Texas teams, need some help

[bcharbonneau]

Brian, we have had only 3 home school kids over the past 8 years. I didn't even think to ask if it was OK. Oops.

[Brian Selle]

Originally Posted by bcharbonneau

Brian, we have had only 3 home school kids over the past 8 years. I didn't even think to ask if it was OK. Oops.

Was that during the don't ask, don't tell era or the ask for forgiveness later period? Knowing you Bruce, I'm sure it was the here's a kid who's interested in STEM/robotics, yes we have a place for you on our team ideal.

Honestly, I didn't give it a second thought until one day we were discussing liability if someone got hurt. Thought it was best to check it out.

[Michael Blake]

The home school and private school students we have on 3481 Bronc Botz are only on our FRC team.

We have 3 FTC teams with only Northside ISD students so far.

Our HS/PS students ALL have formed their own FTC teams which we consider our sister teams... they've formed total of 3 teams.

EVERY HS/PS student that we've allowed to join the team are students who have sought out and approached us because they have a passion and extreme interest in competition robotics and they don't have the means/resources to form and maintain an FRC-class team.

I believe it to be _cruel_ treatment to turn away _any_ student who is passionate about competition robotics.

--Michael Blake

P.S. To deal with possible legal issues, non-Northside ISD students stay with their parents when we travel, and pay the full-cost of their portion of transportation (they are not subsidized by district $$), and their parents fill-out and sign release forms.

[Mr.Frishman]

Mr. B.-
3999 was founded for the sole purpose of allowing ALL student s to participate. The local district has only one school that is doing FRC and they do not allow outsiders. Shadetree has kids from 2 different districts and Home School kids as well. There are actually some students that attend the HS that does FRC but choose to participate with us. The open policy has worked for us so far.

[itsjustmrb]

Would you consider yourself a public school based team? Do you receive any school district funding?

Originally Posted by Mr.Frishman

Mr. B.-
3999 was founded for the sole purpose of allowing ALL student s to participate. The local district has only one school that is doing FRC and they do not allow outsiders. Shadetree has kids from 2 different districts and Home School kids as well. There are actually some students that attend the HS that does FRC but choose to participate with us. The open policy has worked for us so far.

[lynca]

The DiscoBots expanded our program to homeschool students in 2010.
We also have multiple high schools from Houston ISD feeding into our program.

Many of the financial decisions are easy because we are primarily supported by a non-profit organization created by the team.
We decided early on that relying on the school for finances was not a viable option for sustainability.

The only funding we get from the school is travel and hotels. Homeschool students are not financially tied to any of the public school funded travel. Homeschool students are responsible for paying their way or will have our non-profit organization assist.

[DELurker]

Originally Posted by btslaser

Was that during the don't ask, don't tell era or the ask for forgiveness later period? Knowing you Bruce, I'm sure it was the here's a kid who's interested in STEM/robotics, yes we have a place for you on our team ideal.

Honestly, I didn't give it a second thought until one day we were discussing liability if someone got hurt. Thought it was best to check it out.

Although 1370 is slightly outside the reach of the Texas school boards, we had a similar discussion. The result was that we invested in a $2 million liability policy to cover the team and all members while in the shop and on trips. With the insurance now separate from the school district, we could probably push for any student being on the team. Currently, we limit it to 100% from the confines of the school district and 90% from the public schools themselves.

[Brian Selle]

Originally Posted by DELurker

Although 1370 is slightly outside the reach of the Texas school boards, we had a similar discussion. The result was that we invested in a $2 million liability policy to cover the team and all members while in the shop and on trips. With the insurance now separate from the school district, we could probably push for any student being on the team. Currently, we limit it to 100% from the confines of the school district and 90% from the public schools themselves.

There are some great ideas and information on this thread. It's pretty cool to see how passionate people are about FRC and to what extents they will go to give this opportunity to ALL kids. It's clear that if a team gets creative and pushes the right buttons, they have a good chance of overcoming the school board barriers to entry.

In our case, by the time I had heard the school board did not allow kids "outside" the district to participate, the interested private school student decided not to participate. Not sure what I would have done if he still wanted to be apart of the team... you all have inspired me.

[Mr.Frishman]

Mr. B-
3999 is completely independent. We do not get any funding from the local school districts. This has some benefit as we do not have to follow district rules and policies. We are able to take any student that wants to participate. The downside is that our students do not get the same treatment as district students. This becomes a problem when attendance at regionals is not excused.

[itsjustmrb]

Thanks for the information. You might want to look at how 4-H does things. I have many students that miss school for various functions and they are excused absences.

Mr. B.

Originally Posted by Mr.Frishman

Mr. B-
3999 is completely independent. We do not get any funding from the local school districts. This has some benefit as we do not have to follow district rules and policies. We are able to take any student that wants to participate. The downside is that our students do not get the same treatment as district students. This becomes a problem when attendance at regionals is not excused.

[tim-tim]

Mr. B,
While my team is not in Texas, we were faced with the exact same situation. We have a core group of students from private and home schools that have been on the team for quite a while. Originally we asked if this was ok, probably 5+ years ago, and we received the ok. Then last year we had to ask the school system a completely unrelated question and they "investigated" or looked into the team and gave us a list of things that needed to be addressed; one of which is the private and home school students.

Our initial reaction was the school system was trying to "take credit" for the program. We were very defensive and aggressive at first, and got nowhere. We settled for the time to look into alternatives. The school system has a relationship with the Boy Scouts of America as an explorer post for other activities, so that quickly filtered to the top. We also did some research on 4-H and a few other local options. We were planning a proposal, but another meeting was held before we could finish the proposal; probably a good thing looking back.

The school system had switched tones and began to work with us on the issue. They noticed and explained they understand what the mission and purpose of the team. They also realized the impact and support the program gives and receives from the community and didn't want to see that diminish in any way. They came out and told us it came down to liability on the non-school system students. That is the root of the problem we had to solve. To do this we agreed to allow the lawyer to write a waiver of liability that each private or home school student must complete. We brought the parents of the students in to allow the lawyer to explain everything and the parents agreed this was a very viable solution.

I encourage you to work with the school system. In our case, we were able to find a "simple" solution that had very little impact on how we normally operated.

Over the weekend I heard that another team picked up liability through their county Parks and Recreation office. Their team was viewed just as any other sport team (soccer, field hockey, etc).

I hope this helps. Please let me know if you need any assistance or further details.
-Tim