Team Corruption - Advice Urgently Needed

[XaulZan11]

Just be aware that whatever you decide to do right now, it likely won't get the attention it deserves with everyone focused on getting the robot done and getting ready for the competitions. Plus, the final few days of build season are stressful and, with that stress, people would react differently than they normally do.

[green-paint]

Thanks Shrub! That really means a lot and is appreciated

Originally Posted by XaulZan11

Just be aware that whatever you decide to do right now, it likely won't get the attention it deserves with everyone focused on getting the robot done and getting ready for the competitions. Plus, the final few days of build season are stressful and, with that stress, people would react differently than they normally do.

This is very true, and yet another reason why I (the writer) am beating myself up for waiting so long to take action! It really does feel like we're in a box.

[SousVide]

We make it very clear at the beginning of every season that parents who come to help and mentor are here to help the team and not just to help their own kids. They also have no input into the process of selecting student for leadership roles or any type of roles. They also must steer clear of any disciplining process involving their own kids.

We make it very clear on the team that we don't want this type of problem - let alone the perception of favoritism... Not only does it not do the team any justice - it destroys any type of leadership support the student leaders have when it is perceived that they are somehow favorites - or were not selected to lead completely due to merit.

[MrJohnston]

First, I would suggest that you sit down and categorize all your concerns:
1) Concerns that are clear violations of school rules or the law. (i.e. bullying, harassment)
2) Concerns that are clear favoritism.
3) Concerns that are simply poor management.
4) Concerns that you might be misreading - easy to do if you are already upset about other issues.

Disregard Category 4 completely. The last thing you want is to be seen as "overly-emotional" or "looking for trouble."

#3: These you can't do much about either - One of three things is true: There could be a simple lack of man-power among your mentors to do things well; There could be incompetence at the top; You, as a student, are misreading the situation.

#2: This is tough. Favoritism is very hard to prove and determining who is "best" for a job is often very subjective. The best way to avoid this is to have a decision-maker who is not emotionally attached to a decision as to which student should get which job. The minute parents are involved in decisions about their own child, difficulties arise: Even if the particular child is the best for the job, there are always going to be questions. Many folks believe that if a parent is very involved in a club, that their child should get the "nod" if everything else is equal. Making accusations of favoritism often comes across as "sour grapes." One way to approach this would be to have the "unchosen" student/s go to the "decision-maker" with a question like this: "I know that I didn't make the cut this year, but I want another shot next year. Where to I need to improve my game in order to have a better chance?" This can not only lead to a good, friendly conversation, but will quietly "force" the decision-maker to reflect on the situation. The key is to not be accusatory - rather show maturity, a little bit of disappointment and the desire to do better.

#1 If the person running the club is a teacher, this needs to be reported to the teacher. If not, it needs to go to the school administration. Such behaviors have no place in any school organization and must be stopped at a level above the FRC team. If an adult is the problem, that adult may need to be removed from the team.

Overall, you need to tread lightly, keep your integrity and maintain Gracious Professionalism at all times. Assume the best possible motives for each person involved.... If you do this, then, at the end of the season, once the stress of the build and competition season have ended, talk to the mentor/teacher who runs the team about your personal concerns - bring the other 30 concerned students, too.

I wish I could say that what you describe is uncommon in youth organizations, but it is not. Parents often want their kids to be "the star" and often don't see other students' needs. Money often means power... Etc. Keep your head up and your attitude positive. Good luck.

[Meredith Novak]

Instead of contacting FIRST HQ, reach out to your Sr. Mentor. If you do not have one, then your Regional Director.

http://www.usfirst.org/regional-contacts

[Lil' Lavery]

Write your concerns, stating specific examples, in a letter. Have a large portion of your team sign the letter. Send it to both your mentors and your school administration.

Present any examples of individuals bullying separately, with evidence, to your school administration.

[Levansic]

@green-paint - Having seen some of these issues in and out of FIRST organizations, I can certainly understand the frustrations you suffer over this. It is apparent that you have tormented yourself with grief over how to deal with the perceived situation.

Please allow me to ask a few questions from the perspective of a devil's advocate, as most issues like these are complex and take a lot of time and interactions to develop. Since you are upset that you waited so long to attempt to address the issues, could it be that there was a breaking point event that moved you to post here? My sense is that the nepotism is perceived because you or someone else not related to a mentor was slighted.

The general theme of your post is that you and other members of your team feel excluded. A good portion of your list involve technical exclusions. Were the responses you got from mentors a terse "No", or were they more along the lines of "show me a working proof of concept, by the end of today", followed by a "No" a few days later when the proof of concept was never produced?

Does your team have a mechanism for your members to log time spent in service to the team? If so, is there any qualitative assessment of the time spent?

Do you have a lot of team members who are "present" but not actually doing anything productive? Do they feel that their time hanging out entitles them to a spot on the drive team?

Have team members adopted an informal seniority system, where they perceive longevity as more important than actual contributions?

On the couples who were treated differently, good or bad; are there other members of the team who are obsessed with any of the individuals who were coupled with someone else?

Do the mentors have a guiding philosophy for the team, and does everyone on the team know what it is? Do you agree with it?

