FT STEM - Benefits to a school?

Boomfiziks

New member
Dear FliteFest friends,

I need your help! A couple of days ago, I was contacted by my administrator that my students would not be allowed to fly their planes that they've work so hard on and I will not be allowed to use the grant money I received to help fund my FT STEM program, which part of it was to pay for the AMA insurance for my school ($80). So, I am going to our school board to present as to the importance and need of the FT STEM program for our students. I've been working hard in putting together a presentation. I think I'm almost done, but I'm hitting somewhat of a "writer's block". In my powerpoint slide show, I want to make a slide as to how the FT STEM program would benefit our school...I already have slides as to the benefits to our students.

So, I'm asking for help. What would you put into a slide with a heading "How FT-STEM benefits our school:"? I'm thinking of the "big picture" and ways that it would make the school look good to the public.

Because, I do not want anyone else have to go through this. After my board meeting this Monday, if anyone is interested in starting up a STEM program, PM me and I'll send you a copy of my powerpoint.

Wish me luck (and prayers) this Monday.
Dwight
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
I would focus on the point of Stem actually being interesting to kids and that in turn makes teaching easier. This will trickle down into better test scores and maybe even better participation and progress in other classes. This will then show in the testing over all used to grade the schools ability to actually teach kids over time. More interest in learning = more participation= more learning = better grades= better rating for the school and if a bunch of schools use STEM then the over all rating for the entire district could rise.

Maybe even some testimony for actual students whom STEM has helped already would be a benefit as well.

Oh yes Good luck for your meeting and even better luck for the kids on the results
 
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jtrops

Member
First of all, why did they ground your program?

I am a teacher, and a sponsor of a flying club. We were grounded at the end of last year because the board needed to have an official policy on UAV's. Needless to say we were scared that we would never be able to fly at school again. We do have the local R/C airfield to fly at if we want to spend 15-20 minutes driving, but flying at school is so much better (20 more minutes to fly).

I informed them that we follow all of the AMA guidelines for flying at our school. I sent them a copy of the all of the pertinent information from the AMA. After reviewing our flying policies, they ended up giving us the green light for flying. I had to keep the discussion alive through the Summer, and into the new school year. About 3 weeks into the new school year they had a draft of the new policy (which closely mirrored what we were doing already), and they told me that we could go ahead and fly since it was pretty much what they were approving.

Another thing is that if you register your program as an MASC club the AMA fees are waived for the club as well as the membership fee for the sponsor. The AMA insurance looks good to the school board, and goes a long way towards getting their approval.
 
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FoamyDM

Building Fool-Flying Noob
Moderator
Good luck... I am an engineer who would like to get a school club started, but not sure where to go as I'm not in the school system.
 

JimCR120

Got Lobstah?
Site Moderator
Dear FliteFest friends,

I need your help! A couple of days ago, I was contacted by my administrator that my students would not be allowed to fly their planes that they've work so hard on and I will not be allowed to use the grant money I received to help fund my FT STEM program, which part of it was to pay for the AMA insurance for my school ($80). So, I am going to our school board to present as to the importance and need of the FT STEM program for our students. I've been working hard in putting together a presentation. I think I'm almost done, but I'm hitting somewhat of a "writer's block". In my powerpoint slide show, I want to make a slide as to how the FT STEM program would benefit our school...I already have slides as to the benefits to our students.

So, I'm asking for help. What would you put into a slide with a heading "How FT-STEM benefits our school:"? I'm thinking of the "big picture" and ways that it would make the school look good to the public.

Because, I do not want anyone else have to go through this. After my board meeting this Monday, if anyone is interested in starting up a STEM program, PM me and I'll send you a copy of my powerpoint.

Wish me luck (and prayers) this Monday.
Dwight
Maybe we can share notes. I too have a slideshow and I have yet to present it. I have the slides for justification but am struggling with the slide on funding it all. I'm about to start some travel. Give me a few hours and I'll share my justification slides (or the whole thing if you want it) and I would be very interested in how you address initial and ongoing funding. BNy funding I'm not referring to instructor time but rather just for materials some of which would be a one-time purchase and other things will be ongoing consumables.

Prayers? Sure. I don't believe in luck though.
 

JimCR120

Got Lobstah?
Site Moderator
Most of my content for justification came from the US DOE & Maine state websites on STEM. Here's what I used from the US DOE. I suspect you'll have something similar on the Colorado DOE website. This way when they approve it sounds like they're complying with the leadership.

The United States has developed as a global leader, in large part, through the genius and hard work of its scientists, engineers, and innovators. In a world that’s becoming increasingly complex, where success is driven not only by what you know, but by what you can do with what you know, it’s more important than ever for our youth to be equipped with the knowledge and skills to solve tough problems, gather and evaluate evidence, and make sense of information. These are the types of skills that students learn by studying science, technology, engineering, and math — subjects collectively known as STEM.