[Alivia]

Diversity is a key factor in the advancement of any society, and the FIRST community is no exception. Many great ideas have formed when a group of people with different interests and backgrounds have come together to work on a project.

In my own opinion, the best--and most fair-- way in deciding who should be allowed on the limited-number team should be as follows: (and some of these have already been suggested by others in this thread)
1. Make an application that all members have to fill out, listing their goals for the team, skills, and what they hope to gain from the team, etc. Have a list of criteria that each member must have. (i.e. no failing grades, no continuous disciplinary problems, etc.)
2. Post flyers, make announcements, and hold meetings in all the schools that are able to participate in the FIRST program in your district to spread the word as much as possible about the team.
3. At these meetings, discuss FIRST, its objective, and what your team hopes to get out of being a part of FIRST.
4. Make known to all that it is a first come-first serve kind of deal; Those who put in the application and come to a specified number of meetings will be given higher priorty than those who do not


I understand that this first come-first serve thing will definitely have drawbacks (for example, what happens if a three year member comes back for a fourth year and all the spaces are taken up already?) Your team should stress the fact that the students need to act in a timely-manner in order to get an assured spot on the team.

I also think you should make a proposal to your school board--getting them to change the number of students allowed on the team is unlikely, but you could ask them to change the rule about replacing those who have dropped out. Otherwise, other kids are missing out on a great experience.

These are just my ideas; they might work, they might not. But I wish your team all the best with finding a good solution that will benefit the students' best interests.