Driven to compete, Pinellas robotics students seek access to school

The thrill of competition has student athletes across the Tampa Bay region and state chomping at the bit for their first challenges of the fall season this week.

Robotics enthusiasts want to feel it, too.

But while football, volleyball, cross country and other teams have had time to practice together at school, the engineering-focused club has not — at least not on Pinellas County campuses. In an abundance of caution during the coronavirus pandemic, the Pinellas school district has told extracurricular groups to meet virtually for the first nine weeks of classes, if not longer.

That could kill the entire year for robotics. For Aabhas Jain, president of Palm Harbor University High’s 2019 world champion club, that’s not acceptable.

And he let the School Board know it.

“Today, the future of these robotics clubs is in your hands,” Jain told board members Tuesday.

The clubs have been barred from campuses, he said, while athletics have continued to meet with certain restrictions in place.

“Because of this, we have been restricted from accessing our supplies at the school and registering for our robotics competitions this year, making it virtually impossible for any Pinellas school team to successfully compete in the First Tech Challenge or other robotics programs this year if changes are not made within a few weeks,” Jain continued.

He acknowledged that not all meetings have to take place face-to-face. Even the competitions will be conducted remotely, at least through the end of the calendar year.

“However, building robots virtually is impossible,” he said. “Engineering and programming are very much hands-on experiences, and teamwork is inherent to our ideology as a club."

To make it work, Jain offered a series of protocols that he said the students would agree to follow. They follow CDC guidelines, he explained, and will be “far safer” than the district’s guidelines for athletics.

Any in-person meeting would involve fewer than five students, with a parent supervisor present, in outdoor work spaces. Anyone attending would sign a liability waiver, complete a COVID-19 self-assessment, have their temperature taken, sign the attendance sheet, maintain social distances and wear a mask, surgical gloves and eye protection.

Jain did not ask only for Palm Harbor, but for all robotics clubs in the county. If athletes can improve their craft for future success, he said, so, too, should the district’s future engineers.

Unlike many people who speak to the board, Jain didn’t have to wait long for a response.

Superintendent Mike Grego welcomed the input — particularly the detailed approach to making in-person activities work. He had earlier in the board meeting talked about the need to look past problems for answers, and that’s what caught his attention here.

“I so appreciate your solutions,” Grego told Jain. “I will personally look into this (on Wednesday). ... We should be able to do this.”

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Late Wednesday, Jain said the superintendent followed through.

“I have just found out that Dr. Grego directly contacted the principal of my school and we are now creating a solution!” he said via email. “So to answer your question, he did help us after saying so!”