I Kept Quiet for far too long. This. Is. WAR!!!

[Swan217]

The following message was sent to target individuals on 16 August, 2009.

To President of FIRST Paul Gudonis, FRC Director Bill Miller, Regional Director Sue Lawrence, and to whom it also may concern,

I have delayed in sending this message in the hopes that my passion over this issue would fade over time. It has not, and circumstances have only strengthened my resolve.

I am outraged and extremely disappointed at how the volunteers have been treated at this year's events. Having volunteered at FIRST events for seven years and having been involved in the FRC for eleven years, I have become accustomed to a certain way volunteers are treated.

In previous years, the way that the volunteering process was handled was that the volunteer inputs his or her information, the events they're attending, and their volunteering preferences into a volunteer database such as VIMS, the local volunteer coordinator then contacts the volunteer to confirm availability and check their qualifications for the position they're volunteering for, and if the positions are filled, work with the volunteer to find another position that suits their talents. I am disappointed and shocked that this is no longer the case.

For the past five years previous to now, I have chosen to volunteer as a referee at competitions including the Great Lakes Regional, the Detroit Regional, the Finger Lakes Regional, the Florida Regional, the Buckeye regional, and last year, the Kettering Rookie Regional. I was a referee at the Championship in 2004 and 2006, and had the distinct privilege to officiate the final matches on Einstein in 2004. I have also been a Head Referee at offseason competitions including Kettering Kickoff, WMRI, Ford Sweet Repeat/TFFRI/ARC, and MARC. Due to personal reasons as well as public ones apparent to anyone who was a referee during FIRST Overdrive, I felt it was no longer productive nor healthy for me to continue to volunteer in this position after 2008.

I therefore decided to utilize my skills as a college DJ and radio host to help the newly formed competition structure in Michigan. I volunteered my services to help with event production and volunteer procurement. I contacted Gail Alpert and Ms. Williamson in August with this in mind, and was told that I would be utilized at a later date. I was excited and ambitious to help this new program reach the high standards that I have seen the FRC set for regionals. I defended the program against naysayers that were afraid of the change that it would bring, because I saw the potential for healthy growth in the FRC.

In September I submitted my requests for volunteering at a personal record of five competitions, with the preference of using my experience as DJ, radio host and FLL MC to shift my FRC experience to Announce, MC, or DJ. With my vast experience in this field as well as my proven dedication to FIRST, I believed I had a decent chance of getting my VIMS choice at at least one new district competition. I was unaware of the unfortunate changes in the volunteering policy.

In early January, I received word from Volunteer Coordinator David Nolff that the positions that I had asked for were filled. I inquired about the refereeing positions and was likewise told that they were filled positions. It turns out that it was a moot point, since I later found out that I am optometrically unqualified to referee this year's game. An open position, however, was FTA, which Mr. Nolff said he needed me to fill. I reluctantly agreed, based on my dedication to helping out wherever I could. I then proceeded to take the initiative to learn everything I could about the position. On January 21st, I followed up and was told that FTA training would occur after February 7th.

On January 30th I was contacted by the head referees of the competitions I was attending, with regards to volunteering as a scorer. I replied that they were misinformed and that I would be the FTA at those events. On February 5th, I was contacted by Kathleen Simpson regarding volunteering as a scorer at the Championship. I likewise informed her that I hadn't applied to be a scorer at the Championship or any other event. She informed me that the VIMS system had recorded me as volunteering for scorer at Kettering, Cass Tech, Wayne State, Troy, and the Championship. I rechecked my VIMS account and replied that her report was wrong, as my VIMS account had me down for Announcer and MC, but that Mr. Nolff had told me I would be FTA instead. I then contacted Mr. Nolff for clarification. Mr Nolff informed me that the FTA position was no longer available and that he had put me as scorer at the last second. I expressed my annoyance at being the last person to know about this change. I then found out from another source that there was a darker rationale for the change.

