Ontario Teams in Jeopardy for 2012/2013?

[akoscielski3]

Originally Posted by Tom Line

As much as I want to agree, I think we are better off setting this discussion in a non political direction. Is there a reason you can't run the teams without the schools? They shouldn't be able to hold your funding hostage.

This is actually one of the biggest issues. All of our funding would be held by the School, we would pretty much have to start from $0.

[MARS_James]

My question to Ontario teams: Currently 31 of last years 78 teams in Ontario have registered for a regional (as well as 4 rookies). How did you convince your team contact to register and what are you going to do come payment time?

[akoscielski3]

Originally Posted by MARS_James

My question to Ontario teams: Currently 31 of last years 78 teams in Ontario have registered for a regional (as well as 4 rookies). How did you convince your team contact to register and what are you going to do come payment time?

The problems have not affected most Catholic schools or Private schools, so teams like 771, an 610, which are private, won't have an issue. The problem ly's in the public school board. Our public board will not let our local FLL teams register until this is all over, and to my knowlegde registration for FLL ended on the 30th, so because of this all our effort to start FLL teams (an we had about 5 schools interested in starting teams) has gine to waste.

For FRC, my teacher mentor contacted Mark beadner (sorry if miss-spelled), canadas regional director, and he told us to register now as if nothing is wrong, if something does happen then they will help take care of it.

Now since FLL isnt starting in our area, im hoping that the 4 new rookie FRC Teams that weare starting won't be affected by all of this.

[Bochek]

Originally Posted by MARS_James

My question to Ontario teams: Currently 31 of last years 78 teams in Ontario have registered for a regional (as well as 4 rookies). How did you convince your team contact to register and what are you going to do come payment time?

We have been proceeding as normal, we will deal with problems when (and if) they happen.

[Gregor]

Originally Posted by MARS_James

Currently 31 of last years 78 teams in Ontario have registered for a regional (as well as 4 rookies).

I think that number speaks for itself.

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by MARS_James

My question to Ontario teams: Currently 31 of last years 78 teams in Ontario have registered for a regional

Originally Posted by Gregor

I think that number speaks for itself.

Don't be so sure. I'm not Mark McLeod, but consider these registration numbers.

As of October 5th of the specific year, number of teams registered for:
GTR East 2011 - 3
GTR East 2012 - 4
GTR East 2013 - 9

GTR West 2011 - 3
GTR West 2012 - 13
GTR West 2013 - 4

Waterloo 2011 - 8
Waterloo 2012 - 7
Waterloo 2013 - 20+ (Event is full, an unknown number of teams are on the waitlist)

Total Ontario Events 2011 - 14
Total Ontario Events 2012 - 24
Total Ontario Events 2013 - 33+

Now there are other factors to consider, such as Ontario teams competing outside Ontario, and non-Ontario teams competing in Ontario, that being said, registration in Ontario is basically on the same pace or a slightly better pace than in past years. Typically, Ontario teams have been slow to register compared to their American peers. Having only 37 of 78 (up since the original post) Ontario teams registered at this point is not actually that alarming.

The numbers seen in other robotics programs are similar. FLL in Ontario actually has more teams than they did last year, while VRC in Ontario is up from 82 to 116 teams from October 5, 2011 to October 5, 2012.

Now, these numbers could tumble dramatically as the season progresses, depending on how this labour situation plays out. But for right now, there's no reason to panic. Things are progressing relatively normally in Ontario.

[dtengineering]

Originally Posted by Karthik

... while VRC in Ontario is up from 82 to 116 teams from October 5, 2011 to October 5, 2012.

Now, these numbers could tumble dramatically as the season progresses, depending on how this labour situation plays out. But for right now, there's no reason to panic. Things are progressing relatively normally in Ontario.

And here I was getting excited because we were pushing 80+ VRC teams in BC this year. We'll have to kick it up a notch!

More to the point of this thread, however, is that we've been through a number of labour disruptions here in BC over the decade or so that I've been involved in competitive robotics. Our procedure has always been to carry on and hope for the best. So far, fortunately, things have worked out. In the long run (and hopefully the short run) things will work out okay in Ontario, too. If anything, this reinforces the benefits of having a strong school-community bond and an adult leadership that revolves around both teachers and volunteers. It's tough to build, but crucial for overcoming hurdles such as this.

