Athletic Coach stipends for Teachers

[Wendy Holladay]

Based on 10 years of documented success by FRC Team 1912 Combustion (Slidell, LA) students, and motivated by growth in other FIRST robotics programs in the parish, 1912 mentors met last spring with St. Tammany Parish Public School System administrators to propose that high school robotics coaches/teachers receive stipends similar to those for coaches in sports, dance, and cheer.

1912 assembled information for the administration about FIRST, FIRST Robotics Competition, the benefits of FIRST participation for students, and the responsibilities of teacher sponsors, and organized a follow-up meeting with teachers representing 1912 and 3946. 1912 is happy to share this 10 page write up.

At the School Board meeting last night, the board voted to adopt a 2015-2016 budget that includes an increase of $24k for robotics coach stipends. High school robotics coaches will now receive a stipend of approximately $3k per school, comparable to athletic coach stipends. They so deserve it.

[Steven Smith]

Very cool!

I just found out a couple weeks ago that in Dallas ISD, they will also be implementing a stipend for our teachers of any robotics program. It is $4k per teacher and up to $8K per school (which can be split among multiple teachers).

One other big thing for us is that the "coaches" of other sports get the security code and access to the school at odd hours, and now the robotics coaches will get the same treatment.

Good to see it is catching on elsewhere

[John Retkowski]

Originally Posted by Steven Smith

Very cool!

One other big thing for us is that the "coaches" of other sports get the security code and access to the school at odd hours, and now the robotics coaches will get the same treatment.

Let's hear it for 2 am build sessions!

[GeeTwo]

Excellent news! Thank you, Wendy, for leading this charge. While it's really good news for the current coaches, it will really help the teams in sustainability. We have never been able to get a second teacher to buy in to helping more than occasionally, so that when the current coach does leave, it becomes a real challenge to keep the support of the school. I have forwarded your post to Jesse (head coach) and our mentors.

We have been doing things at Slidell to improve support from our local admnistration, as well. We now have a dedicated build space! It's a 20' x 30' portable, smaller than the room we were building in before, but now we get to leave the project on the workbench from one session to the other. Building in a classroom meant that every tool and part had to be stowed and retrieved each build session. This should add about at least a dozen hours to our build time even if we are there the same amount of time over build season.

[astro70]

Wendy, great work! That document could be useful for us here in Columbus, GA - our county admin are looking at making robotics part of their "strategic plan" to include paying for robotics coaches. Could you send me a copy or is it online? I'm at astro AT mit DOT edu.

[Wendy Holladay]

Luther, sent you a private message.

Gus great news for 3946, are you at Redstick today?

BTW, i miss typed, our writeup is 21 pages. again, happy to send it out.

[marshall]

This is awesome. Can you share the write up? I'd love a copy.

[Wendy Holladay]

message me your contact info

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by Wendy Holladay

Gus great news for 3946, are you at Redstick today?

No, we started our team tryouts this morning and did an FLL fast start this afternoon. A great bunch of kids at both events!

Tryouts: we'll definitely be able to set our admission standards even higher than last year. In addition to the mostly technical challenges we did last year, we have a few looking for attitude and aptitude at writing grants, doing research, creativity, and teamwork.

FLL fast start: this year's game looks a lot more challenging. There are fewer good floor guides, and many of the challenges require good alignment from bad angles. We had several teams who were well on their way to licking at least one of them in three hours.

My e-mail address is in a PM.

[Joe Reel]

Could you send me a copy of your write up for "Athletic Coach stipends for Teachers". We have been in FIRST since 1999 and our mentors get $400 per year. Send it to jreel@western.k12.in.us.

[Alpha Beta]

I remember several years ago our district was forced to make budget cuts, and reduction in stipend sizes as well as number of assistants was on the table. When I went in to meet with the administration they looked at what they were paying us versus the time commitment and said they just couldn't bring themselves to reduce it anymore. We were already disproportionately under appreciated fiscally.

As money began to flow back into our district, and athletic stipends returned to their normal levels, we knew it was time to pitch athletic stipend status to the school district. I work with a terrific administrator at Lee's Summit West High School, and he worked for years on our behalf to finalize a budget that leveled the playing field. This year we have 1 head coach and 2 assistant coach stipends at the same level as the soccer program. (Coaching stipends are tiered based on the number of assistant coaches. The number of assistants is set based on the number of kids in the program.)

There were several points that helped us in our quest.

1. The administration was already on our side. The team brings great prestige to our school, and community. We took a cooperative stance instead of an adversarial one. The coaches affirmed their dedication to the program even if the district proved unable to improve the stipends. At no time did we threaten to walk out.

2. We made a plea for the future. Our coaching staff will one day retire. With the old stipend it never made sense financially for a young teacher to choose to coach robotics if any other athletic stipend was available. Even if they had a passion for the program the money versus time commitment was out of balance, and spousal pressure often forced them towards another option. To highlight this we mentioned our team had 4 different head coaches in our first 4 years.

