Quote:
Originally Posted by Kleiman
My difficulties in raising more funding stem largely from an issue I have avoided bring up here due to the Pandora's box of backlash I expect it will open, but here goes... Like many of my fellow Canadians, a core value I hold as an educator is that I don't believe that private sponsorship belongs in public schools.
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I don't know if you're going to get
backlash, but you have to realize that your opinion is so different from that of thousands of teams - many of them very local to you - that it's going to be met with confusion more than anything else.
I'm pretty sure the reason why people were assuming you just didn't want to fundraise, work harder, etc. was because they never would have guessed
that.
I mean, fine. You're taking a philosophical stand on a personal belief, I get it. I doubt I'll be able to convince you otherwise. But I'm a Canadian educator too who's been doing this for a few years, and I have to say, I've never run across that particular viewpoint as it pertains to FRC. Being an extracurricular activity, I'm willing to accept outside funds to allow a better experience for my students. If suddenly I found myself teaching
"Chemistry - brought to you by Pfizer" then I might feel a bit differently, but as far as most of us are concerned, sponsorships for FRC are just part of the game. The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages (if there are any disadvantages at all).
People have been trying to give you advice, but given the constraints you've created, you've only left yourself with a single option - convince the TDSB to increase their contribution. I wish you luck in your lobbying efforts as I'm sure they'll be beneficial to all TDSB teams, but it would be a shame to lose your team over a problem that does have another solution.