Jason

[akoscielski3]

Am I the only one that didn't know BC has FRC teams?

[Gregor]

Originally Posted by akoscielski3

Am I the only one that didn't know BC has FRC teams?

They don't (anymore).

[MARS_James]

Originally Posted by Gregor

They don't (anymore).

Search British Columbia get this : Rookie From British Columbia

[Gregor]

Originally Posted by MARS_James

Search British Columbia get this : Rookie From British Columbia

Well would you look at that! A rookie team in BC and Saskatchewan.

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

Here's a headcount:

Total teams / Rookies / Missing / Place
1 ---- 1 --- ---- Canada-SK
1 ---- 1 --- ---- Canada-BC

[dtengineering]

Wow! That is very cool. I'll have to get in touch with them.

That makes them the fourth FRC team from B.C., and the only one currently in action. At our peak we had three FRC teams.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that 2013/2014 brings at least one more rookie team from BC.

Jason

[akoscielski3]

Originally Posted by dtengineering

Wow! That is very cool. I'll have to get in touch with them.

That makes them the fourth FRC team from B.C., and the only one currently in action. At our peak we had three FRC teams.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that 2013/2014 brings at least one more rookie team from BC.

Jason

What was the reason your team folded in BC?

Is there anyway we could help to start more teams out West??
PM me if you'd like a bit of help starting teams

[dtengineering]

Originally Posted by akoscielski3

What was the reason your team folded in BC?

Is there anyway we could help to start more teams out West??
PM me if you'd like a bit of help starting teams

Different teams in BC have folded for different reasons, but most seem to be linked to the difficulty in establishing community based mentorship relationships, thus leaving the bulk of the responsibility for organizing the team on one teacher, or a small team of teachers, at the school.

When the lead teacher moves on to a new job, or has to take time away from the team for other issues, someone needs to be able to step into the gap... or the team folds.

In my case, when I took a new job in post-secondary education there was no one at David Thompson Secondary willing to step in to be the lead teacher for the team... so although we had healthy sponsorship arrangements (thank you General Motors Canada, in particular) in place, and plenty of students wanting to be involved, there was no one willing to say "I'm in charge!" and take the team forward.

I should also add that there is no provincial government funding or support for competitive robotics in BC... yet. Looking at provinces and states that have seen significant FRC growth over the past few years, the direct funding and indirect support of government can play a major role in establishing the groundwork for building FRC teams.

Perhaps somewhat related more to this thread I should add that I wasn't surprised to see that teachers were reluctant to volunteer for a task of FRC's magnitude. During my 13 years of teaching high school the BC government went through several rounds of "belt tightening" in the education system. Ultimately this downloads the cost of providing a decent curricular education on to teachers who now have more students in each class and fewer resources to teach them with. It is very clear to teachers (and, hopefully, students) that curricular activities must come before the extra-curricular activities. As the curricular demands on teachers were increased the time and energy available for extra-curricular activities decreased. In addition to this very practical constraint, I should add that many of the government's actions had a very negative impact on teacher morale. This affected extra-curricular activities from drama to athletics and, yes... robotics. It would be fair to say that even without an intentional "ban" on extracurricular activities government decisions had slowly and quietly been cutting away at teachers' ability and enthusiasm to support activities outside the classroom.

That is perhaps one of the reasons we are having good success with VRC here in BC. VEX can be integrated into the school curriculum much more easily than FRC due to the extended build/competition season. This year members of both the VRC World Championship Alliance, and the VRC World Finalist Alliance were from BC. (Yes, Gladstone Secondary had a 1-2 finish.)With luck, as our VRC team numbers continue to grow, we will build up a culture of competitive robotics in BC, and begin to form the corporate and governmental ties that have created the conditions for FRC to succeed in other provinces and states.

Jason

[Gregor]

http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/...kids-out-of-it

The Ontario Secondary Teacher's Federation has announced that all extracurricular activities are to be boycotted, effective no later than Monday December 10. Teachers can be fined by their union for going against this.