I learned that the Michigan FIRST Board of Directors had new rules, which prevented me from volunteering in most volunteer roles, especially the ones that I had experience in. I was told that due to certain misunderstandings during FIRST Overdrive, I was put on a blacklist preventing me from refereeing, announcing, MCing, being an FTA, or any other position of responsibility in Michigan. I was understandably incredulous, not to mention frustrated. By mid-February, it is too late to change plans to volunteer out of state, not to mention the hassle of being forced out of the state I have called my home for the past 25 years.

During the last few competition weeks, I have learned more and more angles about this new system. I learned that neither of the events in question were my fault, though both as a referee I take responsibility for, and clearly done without malice or forethought. The first involves a good call that a Head Referee overruled me on, and I am criticized for not sticking with my call, even though it was not mine to make. The second involves myself being a Head Referee at an offseason event, as an inexperienced associate referee made a call that went against a team in the final match, then forgot to mention it to me before the score was posted. I was then forced into a decision where I either had to publicly revoke the call, or include the penalty in the match. Under duress and time constraints, I decided on the latter, without the foresight that it would change the outcome of the match, and therefore, the winning alliance.

These events involved the same team which I, contrary to the call, actually have a great opinion of and respect for. I am friends with mentors and alumni on the team. Unfortunately, taken out of context, the above occasions give an impression of bias against that team. And two of the Michigan FIRST board members are affiliated with this team, which may explain my place on the blacklist. It does not explain the existence of other career FIRST volunteers on this list. I have learned that a Woodie Flowers Award Winner is on this blacklist. I find it appalling that someone who is nationally recognized as the best mentor in the FIRST Robotics Program would be considered unfit to volunteer in the position they usually volunteer for. The fact that they are unwilling to scream "bloody murder" about this injustice just shows their humility and respect and justifies why they have won such a prestigious award. I however am not that humble or revered, so I feel I must be a whistleblower. This person is not the only one who has crossed the Michigan gods. A mentor that I have known for many years and had the privilege to have worked with was on the blacklist. The blacklist includes a courageous young mentor that has taken it upon herself to be the watchdog for equality in FIRST as well as a friend to all teams.

Though I feel honoured to be in such good company, this connection that I have with them is abominable. If FIRST is now allowing bureaucratic board members to wield veto power over hard working altruistic volunteers and me as well, without any concept of how much effort and energy we've put into not getting paid to do what we just love to do, just to satisfy their own ego and powertrip, why is FIRST allowing it to happen?

I talked with the volunteer coordinator at Wayne State during that competition, who was shocked to learn that I had volunteered to MC the Detroit District. You see, she had just spent countless sleepless hours trying to find a person to MC it, and finally begged a few inexperienced Wayne State radio people to do the job. Why put her through all of this hassle, when a completely competent and experienced volunteer is willing to do the job and has been for 6 months? Why doesn't the VIMS system give her the ability to see that I am volunteering for the job, and why is some FIRST board member standing in-between us? Why was Andy Baker forced to travel all of the way to Michigan to be Head Referee at Cass Tech, when there are competent and willing volunteers here in Detroit that would be excited to do it?

A similar situation happened the next week at the Troy event. The announcer was forced to cancel at the last second and personally asked me to fill in for him. I agreed, and informed the volunteer coordinator Margaret that I would be doing so. Meanwhile, a FIRST board member actively solicited other mentors, some of whom had other plans, to fill in because they "couldn't get an announcer." When I showed up to announce on Friday and told MC Dave Verbrugge, that board member rushed up and curtly and rudely snapped at me that "We already have an announcer! We're all set. We're all set!"

I don't understand why FIRST is allowing their board members to interfere with the normal volunteering process. It seems to me that the volunteers should be allowed to volunteer in the way that they prefer to, as long as it doesn't damage the whole FIRST experience. I'm not saying these things for revenge, or for my own personal vindication, but because I am honestly concerned for the integrity of the volunteering process. There are people with power over it who are using it for their own selfish purposes instead of its original intent of procuring reliable and dependable volunteers.

