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Re: Going to a FIRST event is apparently not a field trip
A couple of thoughts. First, do not deluge the school or school board with emails about why they should approve the absences unless every other recourse has been exhausted and you actually aren't walking at graduation. Even if the tactic succeeds they will resent it and it could easily cause problems for the team in future years.
As for the why in this case, I think Jimmy hit the nail on the head. A career center based team is part of the school, and they can approve it. A 4H team is probably not and the students being absent from school counts against the school and school district in terms of their evaluation by the state and federal governments. The error was likely on the part of central administrator who approved it in the first place. What probably should have been done is to have the parents for the 4H team write notes excusing their children to go to the competition ahead of time. Most schools have a process for kids going on vacation and getting pre-approved. That process generally is created with non-school sponsored "legitimate" activities from the list jcbc posted in mind. But remember that very often the schools are not making up the silly rules, only enforcing them.
My first suggestion would be to take the approval you initially got to your central office (I am assuming you have already tried this with your principal) and ask "How can we work this out?" Trust me no central office wants to see some of its best students not walk at graduation. And they really don't want the bad press that can go with it. So ask what can be done and see if a workable solution can be found. It might be as simple as having all of the involved parents write a note. Or even as simple as someone at the central office approving the absence and appealing the unexcused status to the state.
As a side note, I used to do tons of business travel for my work. Rules with easily foreseeable and really stupid unintended consequences are in no way limited to schools.
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Thank you Bad Robots for giving me the chance to coach this team.
Rookie All-Star Award: 2003 Buckeye
Engineering Inspiration Award: 2004 Pittsburgh, 2014 Crossroads
Chairman's Award: 2005 Pittsburgh, 2009 Buckeye, 2012 Queen City
Team Spirit Award: 2007 Buckeye, 2015 Queen City
Woodie Flowers Award: 2009 Buckeye
Dean's List Finalists: Phil Aufdencamp (2010), Lindsey Fox (2011), Kyle Torrico (2011), Alix Bernier (2013), Deepthi Thumuluri (2015)
Gracious Professionalism Award: 2013 Buckeye
Innovation in Controls Award: 2015 Pittsburgh
Event Finalists: 2012 CORI, 2016 Buckeye
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