Does a School Closing affect your progress during build season?

[chris31]

Originally Posted by Priyadarshy

my school was closed because there was a whopping 1 inch of snow

Yep, Here in Fredericksburg the same thing happened. We were already supposed to have a half day which meant an extra few hours to work but school was closed so we couldn't get in

[KDawg]

Originally Posted by chris31

Yep, Here in Fredericksburg the same thing happened. We were already supposed to have a half day which meant an extra few hours to work but school was closed so we couldn't get in

We were lucky, we only recieved about a 12" or 14" overnight, right next to us in Oswego, some people got 4 FEET! I find that pretty incredible.

[Tuba4]

School closings don't have any affect on us here in Erie PA. Actually our school district is in Millcreek Township, the township that borders Erie PA on the south and the west. We have not cancelled school despite getting in excess of two feet of snow in the last week. Sometimes our numbers are down at our evening meetings but work continues!!!

Holidays are no problem either. We continue to have access to our school's wood and metal shops. It helps to have a school board member (ME!) on our team as a mentor.

Of greater concern was a potential teacher strike which was narrowly averted last week! Under PA state law that strike could have lasted 11 days. We were planning to continue during the strike with non-technical parent volunteers and our GE Rail Systems mentors, but progress would have been slowed during those 11 days.

[kmcclary]

Absolutely! I'm working with multiple teams in MI, and snow days affect all of them.

But it's a mixed bag. Some of the teams love snow days, while others hate them with a passion.

The teams that love snow days are those that can still get into their school or build work place whenever the school is closed. This gives them a LOT of extra work hours during the build, so they often wish for snow days!

But there are also teams who are horribly penalized whenever snow days occur. For example: Team 1015 (Pi Hi Samurai, Pioneer HS in Ann Arbor MI) is greatly crippled whenever the school is closed for an extended stretch. Unlike many schools who may be "closed" yet the school building is unlocked, there's a PHS school policy that bans all groups from meeting at the school whenever it is closed for snow days. As a result, the multiple subzero windchill "ice days" this build season has hurt them tremendously. It prevented them from getting access to their school shop build site for a number of days in a row, damaging their build.

Personally, in the future I'd like to see a rule that gives teams the ability to appeal their ship date with FIRST whenever "natural disasters" delay their build season. I'd like to see an "add one day per snow day to the ship date" policy instituted (limit 5 additional?), given a written statement from the school that "they were not allowed to meet at their build location for XX days, due to factors beyond the team's control" (and outline them).

If the build was totally "equal opportunity", this wouldn't be needed. But that's not true. An extension policy for "extenuating circumstances" only seems fair. Southern teams don't encounter snow days like northern ones do. Mid-continental teams never encounter down time from coastal hurricanes or floods. Plains states don't see CA mudslides. ANY team's town may encounter a major power grid outage, or an epidemic "shutting down the town" (etc, etc...).

Just my $0.02...

- Keith McClary
Chief Engineer, Team 1502 "Technical Difficulties"

[MishraArtificer]

Originally Posted by kmcclary

Personally, in the future I'd like to see a rule that gives teams the ability to appeal their ship date with FIRST whenever "natural disasters" delay their build season. I'd like to see an "add one day per snow day to the ship date" policy instituted (limit 5 additional?), given a written statement from the school that "they were not allowed to meet at their build location for XX days, due to factors beyond the team's control" (and outline them).

Sir, that is genious. Petitions, anyone?

[Matt Gardner]

In Ontario, we never get any snow days, our adminisration waits until there is like zero chance of making it to school alive before anything is cancelled. And even if buses are cancelled, schools still run and you're expected to walk (which we do during build season, lol). Our biggest problem is that our school is not always unlocked on weekends, and our mentors are not always available for supervision. We really only have a team of about 10 students with 1 dedicated (daily supersvision) mentor, and 4 secondary ones. We often cannot work in the machine shop because our main mentor isn't certified. So basically, we're behind schedule even without snow days...joy.

[chinckley]

Here in west Michigan we get LOTS of snow. We had school last Friday but since it was snowing heavily the school called off after school activities. They were also cancelled for Saturday and Sunday, we had snow days Monday and Tuesday so we lost 5 day of work. All of our build is at the school. THis happened two or three years ago too.

