FIRST Youth Protection Program

[Steven Smith]

A student on my team who is a big FIRST enthusiast was having a hard time fitting in, both on CD and on the team. A very well respected mentor reached out to him over private messages on Chief Delphi, and helped show him how he needed to behave. After the conversation, the student became a much better team member, and I'm thankful for what that mentor did. If I follow YPP, I am required to report that "incident" to FIRST. I won't, but you get the idea.

I went ahead and spent a few minutes reading through the YPP, and I don't see what you described as being an issue. I feel like the YPP actually leaves a little grey area for interpretation.

CD is a forum that is certainly used for "team activities and educational purposes". The mentor was not trying to keep anything a secret, just to protect the feelings of the student. The context of the conversation would likely be clearly interpreted by anyone reading it as appropriate.

You would only be required to report this interaction if you believed that abuse occurred, or if you simply had a question... clearly you don't.

Let's tweak the scenario. Same thing happened, but a less well intentioned adult sends a PM with a few choice expletives about a person's behavior on CD. The student feels threatened by it. The YPP simply provides a tool to report such interactions.

Or, a student becomes "friends" with a Chief Delphi adult. Can they exchange PMs... sure. However, a smart mentor might consider forwarding the PM to the listed adult for that team, especially if it is a repeated thing. Also, watch out for "out of bounds requests". A student might say something like "I'd like to meet up with you at competition." This is an innocent request in most cases, but you would be wise to let another adult know (such as their team's lead mentor) that a student on their team would like to say hello at competition. Then the other team's mentor can at least be aware of the situation, and tag along if they have any reason to suspect an issue. This of course assumes you're meeting them at their team's pit, the inspection station, something clearly in public view.

The purpose of this doesn't appear to be to severely change any behaviors, but to take an appropriate amount of precautions to be able to definitively say that "everything is ok"... instead of just assuming it is.

[magnets]

Originally Posted by Steven Smith

I went ahead and spent a few minutes reading through the YPP, and I don't see what you described as being an issue. I feel like the YPP actually leaves a little grey area for interpretation.

Any adult working with a FIRST team who is aware
of a violation of this Code, or who is in doubt about
whether or not a behavior is appropriate, is required
to immediately consult a team Lead Coach/Mentor (if a
team Lead Coach/Mentor is not the potential violator), or
the hosting school or organization, and if satisfied with
the guidance provided, to act in accordance with it.

and

Engaging in personal exchanges such as phone calls,
e-mail, texting, social networking, etc., with a child
outside the context of team activities, educational
matters, or career concerns.

The content of the messages had nothing to do with education, FIRST, our team, or a career. It was written as a response to a view a student had on something unrelated to robots.

[Jon Stratis]

Nothing in this says you have to think of people as threats... just keep your eyes open and follow common-sense guidelines. Two or more mentors at every meeting. Meet in public places. Keep communications as public as possible, and on-topic. You make it habit, and its something you don't think of anymore. The team still has fun and you still get to know the students and other mentors very well (after all, you see them more than your own family!). You're just more aware of how things might look to an impartial third party, and make decisions to make things more open and more public.

As an example, at the MN State Championship last year, myself and another mentor were the last to leave, along with two of our students. We walked them to their cars together (which weren't all that close to each other), and then both took the long hike to a different parking lot in the other direction to get to our cars. It wasn't a question of trust - I have complete and total faith in the mentor I was with, and know both of the students well enough to know nothing bad would happen. Despite that, we maintained the "two mentor" rule. It protects the students, and it protects us. Doing it with people you completely trust also makes it easier/more natural to do it with people you don't know as well or have a weird feeling about.

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by magnets

Any adult working with a FIRST team who is aware
of a violation of this Code, or who is in doubt about
whether or not a behavior is appropriate, is required
to immediately consult a team Lead Coach/Mentor (if a
team Lead Coach/Mentor is not the potential violator), or
the hosting school or organization, and if satisfied with
the guidance provided, to act in accordance with it.

and

Engaging in personal exchanges such as phone calls,
e-mail, texting, social networking, etc., with a child
outside the context of team activities, educational
matters, or career concerns.

The content of the messages had nothing to do with education, FIRST, our team, or a career. It was written as a response to a view a student had on something unrelated to robots.

As you said, the mentor used the PM to show the student how they should behave. I, personally, would classify that both career concerns (you need to know how to behave appropriately) and as a team concern, as the student is a representative of the team.

[sanddrag]

For Team Main Contacts (and I'm assuming Alternate Contacts), when you log into TIMS, you are forced to watch the video before it will continue to the next page. Just a heads up.

[sanddrag]

So I'm going through the process, and was not pleased by Pages 3 and 4 of the Privacy Policy (PDF) on the Verified Volunteers website.

I will most certainly be sending an opt-out e-mail and I recommend every else do the same. Pretty shady to involuntarily be opted-in to selling your information to advertizing companies and debt collection agencies.

