Quote:
Originally posted by FotoPlasma
we've been without a direct connection to the faculty and administration of the high school. but without a teacher, we have no one willing to give students authoritative information about the program. There's practically no teacher willing to even mention to students about events like the WRRF's annual California Robot Games, workshops, meetings, and even the Kickoff (which is coming up soon).
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There used to be a teacher with our team. He's been "gone" for a couple of years. The rep, district technology director, so involved with our team retired this past year. Then the Vice Principal and the Principal, so familiar and thrilled with our program, changed jobs and left the school.
Rumor was there was a teacher going to be starting the robotics' class year round. I saw him this past August and went to introduce myself. He didn't care to be introduced to me, didn't want anything to do with our team, and informed me he wouldn't be teaching robotics. He informed he would get all our equipment and expected us to be out of the facility so he'd have it to himself. I remained civil and privately waited to see what would happen.
The retired director still has influence. The new vice principal in charge of us wants to support all existing programs. We of course are keeping all our equipment, and to that teacher's "surprise" won't be losing any space. As a matter of fact the new VP gave us additional space upstairs so we can have a full practice field again this year, and more space for storage.
The new principal in charge of us is very familiar with the robotics program, and I suspect will be very supportive.
Robotics was virtually ignored by the school til over a year ago. With all the publicity teachers, educational advisors, and even the new vice principal are now aware of our program and recommending it to students "go join the team".
For some reason it used to be hard to get announcements into the bulletin. Now there's a new weekly email about all the school activities and that person is very supportive about spreading the news when I ask her to include something about what's going on with our team.
You never know when a door closes, and another one is going to be opened. Just keep eyes and ears open for opportunities, and keep spreading the word