It is my belief that the volunteer process, specifically VIMS, needs to be more transparent. Clearly FIRST Board Members see something completely different than I or Volunteer Coordinators see when I enter VIMS, especially since they're allowed to secretly change my volunteer preferences and volunteer history without me knowing. I am not even sure anymore what VIMS says my volunteer history is - after I send this letter, will it say I'm unfit to volunteer for any position now? If this is how VIMS is being utilized now, then in 2010 I personally will be contacting the regional/district volunteer coordinators individually to state my volunteering intentions instead of using the corrupted VIMS system.

Oh, and by the way, I never heard back from Gail about how I am helping with procuring volunteers and event production. Lip service or not, I am still awaiting that call.

As a final note, when I went down to the real FIRST competition for the Atlanta Championships, I received a completely different welcome. I was bestowed with a golden FIRST volunteer passport, which signified my dedication and longevity with the program. I was overcome with emotion seeing the difference of how I was treated there, which was with respect and dignity. It made me think that if those volunteers that have a longterm interest in volunteering with the FIRST programs were respected so much, perhaps they should be given a first shot at volunteering positions before anyone else. Sort of like a chance to do an early registration. Either way, I find the passport system to be a terrific idea, and I wholly endorse continuing and expanding it to other volunteers.

Thank you for your time,

Regards,

Daniel R. Swando
Cell: 586-XXX-XXXX
XXXXX@gmail.com

[EricVanWyk]

For those of us who do not know the underlying story to this post, could you please explain why you are 'blacklisted'?

Due to personal reasons as well as public ones apparent to anyone who was a referee during FIRST Overdrive, I felt it was no longer productive nor healthy for me to continue to volunteer in this position after 2008.

What happened here?

The blacklist includes a courageous young mentor that has taken it upon herself to be the watchdog for equality in FIRST as well as a friend to all teams.

This phrasing seems to hide a 'coin story': A coin story being one that there is two sides of.

Please tell both sides of these stories, as the current phrasings feel very counterproductive. You may or may not have valid points, I don't know any of these situations personally and FIRST is by no means 100% perfect. However, right now the message you are sending is that you are too hot-headed to be placed in an important role.

This may sound odd, but sometimes the best volunteers are willing to help, rather than wanting/demanding to help.

[Swan217]

Added links for clarification. Will add more when I get home from work today.

As for WHY I'm blacklisted - you'd have to ask FIRST President Gail Alpert or one of the Michigan FIRST Board Members. They refuse to tell me. I have to presume that it's about refereeing calls.

Edit:

This may sound odd, but sometimes the best volunteers are willing to help, rather than wanting/demanding to help.

That's the reason I bit my tongue and kept silent last year and just went along with it. The news that Michigan FIRST is CONTINUING the blacklist next year is why I refuse to be bullied any longer.

[JaneYoung]

I'm not sure I quite understand what your intent is with posting this announcement in ChiefDelphi. It would seem that this is, at this point, personal business, and that you have contacted FIRST regarding your concerns. Beyond that, what else needed to be done? If you felt so strongly that you wanted to share your passionate attack (This.Is.WAR!!!), a better place to have created this thread, might have been in the anonymous forum where you would have had the level-headed wisdom of a moderator to assist you.

You are also including others in your attack that have, for their own reasons, decided not to follow this path of making a public announcement and declaration of 'WAR!!!' I hope that you have checked with them and received their permission to be included in this posting.

Jane

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

I'm not sure I quite understand what your intent is with posting this announcement in ChiefDelphi. It would seem that this is, at this point, personal business, and that you have contacted FIRST regarding your concerns. Beyond that, what else needed to be done?

I'm thinking that he's hoping the added effect of public pressure that posting such a letter might create would influence FiM or FIRST to do something it has not done alone, in a similar - yet less civil - manner to the request for transparency submitted a few weeks back. Not to say the situations are similar, but perhaps that's the line of logic followed.

[Alan Anderson]

I have no independent knowledge of the situation. Without more information, I cannot have an informed attitude towards Dan's position. But I don't think the Chief Delphi forums should be a battleground, and beyond that statement I will not discuss my thoughts on this topic publicly.