Okay FIRST, can we now get a Mentor Protection Program that protects us from having our personal information sold by your volunteer verification company?

Also, it doesn't work in FireFox. Chrome seems ok.

[Gregor]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

So I'm going through the process, and was not pleased by Pages 3 and 4 of the Privacy Policy (PDF) on the Verified Volunteers website.

I will most certainly be sending an opt-out e-mail and I recommend every else do the same. Pretty shady to involuntarily be opted-in to selling your information to advertizing companies and debt collection agencies.

Okay FIRST, can we now get a Mentor Protection Program that protects us from having our personal information sold by your volunteer verification company?

Also, it doesn't work in FireFox. Chrome seems ok.

From page 4.

If you wish to opt-out of sharing your Personal Information with third party marketers for their own and third party direct marketing purposes, please send an email with your name and address to TheAdvocates@verifiedvolunteers.com.Information Security.

If I'm reading that correctly, by default people's information is being forwarded to third party marketers.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by Gregor

If I'm reading that correctly, by default people's information is being forwarded to third party marketers.

That's how I read it, and I don't like it.

[techtiger1]

I mean you guys are reading into this like your information isn't public already. Cell phone companies sell your info to 3rd parties all the time and pretty much everyone here has some form of social media. The real test will be to see if the opt out actually works. Meaning that FIRST is actually protecting your information rather then just covering themselves legally. Which at the end of the day is all the YPP and this other stuff is.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by techtiger1

I mean you guys are reading into this like your information isn't public already. Cell phone companies sell your info to 3rd parties all the time and pretty much everyone here has some form of social media. The real test will be to see if the opt out actually works. Meaning that FIRST is actually protecting your information rather then just covering themselves legally. Which at the end of the day is all the YPP and this other stuff is.

Sorry but, no. Even if other people are selling my information I don't have to like it or allow everyone else to do it.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by techtiger1

I mean you guys are reading into this like your information isn't public already.

No, we're reading into it like it's our information and it should be private by default.

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by magnets

be careful and have common sense when you're dealing with people to avoid bad situations.

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

just keep your eyes open and follow common-sense guidelines.

There is no common sense when it comes to law and lawyers.

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

we maintained the "two mentor" rule. It protects the students, and it protects us.

Indeed. Protect yourself from false claims, protect your kids from real claims. Try really hard to avoid situations where it is one's word against the other's.

That being said, also read whatever it is you write and imagine how it could be re-interpreted in court. leave no room for later re-interpretation where possible.

[martin417]

Since the team I was working with back in 2012 did not have a teacher sponsor, I became the main team contact. The following year, the team did not compete (due to lack of teacher sponsor). I have since moved on to another team. This year, the original team has found a sponsor and wishes to compete. They sent me an email and asked me to invite the new sponsor as the main team contact. I figured it would be as simple as quickly logging into TIMS and making the invite. I was forced to watch a video that I didn't have time for, then allowed into TIMS. I was then forced down a long and winding path that eventually led me another website where I was asked for much personal information. When they asked for my social security number, I drew the line. This is becoming far too intrusive. I am already in violation of this new policy since I have contact with many current and former students through social media (including this website).

I resent being treated as a criminal or a child molester just because I volunteer my time to help these kids. I sent an email to FIRST and asked them to change the main team contact. I hope that works. I will have to think long and hard about whether I will become involved with FIRST this year if this is required. After the fiasco that was last years' game, I was already wondering if FIRST is heading in a direction that I don't want to follow. This new policy seems to reinforce that worry.

[mklinker]

For those complaining about the new Youth Protection Guidelines please ask yourselves the following:

How many students being molested by an Adult is too many? Do you really think that this has never happened in FIRST? Is it really not worth your time to further guarantee the safety of the youth involved?

Yes, the video is long and asking for your SSN in intrusive but the SSN is what is used to do a limited criminal history check. This has been done in other youth organizations for some time (Boy Scouts for example). Ask BSA how much it cost them when they did NOT have a solid youth protection program implemented.

For those concerned with the selling of data the opt out process is simple.

On an unrelated note....Last years game was GREAT (The best in the last three seasons)....It forced teams to work together

[FrankJ]

Originally Posted by martin417

snip
I resent being treated as a criminal or a child molester just because I volunteer my time to help these kids. I sent an email to FIRST and asked them to change the main team contact.

Do realize that if you were being treated as a child molester you would not be allowed any contact with the kids or associated with First.

The primary & alternate contact is required to have a background check. Hence all the questions. Since you are dropping that position you don't need that & an email or phone call should work. Sort of a special case. Whomever takes up that mantle will go through the background check though.

Unfortunately the predators go where the youth are. So youth programs all need some sort of YPP. The First video is minimal. I have a three hour session this weekend for being associated with my church's youth group. I have to do two 1 hour different sessions every two years for scouting.