'll go ahead and start making some calls tomorrow, and talk with some of the team members. Also, I like the FTC/Vex idea.

Re: What to do, what to do...
 

David, I left an FRC team three years ago to start a mid-sized robot program for kids who attend schools without their own team. We started with five students and one FTC robot, and this year we have 40 students with five VRC and three FTC teams. If you need any suggestions, advice, or other (non-financial) assistance, I'd be glad to help.