Agreement

For participants who center their work at 12311 Culebra Road #6104, an agreement is necessary. For participants who work at school or home, Mr. Engelbrecht works as a coach but does not bear any responsibility for safety or the outcome of projects.

Signature of one parent of a participant is considered to be consent by all adults in the family. This agreement is on the class website, though revisions will not necessarily be on the web site.

Revision 1, June 23, 2011. Rev 2 Feb 18, 2012, Rev 3 March 28, 2012.

Signatures

Participant name (print)__________________ Parent signature________________ Instructor________________

Family phone__________________ Date_____________

Web site unregistered copyright 2011 John Engelbrecht

Education

Learning in the class is at the will of the participant. No technical certification, guarantee, educational outcome, preparation for follow-on courses, or affective outcome is necessarily expected.

The instructor is not obligated to debug any circuit. A participant may take home his own work, or work shared by another participant, but use of such at home, or performance, utility, and safety, is not the responsibility of instructor.

Frustration Alert—some projects do not work in the end, and some parts of projects have to be re-done before they will work. The learning of persistence is valuable. The participant needs to work on projects that are not too ambitious.

In light of the importance of current events to the growth of young people, instructor and participants may engage in discussion about non-technical topics, including religion, politics, ethics, and morals. Non-technical topics must be age appropriate for all participants, as determined by everyone present. Any participant may call a parent beforehand if he/she has a cell phone. Non-technical conversation is not to constitute a major portion of class time.

Supplies

Participant provides his own tools so that finger cuts or burns are with his own tools. Sharing between participants of any tools that can cause injury is discouraged.

Missing tools or participant-purchased parts, or damage to same, are not the responsibility of anyone else.

Printing with the instructor's printer will be charged for ink or toner. For inkjet, $.25 per normal page. If the instructor gets a color laser printer, B&W at $.06 per page, $.15 for color.

Safety

Participants wear glasses (Dollar Tree magnifying glasses are OK, $1) when circuit building is underway. Metallic rings or bracelets should not be worn.

Participants will cut wires so that the little pieces do not fly toward faces.

Solder contains at least 40% lead. Participants must not put solder in mouth. Soldered connections must not be filed or sandpapered.

To collect dust during fiberglass filing or drilling, a box fan equipped with an air filter is to be used when the weather is too hot or cold to do it outside.

In case of injury, participant must inform instructor immediately and must call parent. Any person present may apply common aids such as alcohol wipe, antiseptic, or bandage. No person in class is responsible for any other person’s medical care or transportation to a medical facility. Prior tetanus immunization (DPT) is expected.

Dangerous tools, as judged by instructor, will be stored during class and will be returned as participant departs.

Class activities that expose dangerous voltages or temperatures will be rare, excepting heat from soldering iron. Participants must exercise common sense to avoid injury.

Parent should notify instructor of any condition of participant that could cause interruption of class, such as food allergy, history of seizure, hypoglycemia, disabling allergy, or asthma.

The design and implementation of circuits by participants during class will be cursorily reviewed for safety by instructor. In particular, the connection of electrolytic capacitors must be checked by participant, negative end toward the more negative voltage in the circuit. (If decoupling a negative supply, the positive end is toward ground.) Also, connection of correct voltage (not an over-voltage and not reverse polarity) is wholly up to the participant—this may be a reason for the participant to not let others handle his project. Inclusion of diodes in series with supply terminals, built into the project, is a protection against reverse-polarity hazard and is advised.

At Home

Each participant is required to personally write down a summary of class activities at the end of class. Parents are encouraged to have their participant relate the day’s activities.

Printed-circuit-board etching with MG Chemicals chemicals, if done by participant away from class, is the responsibility of parents. MG Chemicals process is described elsewhere in this website. Etching during class is the safer practice.

Do Not Try This at Home--the instructor will demonstrate practices that could be dangerous, such as a short circuit or limited electrical shock. This is done because learning by doing is more effective than learning by hearing. These in-class demonstrations will be carefully controlled. Since participants will not remember all the control factors, participants should not repeat these demonstrations on their own. The instructor incurs no responsibility to warn parents of possible hazards.

