IMPORTANT: Northern California FIRST LEGO League tournament cancellation policy

[jillw - Playing At Learning]

Northern California FIRST LEGO League tournament cancellation policy

We are blessed here in Northern California that we don't typically
have severe weather so we have escaped having to cancel events
previously... However, this year, we have been asked by FIRST to set
and post a tournament cancellation policy, particularly in light of
the spread of the H1N1 flu virus.


Obviously a decision to cancel an event is not undertaken lightly.
The situations most likely to cause a cancellation of all or part of
the tournament include (but are not limited to):

• Severe weather conditions, such as snow, rain, wind and
temperatures.
• Exceptional circumstances including extended power
outage, loss of heat, loss of water, fire, natural disaster such as
earthquake and other exceptional conditions.
• Significant illness that might involve the closing a
facility prior to the event or an illness arising at an event.
Examples: a severe or contagious illness that has caused the venue
manager to close the facility or puts the completion of an event in
jeopardy, or a severe illness that requires extraordinary action by
medical
personnel.
• Significant number of teams have to cancel due to
illness.


The FLL Affiliate Partner (Playing At Learning) and the Tournament
Director will determine if there will be a delay, early dismissal or
cancellation of the tournament. There also could be situations where
the local venue manager (or equivalent function, like a school's
principal) and/or relevant government agency cancels an event at their
site.

If a tournament has to be canceled before the tournament day begins,
teams will be notified by an email sent to the norcalfll-announce
googlegroup (this googlegroup) and the information will also be
posted prominently on the front page of the www.norcalfll.org
site. We can not guarantee that we will be able to send out an
email individually to the listed coach of the team.


If a tournament has to be canceled for any reason at any point (even
during the tournament day) prior to the advancement list being
determined by the judge crew, all teams that were assigned to compete
at that tournament will be entered into a lottery conducted by Playing
At Learning, the FLL Affiliate partner. Teams will be randomly
selected to fill the number of advancing slots into the next level.
The teams that are selected to advance would be notified and this
information posted on the norcalfll.org site or tournament
website. We would be highly unlikely to be able to refund any
of the tournament registration fee as much of it would have been spent
on awards and other non-refundable items. We will make an effort to
get the tournament pins out to the teams - but not all teams have a
valid postal address in the FLL database. Also, the tournament will
not be rescheduled or moved - there would not be time in the
tournament calendar to do this.

Finally, in consideration of and in order to protect our volunteers,
other teams and their families, please follow the CDC recommendations
and stay at home if you are experiencing any flu-like symptoms. Even
with mild symptoms, you may be contagious. At an event with so many
people germs can be spread easily and quickly. If we are all
courteous and consider the health of each other, then we can enjoy a
healthy FLL tournament season.


For more info about flu and CDC guidelines, please visit http://www.cdc.gov/flu/


Thank you for your cooperation and consideration from all of the
tournament directors.


Jill Wilker and Mark Edelman
Playing At Learning (510) 656-8664
Northern California FIRST LEGO League Affiliate Partner

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