Does Affirmative Action fit under the values of FIRST

[Grim Tuesday]

Our team has been placed in an extremely awkward position by our school district. Over the last few years, we have grown exponentially--from ~20 members, to 35 in 2010, to 60 perspective members this year. Unfortunately, our school district has a policy that requires the student to teacher ratio to be 35:1 at all times, so if the team goes over that number, we require another teacher. Our team has some money, but not a huge amount, and the money for a teacher on duty must come directly from the district; through the normal payroll scheme.

It is clear that getting this funding for the extra teacher would be made easier if our team incorporated more of the diversity found at our school (right now, it's ~65% white and ~30% asian, and 70/30 male to female). Our school is obviously, 50/50 male female, and has a sizable latino/African American population (~15%)

Even with an increase in teachers, the space (physically) we have is limited, so about 10 people would have to be removed from the team. If we end up capped at 35, it would require the removal of, conservatively, 25 people.

In either of these eventualities, some people would have to be removed from the team. The question is, can gender, race, and sex be taken into the calculation. In other words, can the team take affirmative action to increase the diversity possibly at the expense of those who are deserving


I want to hear the opinions of some others before I give mine.