Bylaws in Team structure???

[Joohoo]

340 has some by laws they state what the different sub teams are what they do and some requirements for traveling. in our school district all clubs need a "consitution" I'm not sure if this is the reason why we have it,but it does come in handy so people know whats what.

[IndySam]

Our booster club has bylaws. The team has a handbook that covers everything else.

[Donut]

Originally Posted by Joohoo

340 has some by laws they state what the different sub teams are what they do and some requirements for traveling. in our school district all clubs need a "consitution" I'm not sure if this is the reason why we have it,but it does come in handy so people know whats what.

I know this is true at our school is well; our robotics club has a constitution so that it may exist, however no one currently involved with the club has ever seen it (meaning it was probably last updated 4 to 5 years ago...).

We have a handbook where we lay down the rules we've established and how students are expected to behave.

[RoboMom]

You might also consider having a MOU (memorandum of understanding) for the mentors. Doesn't need to be fancy, but have expectations outlined about the roles of mentors.
There are quite a few teams with excellent team handbooks. We hope to get examples of these on the NEMO website in the resources section in the new year.
It's all about communication.

[Joe J.]

Lightning Robotics has both bylaws & Handbook, our bylaws are just for the schools paperwork and mostly establish there is a a club. Our hand book however covers the majority of our teams policies and has been updated to fit our team's needs.

All our hand book revisions can be found athttp://lightningrobotics.com/files/?...ents/Handbooks along with our Style Guide, and RPM booster club bylaws.

[EricH]

No bylaws, just rules. All rules are from the school or build site, except one that is pretty much a joining requirement. A rough outline follows:

1: Follow all school rules. (knives, behavior, academic grade passing or above)
2: Participate in our spaghetti dinner fundraiser. If you don't, you need to have a very good reason.
3: Follow all build site rules. (long pants, closed-toe shoes, don't leave our area in the site, sign a release saying you've been safety trained)

There are a few others, but they are mainly formality. (number in group to leave, curfew on the road, supervision) Sometimes, though, they are broken, and punishment follows.

[FourPenguins]

We have rules, but they change every year and Mr. McGowan changes them every year. Particularly the travel rules.

[Simon Strauss]

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/search/results/25889

Here is the link to the Team 1155 Constitution which although not exactly a set of bylaws, functions as one. Also i will work on getting copies of the Student and Parent handbooks onto the whitepaper sections of the site but if anyone is interested in seeing them before i do PM me and ill send you a copy.

[KarenH]

Do you have other adults in authority above the mentor level--such as school principal or school board members--who think that bylaws are going to be necessary for your team? If so, you should probably do what those people request. If not, perhaps it would help to explain to the new mentor how your team works, and to demonstrate that the team's structure and rules are already adequate for running the team.

Caution: If you do adopt bylaws, make very sure that you have a section detailing how to change the bylaws. I know of an organization, legally a nonprofit under state law, that is trying to figure out how to make necessary changes to its bylaws when the bylaws don't allow for being amended.

[LauraN]

Wait...what are so bad about by-laws? You haven't told us anything about them. I'm sure every FIRST team has rules and guidelines- like safety rules, participation rules (i.e. keeping a certain GPA), guidelines about how the team is structured, etc etc. The best course of action would be for your entire team to discussed whatever is being proposed by this mentor, and those of you who have problems with the suggestions can express them. I'm pretty wary of giving you ideas about how to completely trample someone else's opinion... =/

If your team discusses it and there is still a conflict, I'm sure the people on CD would be happy to give you advice about how to handle the problem, but we certainly need more information than what was given.

[Bryan Herbst]

Our team is incorporating this summer, so bylaws come with it. However, our current plan is to enact bylaws to govern organization/administration.

Example- Limiting the chairperson of the board to a term of x number of years would be a bylaw. Requiring students to pass a safety test before using tools would be a team rule, but not a bylaw.

[smurfgirl]

Many teams have handbooks which lay out the expectations, rules, and agreements for team members. For some teams, this may include by-laws. For others, it may just be "rules", or "expectations". You might want to look through handbooks to see what other teams are doing and help to establish a standard of what is right for your team. There are many handbooks available on CD, and there is also a list of handbooks available on usfirst.org, here.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Tanis

Our team is incorporating this summer, so bylaws come with it. However, our current plan is to enact bylaws to govern organization/administration.

Example- Limiting the chairperson of the board to a term of x number of years would be a bylaw. Requiring students to pass a safety test before using tools would be a team rule, but not a bylaw.

Bryan,
Make sure that as you develop the program for your team, you are talking about and working on two different aspects of the development, and communicating that well to others as you plan and discuss it.

1. the formation of the non-profit

2. team rules/guidelines/expectations set down in writing, usually in some form of a handbook.

You are using the term, bylaws, in both areas and that can be a little confusing, esp. because the non-profit is a completely different process than the development of a team handbook.

Good luck with both, sounds like you guys are going to have a very busy and productive off season.
Jane