FIRST Youth Protection Program

[blturner]

I don't have time for all of this. I need to re-think my participation. We always use 2 rooms for our meetings. A computer lab for the programmers and the shop for the robots. The rooms are adjacent but not what I would call "In Sight" . We also practice out in the hallway. I need 4-5 adults to do this. I would have to manage the adults and also double the parent participation rate to achieve that. If I don't, I now have a risk of being accused of putting the kids at risk.

The Boy Scout YPP is better than this. FIRST YPP doesn't teach about "Grooming". FIRST YPP leaves out anyone whose parents both work evenings. That means the disadvantaged and minorities. We have a student whose mom can't drive because she is disabled, and no-one is allowed to give him a ride home. Were also going to loose our lead programmer. The only way to (maybe) be compliant is for two adults to run the kids home and then come back to school to drop the extra adult off to their car.

FIRST says that anyone over 18 is an adult. Most school districts treat any student as a protected youth. The conflicts that this raises make my head spin.

Sorry, I have not read this whole thread. Sorry if I repeated anything. Sorry for venting. I'm in a pretty sorry state.

Brian

[FrankJ]

Having taught the Boy Scout YPP a number of years... I am not sure it is better. Maybe a little different & more mature. It too has a no one on one rule. Which means no closed rooms or taking a youth home solo.

The head coach/mentor defines how to implement the First YP program & how it integrates into programs already in place such as a school's.

Aside from the human cost, failures in this area will be very expensive. As the boyscout, Penn State, & the catholic church can attest to.

[Monochron]

Do the two contacts have to be the "Main" and "Alternate"? For instance, our team has a school official listed as our Alternate contact, mostly for financial/sponsorship reasons, but as she doesn't really interact with the team, it seems odd that she should have to be the second person screened...

[g_sawchuk]

Originally Posted by Monochron

Do the two contacts have to be the "Main" and "Alternate"? For instance, our team has a school official listed as our Alternate contact, mostly for financial/sponsorship reasons, but as she doesn't really interact with the team, it seems odd that she should have to be the second person screened...

From what I see it just says the lead mentors/mentors who interact with the members the most. Unless you only have one mentor, I think it would be the mentor who interacts the most plus the mentor who interacts the second most. If the school official is not interacting with the members much, it seems like she would not require a check. It would be surprising if she was required to have one if she is one of the least involved (member interaction wise). However, she most likely has a non-FIRST screening done anyways if she is a school official, as I assume any adult working at a school would require a check. As FIRST said:

"Alternative (non-FIRST) screening may be accepted in lieu
of FIRST screening at the discretion of the team’s Lead
Coaches/Mentors."

Therefore, she could submit the one that she had to complete to work for the school, making it quite easy and simple.
Hope this clarifies things, and let me know if I got anything wrong.

[Monochron]

Originally Posted by GrifBot

From what I see it just says the lead mentors/mentors who interact with the members the most. Unless you only have one mentor, I think it would be the mentor who interacts the most plus the mentor who interacts the second most.

Currently the screening is only available to her and our lead mentor. Are there instructions somewhere that I am missing as to how to open the screening to a mentor who is not Main or Alternate?

[FrankJ]

Right now the TIMs automatically does the screening process for the primary/alternate contacts. If you where a event volunteer last year (registered in VIMs), you might already have been screened.

The process to screen other mentors is still in the works. From the 8/21 email blast:

Youth Protection Program (YPP) Screening for Mentors who are not Lead Mentors: The background screening mechanism for mentors who are not the Lead Mentors is still in development. Please stay tuned for details on how to screen additional coaches and mentors who work with your team. It is up to the Lead Mentors to decide which additional coaches and mentors need to be screened.

[Monochron]

Youth Protection Program (YPP) Screening for Mentors who are not Lead Mentors: The background screening mechanism for mentors who are not the Lead Mentors is still in development. Please stay tuned for details on how to screen additional coaches and mentors who work with your team. It is up to the Lead Mentors to decide which additional coaches and mentors need to be screened.

