Hello All,
Having the mentors decide how to use their respective stipends and making it retroactive is totally impractical, inappropriate, and disruptive. It would require looking back for years to try to figure out what happened to the funds and finding the folks involved in GSOC in the past. It might possibly be a good idea going forward, but it doesn't solve the problem at hand. In the past, members of SL, who have traveled for things related to Sugar Labs, have been granted adequate expenses to cover their needs. Today we have a similar need for our representatives who will be attending the Google Summit to be able to do it in safety and with no undue hardship. Many of the other trips have been funded with regular Sugar Labs dollars. But these dollars are a bit different. Sugar Labs would not have them if it were not for the GSOC mentors! I don't know about the needs for the other representatives, but I do know that because of the bargain airline ticket bought for Samson, he will NOT be in a place of safety and without hardship. Nineteen hours in the airport in Dubai is pretty extreme for a 17-year-old. We should do everything possible to assure that he arrives safely at his destination refreshed and at the "top of his game" as he represents Sugar Labs at the Google Summit. I don't fault the person who made this reservation. I would probably have done the same thing if the reservation were for myself. Some of us are seasoned travelers who have slept on many an airport floor when needed. But this is for someone else, someone who has not traveled extensively, will be alone in a very strange place, and is also very young and inexperienced. These factors need to be taken into account and provisions made. I hope the SLOBs will see that the right thing to do is provide sufficient funds for Samson to have a safe and productive trip. Caryl ________________________________ From: IAEP <[email protected]> on behalf of Laura Vargas <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, October 2, 2017 10:35:08 AM To: Walter Bender Cc: iaep; SLOBs Subject: Re: [IAEP] Google Mentors Summit Complete Travel Budget Request 2017-10-01 15:32 GMT-05:00 Walter Bender <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>: On Sun, Oct 1, 2017 at 3:20 PM, Laura Vargas <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Correction to previous email: That means this year program Google's program Budget has already over expended US$ 210 [US$ 2,970 - US$2,000-US$630-US$550] not including yet Traveler No2 needs. Regards! 2017-10-01 14:18 GMT-05:00 Laura Vargas <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>: Dear Google Mentors Summit Program Managers, It is my understanding you both are co-administrators of the Google Mentors Summit for Mentors funds. Lack of a complete Travel Budget may be causing SLOBs not to be able to make further decisions about the mentor's needs versus the mentor's Budget.. So far what we (SLOBs) know is: 01 Google donation [US$ 3,300 - 10% SFC = US$ 2,970] was meant for two travelers. This is incorrect. We are sending 3 people to the Summit. One is traveling from Nigeria, one is traveling from France, and one from San Francisco. I don't know what the travel from France entails. The debate over the travel from Nigeria continues. The travel from San Francisco will cost Sugar Labs US$0. 02 There is a reimbursement request for US$630 for paying back money advanced to Traveler No1 Samson by one Sugar Labs member. 03 Additionally, with decision 2017-17 SLOBs<https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Oversight_Board/Decisions#2017-09-20> approved Samson's traveling plans for 3 days of Google Summit in the City of San Francisco with US$2,000 for an airplane ticket and US$550 as a cash advance. That means this year program Google's program Budget has already over expended US$ 210 [US$ 2,970-US$630-US$550] not including yet Traveler No2 needs. Not accounted for in your calculations is the additional $4500 that Google gave to Sugar Labs on behalf of the GSoC mentors. IMHO, it is not at all unreasonable to put some of those discretionary funds towards mentor travel. I did not account for the mentor's stipends because historically mentors have not been authorized by SLOBS to decide how Sugar Labs should proceed with their stipends and therefore Stipends have been sent to Sugar Labs general fund. I guess the Board could consider a Motion that enables each Google Mentor to decide how Sugar Labs should execute (spend/invest) their respective stipend. Of course in order to be fair it would need to be a retroactive to all Sugar Labs - Google mentors stipends over the years we have participated. Motion: To enable each Google Mentor to decide how Sugar Labs should execute (spend/invest) their respective stipend. This will apply retroactively to all Sugar Labs - Google mentors stipends over the years we have participated. Looking for solutions, Laura V regards. -walter I hope the 2 mentors can participate and secure a nice experience during the Summit. Please do share a complete travel Budget for all the travelers with all costs associated at your earliest convenience. Regards and happy Sunday, -- Laura V. I&D SomosAZUCAR.Org “Solo la tecnología libre nos hará libres.” ~ L. Victoria Happy Learning! #LearningByDoing #Projects4good #IDesignATSugarLabs #WeCanDoBetter -- Laura V. I&D SomosAZUCAR.Org “Solo la tecnología libre nos hará libres.” ~ L. Victoria Happy Learning! #LearningByDoing #Projects4good #IDesignATSugarLabs #WeCanDoBetter -- Walter Bender Sugar Labs http://www.sugarlabs.org <http://www.sugarlabs.org> -- Laura V. I&D SomosAZUCAR.Org “Solo la tecnología libre nos hará libres.” ~ L. Victoria Happy Learning! #LearningByDoing #Projects4good #IDesignATSugarLabs #WeCanDoBetter
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