The class is not preparation for work on 120 VAC home wiring. Specifically, a person at home who is replacing the plug on a power cord must know which colors go to which prongs. This knowledge may be shared in class so that participants have a better chance of evaluating whether an appliance is safe. But replacing a plug at home must be with parent supervision, if a parent is knowledgeable, or it shouldn’t be done at all. Note: the colors-to-prongs match-up may be different for 2-prong plugs vs. 3-prong.

Known hazards from working on electronics at home include bypassing of fuse, installation of wrong fuse, connection of backwards voltage, improper connection of transformer, use of two-wire power cord when a grounding power cord is needed, and touching circuitry within a case but forgetting to pull the plug. Electrolytic capacitors, which contain solvent and electrolyte, are prone to explode due to internal boiling if connected backwards to power, or connected to AC power when DC was needed. Keep your home safe, disconnect homemade circuits when they are not being monitored. The safest environment for homemade circuits is on a large glass or Pyrex dish.

Due to fragility of electronic parts and susceptibility to static and excess soldering heat, instructor is not responsible for parts or money spent buying them, nor for functionality or longevity of projects even if the design was approved by instructor.

Administration

The class is not sponsored by any school.

Class can be discontinued or interrupted at any time. A parent dropping off a participant must wait to see that class is being conducted at that time.

Instructor may limit attendance, such as because of overcrowding.

Participants can be dropped from participation at any time, for any reason, at the sole discretion of instructor. The most likely reasons are lack of interest, disruption, lack of attention, or unsafe behavior.

Other instructors can participate. If the instructor who signs this agreement with parent is replaced by another instructor, the departing instructor bears no lingering responsibility, and a new agreement should be signed with new instructor. A new head instructor can repurpose the class.

No medication is to be brought to class unless cleared by instructor.

As with any school, reporting to state agencies is incumbent upon instructor if a minor participant reveals abuse from any person in his life.

No gaming, music, or cell-phone recreation during class. Use of the instructor's Microsoft Flight Simulator X is possible for anyone who is really interested in flight.

Instructor may limit Internet use to appropriate sites. Access to cell-phone provider or Internet service provider is not an instructor responsibility but will typically be available.

Parent will not demand that any instructor do any background check at the instructor's expense. A parent may do any background check he wants to, at his own expense. The instructor is able to give personal references.

Damage to a participant’s tools or clothing, or replacement of same, is not a responsibility of any instructor or participant.

Consumption of snacks is allowed, away from soldering, and after hand washing if solder or chemicals have been used.

Sheltering during thunderstorms is by best effort.

Bathroom: next to the lab for boys. Girls get the private bathroom off of the bedroom.

No OSHA, government, or school-district inspection or authorization will be required by any parent or participant.

Drop Off, Pick Up, Parent Presence

If pickup of a participant is not prompt, an hourly contribution (at a rate less than the regular class rate) may be charged for child care.

Participants and parents agree that video/audio recording, or live monitoring by cell-phone video, during class is encouraged by instructor and participants as evidence that behavior by all is proper. The instructor will post at most three stills to the class web site as allowed in writing, in a separate agreement, by participant and parent, with no name identification, but will not control disposition of participant recordings.

Attendance by family or friends is discouraged. Exceptions:

Parent may attend.

Age–appropriate friend may attend on space-available basis, consistent with any neighborhood–association rules, to see what is going on.

Pick up of participants should be by an adult who is expected by the participant. Any concern for safety of a participant, such as concerning an ex-spouse, must be discussed with instructor.

To comply with neighborhood association rules, participants are present in class as non-tuition-paying visitors.

If location of class changes, such as moving between home, school, or rented space, the instructor will notify participants.

Field trips may be undertaken with prior notice in class but not necessarily by instructor calling parents. Parents will generally supply transportation. Parents will be responsible for organizing ridesharing and having insurance.

Each participant must memorize (not depend on the call list in a consumer device) two emergency-call numbers to relatives/neighbor.

Contribution

Any amount received by the instructor is a contribution to operating expense. It is not tax deductible for the parent.

The instructor will not account for the disposition of contributions.

The class contribution is not to pay for services. The contribution pays utilities and space rental. If contribution is by check, the payee might be a utility or landlord.

The instructor will not provide financial assistance for contributions, tools, or supplies.

This Agreement is not a legal matter. It is 52% expectations and 40% explanations.