3. We have tremendous community support. The local newspaper loves to print articles about the team. Local businesses open up internships, contribute financially to the program, and show up at tournaments. There are very few programs that compete with football for bringing a community together. Robotics brings that kind of passion to a different skill set. (A broader population, but not necessarily a different one. You can be an athlete and an engineer.)

Team Titanium, FRC 1986

[Jimmy Nichols]

Originally Posted by Alpha Beta

I remember several years ago our district was forced to make budget cuts, and reduction in stipend sizes as well as number of assistants was on the table. When I went in to meet with the administration they looked at what they were paying us versus the time commitment and said they just couldn't bring themselves to reduce it anymore. We were already disproportionately under appreciated fiscally.

As money began to flow back into our district, and athletic stipends returned to their normal levels, we knew it was time to pitch athletic stipend status to the school district. I work with a terrific administrator at Lee's Summit West High School, and he worked for years on our behalf to finalize a budget that leveled the playing field. This year we have 1 head coach and 2 assistant coach stipends at the same level as the soccer program. (Coaching stipends are tiered based on the number of assistant coaches. The number of assistants is set based on the number of kids in the program.)

There were several points that helped us in our quest.

1. The administration was already on our side. The team brings great prestige to our school, and community. We took a cooperative stance instead of an adversarial one. The coaches affirmed their dedication to the program even if the district proved unable to improve the stipends. At no time did we threaten to walk out.

2. We made a plea for the future. Our coaching staff will one day retire. With the old stipend it never made sense financially for a young teacher to choose to coach robotics if any other athletic stipend was available. Even if they had a passion for the program the money versus time commitment was out of balance, and spousal pressure often forced them towards another option. To highlight this we mentioned our team had 4 different head coaches in our first 4 years.

3. We have tremendous community support. The local newspaper loves to print articles about the team. Local businesses open up internships, contribute financially to the program, and show up at tournaments. There are very few programs that compete with football for bringing a community together. Robotics brings that kind of passion to a different skill set. (A broader population, but not necessarily a different one. You can be an athlete and an engineer.)

Team Titanium, FRC 1986

I wish we had that kind of support in our area. With so many corporate HQ's in the area for big name companies (P&G, GE, Kroger, etc.) and we are not able to garner that kind of support.

Several years ago we proposed stipends and was told it would have to be posted openly and there was risk that someone with more seniority could get awarded the position that was not a teacher working with the team, so we decided against it.

Since then we lost our space at the school and have had very minimal support when it comes from the local High School's and District Administration.

The kids are determined to change this and this year we have another teacher on board, so we have high hopes for strengthening the relationship with the school district.

[1493kd]

I would also love a copy of this please, it will help as we work to get paid on coaches level on next contract.

Brentcady@gmail.com

[runneals]

Originally Posted by Alpha Beta

I remember several years ago our district was forced to make budget cuts, and reduction in stipend sizes as well as number of assistants was on the table. When I went in to meet with the administration they looked at what they were paying us versus the time commitment and said they just couldn't bring themselves to reduce it anymore. We were already disproportionately under appreciated fiscally.

As money began to flow back into our district, and athletic stipends returned to their normal levels, we knew it was time to pitch athletic stipend status to the school district. I work with a terrific administrator at Lee's Summit West High School, and he worked for years on our behalf to finalize a budget that leveled the playing field. This year we have 1 head coach and 2 assistant coach stipends at the same level as the soccer program. (Coaching stipends are tiered based on the number of assistant coaches. The number of assistants is set based on the number of kids in the program.)

There were several points that helped us in our quest.

1. The administration was already on our side. The team brings great prestige to our school, and community. We took a cooperative stance instead of an adversarial one. The coaches affirmed their dedication to the program even if the district proved unable to improve the stipends. At no time did we threaten to walk out.

2. We made a plea for the future. Our coaching staff will one day retire. With the old stipend it never made sense financially for a young teacher to choose to coach robotics if any other athletic stipend was available. Even if they had a passion for the program the money versus time commitment was out of balance, and spousal pressure often forced them towards another option. To highlight this we mentioned our team had 4 different head coaches in our first 4 years.

3. We have tremendous community support. The local newspaper loves to print articles about the team. Local businesses open up internships, contribute financially to the program, and show up at tournaments. There are very few programs that compete with football for bringing a community together. Robotics brings that kind of passion to a different skill set. (A broader population, but not necessarily a different one. You can be an athlete and an engineer.)

Team Titanium, FRC 1986

Did you guys mention that you are one of the best teams in Missouri/the midwest?

[Chief Hedgehog]

I am shocked when I hear that head coaches/mentors are not paid. The amount of time that I spend working with my FRC team overshadows the amount of time I spend coaching soccer or wrestling (when I did).

I think this is something that EVERY school-sponsored FRC has to address with their respective Activities/Athletics department.