Engineering and Robotics program in danger

[kstl99]

I ran across this article in the Nashua (NH) Telegraph online yesterday and it really concerns me. http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/...y-program.html It describes a school board meeting where they are discussing saving money by cutting the engineering program including the FIRST Robotics program and talks about the many people who showed up in support of the programs. It is not my team (although I am very familiar with them) or my town but it bothers me knowing that this was even being considered. These people must not understand the value of these programs.
What can be done to help them get it? I applaud the students and others who showed up to testify at the meeting. I posted a reply in the Telegraph’s comment section with some suggestions to help them understand if they want to.
Good luck to FRC team1073, The Force!

[ehochstein]

Well I suppose we could email the district our support for the team, I found email addresses for the school board;

fhubert67 at yahoo.com
JAT1942 at MYFAIRPOINT.NET
thenright at aol.com
scsimons at charter.net
twsolon at yahoo.com
james_oshea59 at yahoo.com

Phone # 603-465-7118

source:http://hollisbrookline.org/ (scroll down and hit coop school board on the left side)

[DonRotolo]

Kind and polite e-mails with high-quality reasoning would probably help. Remember to focus on what the school board needs to hear: How to solve their problem (not enough money) and what the educational benefits are. Angry or illogical/disorganized messages may hurt the cause. (Now you know why they teach English Writing in school!)

I'd also like anyone reading this to consider such a letter to their OWN school board, simply explaining what the benefits of technology education are for the community. Or, better still, go to a board meeting and take 4 minutes to educate the board.

At 1676, we are grateful for the support our BoE gives us. They know in great detail the benefits of the program, and they support it enthusiastically because of that. We are also thankful that we don't NEED much from them, since we have many wonderful sponsors, but express our gratitude to the board for their financial support anyway.

[IndySam]

Don is so correct.
Fostering a good relationship with your school board is critical. Invite the members to come see your team during build season and at a competition. Ask if they do program spotlight time at their meetings and request to do one with your team. Make sure they know the benefits of your program so when budget cuts come up you are not one of the places they look. Waiting until your program is in trouble is probably too late.

[gblake]

kstl99

I recommend supporters focus on the value of STEM education first and the on the merits of any specific STEM program/team (such as an FRC team) second (or third).

FRC is definitely valuable. FRC definitely is expensive.

But, the first of those two assertions doesn't (shouldn't) necessarily lead anyone to conclude that FRC is the only way to accomplish STEM education or inspiration.

The folks who are actually the government's feet on the ground should be easily convinced that "STEM = good"; but after that, they apparently will be in a situation in which they have to carefully weigh their options and figure out how to make every STEM $ go as far as possible.

Maximizing the publics' return on investment might mean that the government dollars get spent in new ways. So, for the students' benefit, when you are supporting preserving their STEM education opportunities, don't lock in on supporting any particular program unless you can buttress your support with hard facts about minimizing the $_cost per student_benefit, and about the total $ that program requires.

On the other hand, if the folks involved can come up with private sponsors, then how they spend those private $ is up to them and the sponsors.

Bottom line: There are two separate topics. 1) Preserving STEM education opportunities, and 2) choosing how to best deliver them. Don't mistake one for the other or let the tail attempt to wag the dog.
Blake

[JohnBoucher]

Blake ends with a very important point. Preserving STEM education is what is important. You need to be flexible in choosing what program you integrate.

As Don says,you have to quietly educate them to the long term benefits and goals of the program you choose. IMO there is nothing that compares to the skill set that is acquired in the six week FRC build season. What you need to sell is that skill set. Invite everyone to observe the six weeks. Invite them early in the season and late in the season so they can see the progress. The six weeks is what shapes the students. Too often the goals your community sees are the results of competition and not how you have made these students grow.

FRC may not be the best program to base a STEM program. It is very time and resource intensive. FRC is expensive and the district model is making it more expensive.

Be flexible and listen to the school boards concerns. Modify what you need from them and ask for another year to show what the program can do.

[staplemonx]

Here is some data that may be useful

http://www.atomicrobotics.com/2011/10/cost-kid/

[N7UJJ]

Originally Posted by staplemonx

Here is some data that may be useful

http://www.atomicrobotics.com/2011/10/cost-kid/

I just looked at your charts and data. A most excellent job. It is really very well done.

