F-ball,
From your second post, it seems to me that maybe your team lost credibility because they tried to defend the actions of the “second student” you mention. For all I know, they could be right. If the second student really had not done anything wrong related to the robotics club, then I think it’s unfair that the administration would kick him/her off the team. However, the “wrongdoings” are strictly private business between the two students and the administration. I’m guessing that you got your information through word of mouth with the two students, and not through the administration (feel free to correct me). If this is the case, then you never know if the school had a legitimate, robotics-related reason to kick the two students off the team. And, even if this is not the case, schools can usually punish students arbitrarily, including kicking them off extracurriculars (this is certainly true at my school).
My point is that either way, I don’t think your team should shrink away from challenges or responsibility. I have to repeat GaryVoshol’s question: why did the team let the second student participate, even after he was kicked out of the club? If you want to rebuild trust with the administration, there is one thing your team has to accept: whether or not you agree with the school’s decision, they trusted the team to enforce it. When the team doesn’t enforce it, they lose the school’s trust (GaryVoshol also said this).
It is up to “the rest of the robotics leadership” and other concerned members of your team to restore trust with the school by speaking with the administrators involved. I don’t think, as many have offered on this thread, that a presentation on the merits of FIRST is necessary. The issue is most likely a trust issue arising out of the fact that the team didn’t enforce school rules by letting the second student participate even after he/she was kicked out. The first thing to do, as I mentioned above, is to take responsibility for the incident, without excuses, without justification. However, if you feel you are strongly justified, you should offer up whatever explanations you have as analysis–why, realistically and historically speaking, the situation unfolded the way it did–not as excuses.
The second step would be to let the administration know that they are being too hasty and overblowing the situation (this is my personal opinion, at least, if what happened is exactly as you described). I agree with fredliu168 and Al Skierkiewicz that a few bad apples don’t represent the entire team. You need to explain to the administration that this was an isolated incident, involving just a couple members. As JohnBoucher mentioned, present to them a plan for the future. You should make it clear that you and the rest of your team are interested in working with them, not against them. In this respect, I disagree with SL8 that the administration could be considered a “design constraint.” Rather, they should be one of your resources.
Thirdly, although I stated above that I believe your team has a trust issue with the school, as opposed to the school simply not understanding the value of FIRST, you should, as Nibbles and EricH suggested, invite them to come to your competition. If they have not attended before, they will understand what they are risking. It becomes easy, as Gboehm said, for the administration to look for the easy solutions. At this point, the administration may be frustrated or annoyed with what has happened with your team. Working day by day at school, they never see the results of your work. If they attend a competition, they will see rows upon rows of students, parents, mentors, and spectators in their differently colored team t-shirts. They will see dozens of unique robots, each proudly bearing team numbers and school names. And, if they look into the pit area, they will see a sea of young people, brightly spirited, and each working hard towards a common goal. The question will come naturally to them: “where’s our team?” They will understand, there, that what you give is what you get.
Best of luck to you and your team this year and in future years; please keep us informed.