Constitution 2008-2011

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Guiding Philosophy

We, the Clark Magnet High School Circuit Breakers, will strive to create a strong team environment that values cooperation, team spirit, sportsmanship, and gracious professionalism. While our team is student-led, respect between students and mentors is of the utmost importance, and we will endeavor to foster harmonious working relationships between all team participants. We trust that all decisions by each individual are made in good faith, with the best interests of the team and its members at heart.

Organization

Officers

President—The position of President will be filled by one veteran member of the team. The duties of the President will include: providing general direction and leadership; creating agendas for team meetings and conducting those meetings; organizing team activities with the help of mentors and faculty advisers; making sure that team deadlines are met; and training the Vice President.

Vice President—The position of Vice President will be filled by one veteran member of the team who will assist the President in his or her duties and fill in for the President in case of absence. The Vice President will be trained to take over as the next President or serve as an advisor to the next President in the case of losing election. The primary responsibility delegated to the Vice President is the job of serving as the leader of the Media division of the team.

Treasurer—The position of Treasurer will be filled by two people, a senior member of the team and a junior member. The two treasurers will be responsible for creating an anticipated budget for the year by May of the previous school year, keeping an account balance, keeping track of all check requests and receipts, and counting and submitting money from donations and fundraisers to the account. The purpose of having two treasurers is to create a system of checks and balances that will ensure accountability for all monetary transactions.

Secretary—The position of Secretary will be filled by a veteran member of the team who will be responsible for the following duties: taking notes at all meetings and submitting them as meeting minutes in the appropriate format to ASB; saving the meeting minutes onto the team website; emailing all minutes to all team members and mentors; and training the next secretary. Each secretary may be assisted in these tasks by the secretary-in-training.

Safety Czar—The position of Safety Czar will be filled by a team member who has been specifically trained by the mentors in safety procedures. This officer is responsible for the communication of safety rules to the team members, as well as the enforcement of basic safety rules. Ultimately, all team members are responsible for looking out for the safety of all other members, and mentors are responsible for the enforcement of safety rules. It is the Safety Czar's responsibility to report violations to mentors as appropriate.

Elections and Officer Carry-Overs

Elections will be held for the positions of president, vice-president, treasurers- and secretaries-in-training, and the Safety Czar, except in cases of only one interested person. The positions of senior treasurers and secretaries will be "carry-over" positions: At the appropriate time (after the season has ended) the treasurers- and secretaries-in-training will step into the vacated senior positions as needed. This is to create a body of leadership which has been trained during the previous season to perform the specific leadership and record-keeping roles required.

Voting—Each member of the team will be accorded one vote.

Quorum—Our quorum is defined as five team members present. A simple majority of those team members is required for a motion or expenditure to pass.

The quorum for elections is set at half of all eligible team members. Elections will be held by simple majority of the quorum.

Build Season Organization

Systems—Systems is a coordinating body instead of a decision-making body. The team consists of a team organizer (and possible trainee), who will be responsible for coordinating subsystem efforts, keeping financial records and weight estimates, creating a reasonable design schedule for each build season, and creating the Bill of Materials. The team may also include a member who will be responsible for the final CAD model of the robot with all subsystems integrated.

Mechanical and Drive Train—These subsystems are responsible for the creation of the mechanical subsystems of the robot and may divide in any way to accomplish this task.

Electrical and Programming—These subsystems are responsible for the creation and construction of the electrical components and programming of the robot, including the electrical board, and pneumatics systems.

The Team Council, consisting of the systems team members and all subsystem leaders, will have final say on robot layout and parts.

All major robot-related decisions must be put to a vote by all present team members.

Competition Organization

At the competitions, these positions will need to be filled:

Drive Teams—The drive team will consist of a coach, a robot driver, a robot operator, and a human player.

Coach—A student/mentor who is familiar with the game rules and strategy; organizes strategy for matches; coaches drivers and operators during matches

Driver—Drives/maneuvers robot

Operator—Operates other functions of robot

Human Player—The human player serves a function unique to each game

There may be two or more people for each position, depending on team interest. Each member of the drive team will be responsible for attending special training/strategy sessions before each competition in order to be eligible for drive team status.

Head Scout—The head scout is in charge of scouting and data collection during competition matches. They will be assisted by other team members serving as scouts. (see Student Handbook for examples of scouting material)

Team members have an obligation to participate in scouting activities at each competition if they are unoccupied with any other task.

Media Division

This is a separate division of the team consisting of interested students who do not want to be a part of the robot-building process. This special sub-team may include animators, web designers, cinematographers, business people, photographers, and other personnel as needed to broaden the team's scope of participation.

Each division of this sub-team will have its own responsibilities depending on the area of interest:

Animation—Responsible for creation and submission to the Safety Animation contest and the Autodesk Visualization Award contest.

Art/Photoshop—Responsible for creation of flyers, posters, team t-shirts, and other projects as needed to publicize the team.

Business—The team may incorporate business students to run the finances and public relations for the team.

Cinematography—Responsible for documentation of build season activities and competitions, and the creation of promotional videos and documentaries as needed.

Photography—Responsible for documentation of build season activities and competitions through photography.

Web Design—Responsible for the creation and/or upkeep of a team website.

Students may participate in any and all of the areas, as well as be on the robot-building team if interested. (In this case, students will need to apply to both the Media Division and the Robotics Team.) In order to participate in the promotions sub-team, students must fill out a short application detailing their interest (see Student Handbook).

Team Selection

The new members of the team will be selected by a committee of mentors and veteran students who will review the applications submitted and make admissions decisions based on the best interests of the team. Each application will consist of the following:

– Application sheet (see example in Student Handbook)

– One letter of recommendation

– A student/parent contract with signatures outlining the obligations of each member

Each student will also be provided with an information sheet (see Handbook) outlining the obligations and requirements of team membership.

Eligibility—A student will not be eligible if they have received any grade lower than a C on a semester report card.

Procedures

Activity and Expenditure Voting

In the offseason, any expenditure not exceeding $500 must be approved by a majority of the team council and the head mentor. The expenditure voting must be recorded in meeting minutes format and submitted as per procedure.

Any expenditure in excess of $500 must come to a team vote and be recorded and submitted as per proper procedure in meeting minutes format.

In the build season, a set block of money for expenditures must be approved by ASB. Team members'/mentors' expenditures can be reimbursed from the robotics fund up to that set amount. If we exceed this amount, another amount must be approved.

Email—An expenditure can be approved through email as long as the voting is recorded in meeting minutes format, with the date of voting as the date the email is sent. An email to cmr@team696.com is considered a quorum. In this case, a majority of all eligible team members must approve for the motion to pass.

Amendments

For any amendments to this constitution, two-thirds of the students and two mentors must vote in favor.