I would ask if you were in California, as one of your points was that certain members were not being required to meet a fundraising requirement. In California, teams attached to public schools (conventional or charter) cannot require any students to meet any financial goal, and must provide for their participation at events. Grades are a different story, but fundraising cannot be a factor. As you want to keep generic, I will only offer this information for FIRST teams in California who read this. Other states may have similar laws.

I don't know how you would answer any of these questions, but when the same questions were asked about similar situations on my team in the past, the answers were more revealing about the complaining parties than the perceived favorites.

My point is that you really need to filter your complaints to see if there is an actionable problem. Quite often when you are close to this type of situation, your emotions damage your ability to see straight and to be truly objective. Sometimes, people with sympathetic ears are manipulated by others into becoming the champions of unjust causes. Sometimes, those who appear to be benefiting from nepotism, really have put in the productive time when compared to those who feel slighted. Be careful.

[Grey Mann]

Personally, I would gather every single 'unfavored' member of the team and go up to the 'favored' members and straight up tell them, as a group, that you are going on strike. Don't do ANYTHING related to robotics. Tell the favored members that if they want to continue working on the robot and go to competition, they are by all means welcome to, but they can't expect any help from the unfavored members until the favored members agree to respect the unfavored more. Make a written contract if necessary and force every single favored member/parent/mentor sign it, with the threat of being forced off the team if they break the contract. If this ends up failing (and I except it will at some point), form a new team with the unfavored members. Have all of them officially leave to old team and form an entirely new team. Work in a mentor's garage if you have to. Just don't give the favored members anybody to disrespect or belittle.

[samfruth]

Originally Posted by Grey Mann

Personally, I would gather every single 'unfavored' member of the team and go up to the 'favored' members and straight up tell them, as a group, that you are going on strike.

Please don't do this.

[Grey Mann]

Originally Posted by samfruth

Please don't do this.

I'm pretty sure that worked before with another team in the FAHA. Don't quote me on that though.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by samfruth

Please don't do this.

I agree.

While I can see why you'd want to do this, it most certainly won't help, and will probably make the situation worse.


Instead, what I would propose--assuming that all the other stuff is as described AND assuming that the various strategies already proposed don't have some effect--would be to, as a group (or as individuals), announce after competition that "this group of people (or individuals) will no longer be part of this FRC team". Nothing more.

After which, of course, anybody who wants to and can manage to wrangle it will be more than welcome to start a new team or (hopefully) join another team in the area. Or, if the problematic folks happen to change their ways, rejoin the team.

Edit: The team in the FAHA might have been a suggestion from myself--I think I've suggested that once or twice--but it's generally not a good idea. I would reserve that tactic only for a very-last-resort, nothing-else-has-worked-and-this-probably-won't-either. I've never used it at all.

[Levansic]

Remember Gracious Professionalism?

It is very hard, requiring suppression of negative emotions. Going on strike is neither gracious nor professional.

It is like trying to put out a fire by pouring gasoline on it. Innocent bystanders will be put in awkward situations trying to triage the burn victims.

Sorry for the imagery. It was the best analogy I could come up with.

[New Lightning]

First of all there are a couple of incidences mentioned that if true are more than serious. For example the homosexual couple being slighted on the team for being homosexual. This is unacceptable in any organization that I have been a part of and is inherently against the principles that this country and first was founded upon which was to give all people an equal opportunity to learn about STEM careers and get actively involved. Whether its your school administration, or if your outside of a school district then the regional director, whoever the team mentors are accountable to need to hear directly from multiple students with these complaints. Make them hear your voice. These mentors must answer to someone outside of themselves and that's who you need to go to. I get having parents of students on the team can be challenging, but what needs to happen at that point is any decisions that affect student leadership or drive team where their kid is in direct competition, then the parents must be forced to step back and abstain from the decision making process.

I wouldn't recommend splitting off and making your own team, that would hurt the situation more than it would help.

I don't think that this issue can be solved by looking at it from the other side. I know it may be hard but you need to as a group tell these mentors, as respectfully as possible, No. When they tell you no and don't give a reason tell them that is not a good enough answer, ask them to explain the reasoning. If their not willing to do that, then maybe its time for them to revalue their involvement with the team, and FIRST as an organization.

[alicen]

Wow, I can say that your situation does sound pretty difficult, and depending on a few things, you've already gotten a number of really good suggestions.

When I was a Junior on my team, I had a somewhat similar issue. Our team wasn't very large and I was the chief engineer, but the teacher sponsor for our school had it out for me. The teacher bullied me and tried to make things difficult, it didn't help that I had him for an actual class during school as well. I also had my dad on the team as a mentor, but he was good about not showing favoritism (we also had been volunteering at regionals before I was even on a team). By the end of FIRST season we had found out that the teacher got the pink slip and wouldn't be working at our school the next year. This was because we had brought up his actions to our principal, who liked the robotics team even if he didn't understand much about it.

So, like others have said, I suggest going to your principal with your evidence, if your team isn't school based, try to contact a local FIRST rep.

If you happen to be a Georgia team, you can PM me and I can help to put you in contact with our regional director or other people. Also if you're in Georgia and end up taking the route of splitting off to form a new team(last resort), I know some people who would love to mentor and help you out.

[IronicDeadBird]

What is your fund raising situation? Are some of these people who are being bullied those who provided money for the team? That would be a grim reminder if you lost a lot of funding because of behavior.