[Cory]

I don't see what you expect to achieve by posting here.

Public outcry?

I highly doubt you're going to get members of the ChiefDelphi community calling up FIRST HQ in arms about this.

Airing dirty laundry in public is never a good course of action.

[gblake]

CD isn't FIRST HQ, FIRST HQ isn't a state's FIRST "board". A state board isn't a Regional Director, etc.

So, who knows (no speculation please) the right place/person Dan should contact to untangle and resolve this.

It should turn out to be no big deal to get it cleared up. Let's do what CD does well by pointing him in the right direction and then move forward.

Blake

[EricH]

Originally Posted by gblake

So, who knows (no speculation please) the right place/person Dan should contact to untangle and resolve this.

Ordinarily, the volunteer coordinator is the one you'd go through. If that doesn't work, the Regional Director. With this being MI, you'd go to the MI state board. After the RD or state board, you'd go to whoever the appropriate person is at FRC HQ; namely, whoever is keeping an eye on the state board. From other communications, I get the distinct impression that this would be the FIRST Board of Directors or the FRC Director.

He sent it to them already. Therefore, posting here serves no purpose, other than to get emotions inflamed. When emotions rise, bad things happen.

I would like to express admiration for one thing in the letter, though. Namely, managing to keep a relatively even tone despite obviously simmering inside. That is a rare gift: showing emotion without losing a professional tone. Let's hope that it doesn't need to be cultivated often.

To the mods: Consider this a request that this thread have an eye kept on it to prevent a firestorm.

[Rion Atkinson]

Note: This entire post is in speculation.

For those of you who have said that this is nothing more than dirty laundry being let out to air. You are correct and wrong.

If you look at the top of the letter it states this was sent [to those who can fix it] on August 16, 2009.

That statement means that Mr. Swando has kept this private for as long as possible. But after several months of NO reply. Or possible just a bunch of red tape. He has kept quiet for as long as he can. He refuses to be treated like a number.

As we ALL know. Dave Lavery read CD. And several other FIRST "higher ups" so to speak. So. By posting it here he makes sure that those with power can see it. They may be completely unaware of the situation. Those with power can then help him, if they see fit to do so.

The Title.
By putting "This. Is. WAR!!" in the title of the thread is allows those who are just randomly searching to see it and read it. Thus. More publicity. More people see it. And yes. Numbers can be power. Chief Delphi is, as some have said, "here to help". Not "Here to point you away from us, then wash our hands of you." Which is how I am taking some of your posts. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I for one, for the moment, side with Mr. Swando

-Rion

[ATannahill]

I usually don't post in heated threads and I hope not to regret this.

Dan, I thank you for all the assistance and dedication you give to FIRST. You are someone I look up to.

I do not feel that giving negative feedback about how people, especially those who donate time, talent and other things, are treated is a bad thing. At times, I have felt abused by people that request my time and I walk away worked up. It is important to settle down over time, some things might take weeks or months, before talking to anyone about it. A letter this long obviously had time and thought put into it. If it is posted here after three months than Dan has thought it through and stands by it.

I wish you the best of luck. Remember, if FiM doesn't want you in one of the positions then don't be discouraged, you shouldn't let the board members control your emotions.

[Molten]

If they don't want you, don't volunteer. If your a good volunteer, it's their loss. I really can't judge your abilities from the few posts I've read from you. However, I must side with those that say CD simply isn't the place for this. As someone posted earlier, Dave might stumble acrossed this...but so what? What are you expecting him or anyone else to do? You've contacted the people you need, now you really need to just wait. It might take years but that's what needs to be done.

Last note: Always think to yourself, is this the message I want passed onto my students? If you really want this to be the example you set, keep doing it. I, for one, wouldn't want to set such an example.

Sorry for the annoyance of this post, it just seems people are using CD more and more as a battleground. Please don't do that no matter what the battle is.

