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Unread 25-08-2010, 11:30
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Dale Dale is offline
Head Coach & Mentor
AKA: Dale Yocum
FRC #1540 (Flaming Chickens)
Team Role: Coach
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Rookie Year: 2005
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 504
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Re: Limits on Team Hours

While requiring a certain GPA in order to qualify for the team would be fine at most schools (we don't have letter grades as such) with only a six week build season a student can destroy their standing in a class before that reality is apparent to the team, parents or the administration. By the time the grades come out at the end of the semester it's too late to do anything about it.

In the past I've told teachers and parents to keep me in the loop if they notice a student is having problems. That works only sporadically, though.

The course workload at our school got so intense a few years ago that the administration instituted a school-wide effort to restrict the amount of homework a particular class can require per week, the amount of practice time a sports coach can require, etc. Until this coming year robotics has not been subject to these limits because the time you put in is voluntary once you exceed our 50hr per build season requirement. This new 200 hrs-in-the-lab circuit breaker is consistent with this idea of not letting one class or activity completely block out everything else in a student's life. Note this limit doesn't include time at home working on robotics, competitions, outreach events, etc.

I'm keeping an open mind about it.
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2016 PNW Championship Chairman's; 2016 Winner Oregon City District, 2015 PNW Championship Chairman's; 2015 PNW District Engineering Inspiration; 2015 PNW District Finalist; 2014 PNW Championship Chairman's; 2014 Championship Innovation in Controls; 2013 Chairman's (Oregon); 2013 Finalist (OKC); 2012 Winner (OKC); 2012 Chairman's (OKC); 2012 Woody Flowers (Oregon); 2011 Volunteer of the Year (Oregon); 2011 Finalist & Captain (San Diego); 2011 Innovation in Control (San Diego); 2010 & 2007 Chairman's (Oregon); 2010 Regional Champions (Colorado); 2010 Innovation in Control (Colorado); 2009 & 2008 Engineering Inspiration (Oregon); 2008 Regional Champions (Oregon); 2007 Regional Finalist (Oregon); 2005 Rookie Inspiration (PNW)
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