[R2K2D2]

This is a very common problem with FIRST teams, I know our team has faced the same issue in previous years. What we have done is created a student handbook, and in this handbook are all the requirements that students must meet as participants on this team. This directly correlates to attendance at competitions. As Chris said earlier, competitions are a reward for the hard work and effort. The first major requirement is a grade requirement. The student has to be getting a minimum of a certain set GPA with certain set grades for classes taken that semester. A special progress report is taken by each student to their teachers and filled out and turned in. Then, the next requirement is attendance. The Technical Applications Team has created an on-line attendance program that monitors when students were working, for how long, and what they did. This gives the team direct evidence when having to make an attendance decision. If a student forgets to sign in, their loss, it is their responsibility to remember and follow through with it.

If I were you present your evidence to this student and their parents, and make a decision from there. I don't feel that I can tell a student no unless I have a proven/documented reason why they shouldn't. This is why the attendance monitoring system is important.