Sincerely,
Jason

[Ken Patton]

Its pretty encouraging to see that there can be some good discussion on CD even after a declaration of war (dangit Dan, that was extreme - its good that you have followed up in a more diplomatic fashion, keep trying). CD is a good place to have the discussion imho, because I don't think there is much discussion going on anywhere else. The concentration of volunteers is probably pretty high at this site. Hopefully the discussion continues in a positive way.

The FiM organization has some very hardworking and incredibly dedicated individuals who have a point of view. My experience has been that people who may have other points of view are not typically encouraged to give input to FiM. I'm one of 'em. I have tried to give input or ask questions in the past, with multiple approaches (private, public, official, unofficial), to get discussion going about making things better, and feel like it has not gone very far, and even put some people on the defensive. It would be great if the trend toward transparency applied in this great state too.

Its one thing to have a list of people who you don't want in key positions because you don't think they will do a great job. Its entirely another to have a list of people who you don't want because they don't share your point of view.

What to do? Maybe the best thing to do is to volunteer where we are appreciated. Communicate directly with the volunteer coordinator. Help the volunteer coordinators do their job, and expose situations where they are being overridden by politics. Make sure we are qualified for the jobs we are going after. Keep the discussions about this stuff going on, so others can learn from the experiences.

We definitely have to keep volunteering, we know that - FRC needs us.

Ken

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Ken Patton

Its pretty encouraging to see that there can be some good discussion on CD even after a declaration of war (dangit Dan, that was extreme - its good that you have followed up in a more diplomatic fashion, keep trying). CD is a good place to have the discussion imho, because I don't think there is much discussion going on anywhere else. The concentration of volunteers is probably pretty high at this site. Hopefully the discussion continues in a positive way.

The FiM organization has some very hardworking and incredibly dedicated individuals who have a point of view. My experience has been that people who may have other points of view are not typically encouraged to give input to FiM. I'm one of 'em. I have tried to give input or ask questions in the past, with multiple approaches (private, public, official, unofficial), to get discussion going about making things better, and feel like it has not gone very far, and even put some people on the defensive. It would be great if the trend toward transparency applied in this great state too.

Its one thing to have a list of people who you don't want in key positions because you don't think they will do a great job. Its entirely another to have a list of people who you don't want because they don't share your point of view.

What to do? Maybe the best thing to do is to volunteer where we are appreciated. Communicate directly with the volunteer coordinator. Help the volunteer coordinators do their job, and expose situations where they are being overridden by politics. Make sure we are qualified for the jobs we are going after. Keep the discussions about this stuff going on, so others can learn from the experiences.

We definitely have to keep volunteering, we know that - FRC needs us.

Ken

I just really took the time to read and re-read Ken's post. It has my attention.

(There are at least 3 topics in this thread that I can count but I think this post connects directly with some of Dan's frustrations.)

One of my fears/concerns regarding districts is the potential for little fiefdoms to create themselves due to any number of reasons - one being lack of experience in managing the program on a district level. Another being a lack of common vision or shared vision for continual and on-going development at a district level. If voices are being silenced or shut out and no one is willing to listen to the wisdom of someone like Ken Patton and be open to discussions regarding how to improve and evolve by listening to wise input, then this shows a weakness, not a strength, in the developing program and its implementation.

[Andy Grady]

I remember when I was a kid just out of high school about 12 years ago. I found this forum and saw that it was a wonderful place to share ideas about the game, building robots, teams and the methods they used to get through the season. It was an excellent place for a kid to really connect with other people and enjoy science and technology on a whole new level.

Today I look on this forum and I see alot of crap about behind the scenes politics and about how people are angry and miserable about this program. All things that were always very hidden to the eye of a student in my day. Back then, a student like me who was surfing this board enjoyed a sense of the magic that was a FIRST competition. Today a student surfing this board is saturated by the negative backdoor junk that they shouldn't even be subjected to.

Years ago I couldn't imagine FIRST without this board.

Today, I wonder if I should even promote this board to my kids at all.

Its a darn shame.

Maybe its time we should all get back to the basics...the joy of building something amazing with the people you care about.