This summer, our quaint little team got hit with the news that not one, not two, but ALL THREE of our mentors are leaving our team. Not only did this leave us with no mentors to help us, but this left us with no staff members to do paperwork (as you need two coaches for the YPP screening). As such, we no longer exist as a “club” because we are no longer tied to a staff member.
Furthermore, our our previous paperwork mentor never gave us the login credentials for TIMS. This means we can’t register for events, even if we find a new staff member and a new mentor. We might even need to register for an entire new team.
If anyone has any advice on what we can do under these tight circumstances, could you please tell me?
First, contact the paperwork mentor–he needs to get you guys the login info. Even if you don’t have mentors, that info can be very useful (say, if you need to contact FIRST, it’s often handier to go that route, I think). If he’s more comfortable doing it mentor-to-mentor, then you’ll need to proceed to step 2. Or convince him to leave a sealed envelope with you guys for that next mentor.
Second, start talkin’. Find one, two, three, however many teachers and/or administrators you need to function as a team from the school’s perspective, then convince parents to talk to their coworkers and any retired engineers you can find in the area. That’s the key, getting the parents to do the asking here–they’ve probably got friends at work who might be willing to come in “for a year” (whether they actually leave after that year is up for debate). (Oh, and having the parents talk with the administration is also a good idea. Parents pay the taxes, which fund the schools, and/or pay for the education… and administration as a general rule hates losing money.
You may also want to consider if you can continue being funded asap. The lose of your mentors might mean a more difficult process for withdrawing club money. Ask your school about this!
Your first line of defense is to contact your FIRST Senior Mentor…wait a minute I am your FIRST Senior Mentor. Check your PMs in a minute and we will formulate a plan to try to make sure your team is able to compete in the 2015 season.
Having run through a few oh-crap-oh-crap-oh-crap moments:
Your Regional Director (and/or FIRST Senior Mentor, if you have one) is your friend here. I don’t know if an FSM can, but I know from experience that RDs can talk to FIRST to make changes to main and alternate contacts in situations like this.
Parents, parents, parents. You’re going to need hands, you’re going to need mouths, you’re going to need dollars. A cadre of involved parents can do almost anything within a school organization. (Note I said “involved” not “angry”; do it right, and you’ll never have to reach “angry”!)
Find that new teacher in the school, show them the robot, give them the elevator pitch. They’re probably not as overloaded.
4464 is facing similar (though less dire) circumstances. We’re currently in the process of working out a possible merger with another local team. Have you considered doing this?
I will give you this piece of advice. If you can, don’t saddle a new teacher with being the only teacher who mentors you. Even if you find other non-teacher mentors, it is a big time commitment for new teachers who are generally working really hard to stay afloat that first year or two. (If they only teacher who is willing is a new teacher, then so be it. But try to find some others.) Which is part of the reason so many teachers quit in their first couple of years. And new teachers are generally going to be less knowledgeable about how things work in the school district.
The idea expressed by several posters of involving parents is critically important. You want their enthusiastic help. Knowing that parents are behind something usually helps bring a principal around. The login stuff is not a big deal. One phone call to FIRST from an administrator at your school can generally get that taken care of. You are fortunate that your senior mentor is already contacting you. Contacting the regional director can help too.
One last piece of advice. The more ducks you line up the easier it will be to convince a teacher to step up. If parents can take care of a lot of the management tasks and promise to help, it will make the prospect of leading a robotics team less daunting. Most teachers get a little intimidated. It’s only natural. There aren’t many teachers who have built and programmed robots before. You need to convince them that it will be fun, a rewarding experience and not too overwhelming.
Just a little update, I spoke with a parent today. The Principal of the school is actively recruiting teachers to be the permanent coach(es) for the team and will do what is needed to keep the team going. The Parent has recruited a school administrator to serve as the new main contact for the team, in the interim or long term. I have been in contact with the president of Washington FIRST Robotics (our version of an RD) and as soon as I have the full contact information for that person I’ll forward it on to her. An RD or equivalent is required to have FIRST replace the current main contact so that will be done the YPP process can begin and the team will be able to register for events.
