[Bharat Nain]

Dealing with school districts is an important part for every FIRST team and also a very tricky one. This team is having trouble getting by with their district. What suggestions and wisdom can you offer them in dealing with district problems?

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In some ways, this is a mini rant. Our school board refused to let us petition for more sponsors, or to go out and find sponsors themselves, until the middle of a regional competition when our mentor got the call. Their reason being that the district didn't want to be known for "begging" for money. Yet this past season our funds consisted of $6,000 from our sponsors. Another sponsor dropped us and the school "lost" thousands of dollars over the summer of 2007 without a clue. Funds are requested in advance by the mentor and then we are handed the money as a cash advance. Basically, we have no organized account of any sort.

Our hours were based off of the security and janitorial staff which was fine and dandy had they actually let us stay in there when they told us we could, and not kick us out early, like when the girls basketball team decided they didn't want to practice that same day. It being the last build day didn't help all that much. That alone was a kick in the teeth, personally.

The teacher said himself that he's worried we won't have a team in the next few years because of the lack of dedication in the school. We've got a solid core group of approximately 6-10 people including mentors. Parental involvement is virtually nonexistent, with a few who do things here and there to help out.

Now I try to start a new team to reach more area students and try to get some fundraisers, community outreach, and general summer robotics events going. Some of the students are excited to join, others still want to stick with the school's team, which is fine by me. But I don't want them, the mentor of the current team, or the board to consider this a "rebel" team. I just want to be a part of a team that wants more than just winning a regional, more than the "standard" six-week build season of FRC, more than just a robotics team. FIRST inspired me, not that team. It's not because we didn't have the money, not because we only had a very small group of dedicated members.

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FIRST-a-holic Anonymous mailbox is a place to share your concern and frustration about your FIRST experience anonymously. It is the perfect place if you just want someone to listen, or ask for advice when you don’t know what to do. Submit your letters today at the FIRST-a-holic anonymous mailbox forum. If you wish to respond to this thread anonymously, please PM Beth or Bharat with your response and thread title.

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