[fox46]

Striking will not help in this situation. Your teacher has become frustrated that things are not being done his way- regardless of whether this is the right or wrong way. At this point it is clear that he blames the students for the problems you are experiencing and as such would LOVE to see you guys walk out to validate what he percieves to be the problem.

First of all, the shop is not *HIS*. He is merely an employee of the board- he does not own the equipment and resources in your school. Contacting your administration is the right way to go. What would *I* do next?

Work with your mentors and sponsors. Explain the situation if they are not already aware of it, then move everything - and I mean everything robotics related off-site to your mentor's garage. Have another teacher or the administration let you into the room and collect all your equipment. There is a magical key known as a cordless drill which can defeat nearly any lock! If it can't then it's friend- the bolt cutter, will. Your teacher will quickly get the message and he will then have to make the judgment call as to whether he's with you or against you. In any case, it doesn't matter- you will be free to work off-site as you please.

Keep in mind that (I am making an assumption here) he's not the one who paid the entry fee. You have sponsors who expect to see something for the money they have contributed. Explain to him that you have a duty to deliver a product and his actions have prevented you from doing so. Appologize for removing the equipment but explain that you felt it was necessary in order to continue with the project.

So your first step, contacing the admin is complete. Work with your mentors to see if you can find another place to work on it. Working off-site can be the best thing for a team- you can often work 24hrs a day, 7 days a week. One of my teams works exclusively out of a sponsor's shop which allows us to run work sessions any time of day, any day of the week. Last weekend we worked until 4am Sunday morning- try doing that at a school!