Ontario Teams in Jeopardy for 2012/2013?

[akoscielski3]

I'm not sure that anyone out side of Ontario knows what is currently happening in Ontario. I am not as knowledgeable about it as I wish I was, but as far as I know the Government and Teachers aren't agreeing, so there may or may not be Extra Curricular activities during the 2012-2013 School year in Ontario. So, yes this would mean that any Ontario FRC, FTC, FLL, and Jr.FLL teams that are in any way associated with a school won't be able to participate this year. (If they don't sort things out).

You can read more on it here.

Today the teacher's did a protest, they all wore black, and there were no after school activities. We were suppose to have a meeting today abut meeting with a company for sponsoring another team, but unfortunately we couldn't have it.

[Jay O'Donnell]

Getting rid of extra curriculur activities would include getting rid of all sports teams, drama/musical clubs, math teams, robotics teams, student councils, class representatives, and much, much, more. I don't see how this could impact a community in any way but negative. Just my $0.02

[Gregor]

Originally Posted by Jay Money 1058

Getting rid of extra curriculur activities would include getting rid of all sports teams, drama/musical clubs, math teams, robotics teams, student councils, class representatives, and more. I don't see how this could impact a community in any way but negative. Just my $0.02

The Government of Ontario passed a bill earlier this week that removed the teacher's unions ability to bargain, on top of wage freezes and reduced sick days. This means that these were imposed on the teacher's unions, without any ability to bargain. This has piqued civil rights issues within Ontario, and is also the major reason why teachers are protesting. If you notice in the article below, all the signs in the picture mention "collective bargaining," which is the removal of bargaining abilities of teachers, which is causing the biggest uproar. It was made illegal for teachers to strike in this bill.

The only way for teachers to fight back now is to stop extracurriculars. That is everything from drama club to chess to robotics to sports teams.

There have already been multiple protests infront of Queen's Park (where the Ontario capital is), including one that is happening right now.

Here is a recent article on the issue, but if you google Ontario teachers 2012, you will find a plethora of information on the subject.

[akoscielski3]

The only way to have a team in Ontario would be if they were not affiliated with any school/school board.

So 99% of the teams in Ontario would not be participating in the season. Unless they some how were allowed to take the school name out of it and partnered with a sponsor or local university, and not all teams would be able to do this.

[Jay O'Donnell]

Ok that does clarify it a bit, thank you. Let's hope everything works itself out, losing most of FIRST Canada would be a big blow to our community.

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by Gregor

The Government of Ontario passed a bill earlier this week that removed the teacher's unions ability to bargain, on top of wage freezes and reduced sick days. This means that these were imposed on the teacher's unions, without any ability to bargain. This has piqued civil rights issues within Ontario, and is also the major reason why teachers are protesting. If you notice in the article below, all the signs in the picture mention "collective bargaining," which is the removal of bargaining abilities of teachers, which is causing the biggest uproar. It was made illegal for teachers to strike in this bill.

The only way for teachers to fight back now is to stop extracurriculars. That is everything from drama club to chess to robotics to sports teams.

There have already been multiple protests infront of Queen's Park (where the Ontario capital is), including one that is happening right now.

Here is a recent article on the issue, but if you google Ontario teachers 2012, you will find a plethora of information on the subject.

This situation is being seen around the US.
Personally, if this happened in our State, and the consequences were similar to what is unfolding there in Ontario, I'd be all for it.
Teachers in general have always bent over backwards, dug into their own pockets, and most importantly, given up their personal time to do extra-curricular activities.
This may a good time to reflect and look at all that teachers sacrifice for the success and benefit of students........and often times, at the expense of their own kids.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by waialua359

This situation is being seen around the US.

Chicago. Average teacher salary: $76,000.00, not including benefits. Offered 16% pay raise. Went on strike.

[Tom Line]

Originally Posted by Ether

Chicago. Average teacher salary: $76,000.00, not including benefits. Offered 16% pay raise. Went on strike.

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.

[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