I hope there are no more off days until after ship.

On a side note: What hotel are teams attending the Detroit regional staying at? Does anyone know a good priced one close to Wayne State University?

Email me at: Hinckley@att.net if you know any.

[ChrisMcK2186]

In VA yesterday we had a fair bit of snow, so no school. Doesn't help the team with only 11 days till ship...

Chris

[IndySam]

Originally Posted by kmcclary

Personally, in the future I'd like to see a rule that gives teams the ability to appeal their ship date with FIRST whenever "natural disasters" delay their build season. I'd like to see an "add one day per snow day to the ship date" policy instituted (limit 5 additional?), given a written statement from the school that "they were not allowed to meet at their build location for XX days, due to factors beyond the team's control" (and outline them).

If the build was totally "equal opportunity", this wouldn't be needed. But that's not true. An extension policy for "extenuating circumstances" only seems fair. Southern teams don't encounter snow days like northern ones do. Mid-continental teams never encounter down time from coastal hurricanes or floods. Plains states don't see CA mudslides. ANY team's town may encounter a major power grid outage, or an epidemic "shutting down the town" (etc, etc...).

Just my $0.02...

- Keith McClary
Chief Engineer, Team 1502 "Technical Difficulties"

I understand what you are saying but as it has been said many times FIRST isn't always fair. Just like in the real world weather may delay your work but your customers deadlines don't change. All part of life and the real world.

[kmcclary]

Originally Posted by IndySam

I understand what you are saying but as it has been said many times FIRST isn't always fair. Just like in the real world weather may delay your work but your customers deadlines don't change. All part of life and the real world.

Actually, I've been in business for many years. And yes, deadlines DO often change when natural disasters, labor strikes, et al affect a supplier's ability to produce a custom product or part for you. (If someone is making something for you, a few days late is a LOT better than trying to restart the entire process with another supplier!)

And yes, FIRST isn't always fair. However, they DO strive to have a "level playing field" for all teams. IMHO, this subject definitely affects northern teams much more often than southern ones due to the build being in the winter.

I do feel it is worth bringing up with FIRST at the next feedback session. In fact, I feel that if enough teams (at a majority of the sessions) all ask for some kind of an extension system for weather days to be created, FIRST can't help to take note of it. Perhaps they'd consider it, perhaps not, but the "Squeaky Wheel Theory" applies here!

- Keith McClary
Chief Engineer, Team 1502 "Technical Difficulties"

[Steve S.]

Our school rarely closes so usually not a problem...this past tuesday is the first "snow day" we have had in 4 yrs here in Greece..which was only because of bus problems which also resulted in all local schools closing for the day...

We ended up not being able to meet on tuesday...not sure if it put us back too much but of course it did a little bit...im guessing a couple other local teams have missed a day or two of meetings for the same reason but i could be wrong

[d.courtney]

School closing definitely effects our progress during build times. We are a rural community so 85-90% of our small team lives out of town. Our school only closes if the roads are closed, so it means that we aren't coming in either way to build... This year we have missed 8 days, because we had some terrible weather off the lake closing all roads in the area.. many people at our school loved the 11 day weekend, but our team has definitely been set back a bit... its unfortunate that FIRST doesn't recognize these circumstances... as it effects our team at least 3-5 days a year (if not more)

[ChrisMcK2186]

My team is approaching a massive possibilities for snow tuesday, wednesday and hopefully not thursday. We have some plans we might implement, one includes exacuating the school with all the build parts and going to a local community center/house. Hopefully won't com to that but the call will be made by this afternoon.

Chris

[65_Xero_Huskie]

Originally Posted by ChrisMcK2186

My team is approaching a massive possibilities for snow tuesday, wednesday and hopefully not thursday. We have some plans we might implement, one includes exacuating the school with all the build parts and going to a local community center/house. Hopefully won't com to that but the call will be made by this afternoon.

Chris

Same here, tuesday and wednesday are looking bad for us now. We only go to GM on Wednesday of those 2 days, but its still looking like a few days we have ot make up on the "School work" side of FIRST season.

[MrAmazing]

It definitely affects our building. Whenever our school is closed, all extra-curricular activities are also cancelled. For example, we had an early dismissal today and so we can't build tonight. There is also a good chance school may be closed tomorrow, thus further delaying our building.