We technically don't want to screen additional mentors, we just want to use a non-Main, non-Alternate mentor as our "Second screened mentor".
I'm guessing that the answer is the same though; that functionality is not yet implemented.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Monochron

We technically don't want to screen additional mentors, we just want to use a non-Main, non-Alternate mentor as our "Second screened mentor".
I'm guessing that the answer is the same though; that functionality is not yet implemented.

The Main Contact would have to remove the Alternate Contact or the Alternate contact would have to remove his/herself. Then the main contact would be able to invite a replacement for the alternate contact. This has been present in TIMS for as long as I can remember.

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

The Main Contact would have to remove the Alternate Contact or the Alternate contact would have to remove his/herself. Then the main contact would be able to invite a replacement for the alternate contact. This has been present in TIMS for as long as I can remember.

If I understand correctly, they want to keep the school administrator as the alternate contact, but have their 2nd official screening on another mentor rather than the administrator.

[Libby K]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

If I understand correctly, they want to keep the school administrator as the alternate contact, but have their 2nd official screening on another mentor rather than the administrator.

Right - but as it exists now, the YPP screening works with the official contacts in TIMS. So either they have to screen the administrator, or change their alternate contact. My guess is, they'd have to write to HQ for a more official answer or solution.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

If I understand correctly, they want to keep the school administrator as the alternate contact, but have their 2nd official screening on another mentor rather than the administrator.

I kinda skipped over that because I assumed they went through the FAQ.

Originally Posted by FIRST YPP FAQ

It may be too difficult to find a second coach for our team. Suggestions?

The two screened Lead Coaches do not need to attend every meeting.

For school teams the second coach could be the vice principal or science department head. Schools have the option of one adult per classroom, so the second Lead Coach would not need to attend meetings.

I mean, FIRST allows this to happen within the bounds of its program. The school official only needs to take somewhere between 5-10 minutes to complete the necessary requirements.

[Monochron]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

I mean, FIRST allows this to happen within the bounds of its program. The school official only needs to take somewhere between 5-10 minutes to complete the necessary requirements.

Right, we wouldn't have done it if FIRST didn't allow it, it is just odd that the screening HAS to be those two people. It just makes more sense for an actual mentor who will be with the team frequently to be screened than it does an administrator.

On top of that, I know that I can do the screening tonight (for instance) whereas I have no idea when the administrator will be able to get it done.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Monochron

Right, we wouldn't have done it if FIRST didn't allow it, it is just odd that the screening HAS to be those two people. It just makes more sense for an actual mentor who will be with the team frequently to be screened than it does an administrator.

On top of that, I know that I can do the screening tonight (for instance) whereas I have no idea when the administrator will be able to get it done.

It's likely because they couldn't add the feature or didn't find it worthwhile enough to fix for this year, but I'm talking out of thin air now.

At least you caught it now, a month before registration. I think if you met with the official to talk it through it wouldn't be a problem, but i dunno.

[donkehote]

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.

Has there been any update on the opt out process? It seems totally wrong to have to opt out of having your information sold to third parties. Has first changed anything? Im curious, and after having conversations on the YPP recently, i thought id bring this up again.

[Karthik]

On October 17th we received an email from FIRST's YPP Screening account that said:

Originally Posted by Non-Lead Coach/Mentor Screening - US and Canada

Non-Lead Coach/Mentor Screening (Team Volunteers) is recommended but not required.

Lead Coaches and/or Lead Mentors may request screening for their Team Volunteers at no charge to those volunteers.

Simply follow the steps below if you would like your Team Volunteers screened by FIRST:

· Invite the Team Volunteers to your team via your TIMS account.
· Send an email to: yppscreening@usfirst.org
o List FIRST, LAST name and EMAIL ADDRESS.
· FIRST will generate an email to your Team Volunteers inviting them to go to the FIRST account with the contracted screening agency for either the US or Canada.
· FIRST will send you confirmation of Team Volunteers who have passed screening.
If you have any questions, please send them directly to yppscreening@usfirst.org.

We followed the above indicated steps on October 29th, and followed up again on November 7th, but have yet to receive any communication from FIRST. Have any other teams had success with the Non-Lead Coach/Mentor Screening process? I'm sure they're very busy with screenings, but I always get nervous when this much time passes without a confirmation email.