[MissInformation]

Our team is supposed to have a grade policy in place, where if a student fails a class or classes, they have, I believe, one grading period to bring their grade up or they have to leave the team. We have never enforced it, and part of me is glad for the students who aren't doing well, but a wiser part of me knows we are hurting the team by not enforcing it...

The teacher who has been with our team the longest is going to retire soon... We do currently have two other teachers who play a more limited role on the team, so there's no panic yet, however should we need to go find additional teacher help, we're going to be in trouble because a lot of teachers in the school "hate" the robotics team because of the way grades drop during build season. Summary: bad grades can easily = NO TEACHER SUPPORT! Sometimes schools and school districts pass rules that could hurt robotics teams (such as the district that passed a rule against using power tools). If our team ever has to battle to stay in existence, I worry that a lack of teacher support could hurt our chances. I don't blame those other teachers for not liking the robotics team, especially if they are dealing with students who are just slackers (learning disabilities are a completely different story). Teachers deserve respect and students who don't even try are a slap in their faces.

Heidi