[Alex.q]

Fortunately, my team probably won't have to face this challenge since we don't get any money from the school district. Our administration has always been really supportive to us anyway. I do have to agree with Blake and the others who have said that FRC is expensive and may not be the most efficient way to teach and motivate STEM. I know there are other programs that I would love to participate in if I wasn't in FIRST. That said though, I still wouldn't want to have to leave/disband my team.

My suggestion to the team would be to be ready to establish yourself as independent from the school in case they stop supporting you. Start your own, separate bank account and start looking for more sponsors. We used our booster club to make a 501c3 and they set up a bank account that the school doesn't control. We still meet at school, but I would think that if the school didn't support your team financially, you could still meet there. If not, I know there are other teams that meet in other places.

[gblake]

Originally Posted by Alex.q

... That said though, I still wouldn't want to have to leave/disband my team. ...

Let's not talk about disbanding teams, and instead talk about about investng our money well, and consequently being able to expand our teams (the programs we participate in aren't our teams - the teams are the people, not the program).

Picking the right program(s) (like FRC or some of the others) that give(s) our people STEM inspiration and opportunities, and that fit our local contexts (shop space, sponsor $, mentor talents and time, etc.) is something wise adults are supposed to do (in collaboration with and) for the benefit of the students.

We can almost always do that without putting disbanding or shrinking the team, on the table; and that is a happy thought to hang onto.

Blake

[kstl99]

Thanks for all the replies. I hear what you are saying gblake and STEM education is the goal but I can only focus on FIRST because that is the program I know. I know how much the program means to my team, how much they learn and how many go on to college. The charts are great, scientific evidence. Thanks to Frank and jreuter for giving an insider perspective. I plan on writing a polite, well-reasoned e-mail to the board members, knowing that I am an outsider, and I will PM Frank and jreuter.

Part of what bothers me most - I understand the financial pressures put school systems but I do not understand the unwillingness of the public to pay for our students to have a great education.

[gblake]

Originally Posted by kstl99

... I hear what you are saying gblake and STEM education is the goal but I can only focus on FIRST because that is the program I know. ...

Sounds like it's time to learn about the rest

Seriously, there are a few pleasant surprises out there. In your copious spare time , nose around a bit.

Good luck in the rest of this school year! I hope to see you in Anaheim, St Louis, on the DC Mall, or ...

Blake

[xitaqua]

Hello All,

As many of you know, specially mentors, the economical situation is pretty tight everywhere.

I am encouraging teams to think on PLAN B for the current situations :
- Loss of Senior Mentor.
- Loss of Coach.
- Loss of facility.
- Loss of Major Sponsor ($3,000>).
- Loss of Sponsor (<$3,000).

Cheers,
Marcos.

[Jimmy Nichols]

Another perspective to think about:

Our team was asked to leave the school this year, due mostly in part to the economic times. The school board, nor the school administration financially supported the team. Our teacher was a Technology Education teacher. They were forced to cut his program, as it was an elective and not at state required course. He fortunately, did lose his job and was asked to teach some different courses, but he lost his big lab we used and our dedicated spaces were reallocated by the school administration to storage and a classroom.

In our situation, the school board has always been extremely supportive, but the school principal has not. He was not against our program, just not supportive. We wanted to approach the school board when all of this was occurring, but our teacher feared that the principal would not look favorably at this and so he asked us to hold off. So in May we moved all of our equipment out and when school started back we began probing the school for space to no avail. We finally ended up leasing a space at a local mall that was extremely excited to have us and gave us an extremely low rate for the size and amenities.

Without our intervention, the school board did hear about what happened to our team and it was brought up at a school board meeting. Yet it did not lead to any efforts to get our team back in the school.

But we like the new space, and it should open up a lot of new opportunities for exposing others to FIRST and our program.

[xitaqua]

Jimmy,

Thanks for sharing your story. I think your team story is a great example of how you guys were able to think out of the box and find another venue to be able to continue participating.....

Which mall are you guys in ?. Are you guys there year around ?.

I plan to go from St. Louis to Washington D.C on April 26, to attend the 2nd Engineering and Science Fair in Washington D.C. I would love to stop by and visit, and if you guys are interested demo a quad-copter robot a group of volunteers are building and plan to demo at the Fair, we hope to have it interacting with a FIRST ground robot by 2016.

Cheers,
Marcos.