Blast from FIRST 12/22/03

[Mike Martus]

I was asked to put the body of a blast that is being issued at this moment on the forum because FIRST is having web problems at the moment.

This is quite important and they need the word out as soon as possible:

Here it is:

Subject: Withdrawal of the Youth Protection and Adult Leadership Policy



December 22, 2003



In light of the concerns that have arisen regarding the Youth Protection and

Adult Leadership Policy introduced this year, the Steering Committee of the

Board of Directors decided to withdraw it. This withdrawal will allow time

for FIRST to resolve the issues and to come up with an approach that best

fits FIRST¹s values and situation.



FIRST continues to take the safety and security of participants seriously.

We must always make a top priority the safety and security of everyone

involved in FIRST and we ask everyone to take all necessary measures.



One of the key challenges facing FIRST as it grows, is to develop policies

that help manage the risks involved with providing an extraordinary learning

experience for a large number of kids (and adults) without destroying the

individual initiatives and entrepreneurial thinking that create that

experience. Unfortunately, the larger you grow, the more complicated that

becomes. Because the issue of balancing between the risk of too few rules

with the risk of too many is a very complex one, affecting the many

constituencies of FIRST in different ways, we have elected to take the time

necessary to get it right.



We recognize that the policy was the result of a great deal of work by many

individuals, and we wish to thank them for this effort. We also thank those

who raised their concerns. We realize that everyone, no matter what their

view on the issue, has been motivated by concern for our participants and

success of FIRST.



We realize that the policy was based on policies used by other

organizations, that it was reviewed by legal counsel, and that the intent of

the policy was supported by many. We now know that the policy in its current

form created serious difficulties for a number of individuals, teams and

organizations, and we apologize for those difficulties.



We know that the vast majority of FIRST volunteers, whatever their role, are

dedicated to the highest level of ethical behavior and to the well being of

our participants. The policy was never intended to question that dedication.

We must determine the most appropriate measures for offering the caring and

safe environment that characterizes FIRST. We are confident that with

dialogue and healthy debate, in the spirit of the Œgracious

professionalism¹, we will find the measures with the most benefit and the

least drawbacks. In the meantime, we ask everyone to continue to offer a

safe and secure environment for FIRST activities. To use the example of

another safety measure, many find the safety goggles are inconvenient, but

we have concluded that the benefits of wearing safety goggles at

competitions outweigh the inconvenience.



As we move forward, we plan to view the specific issues that the policy

addressed from the broader perspective of overall risk management. This is

an increasingly challenging field, but with your suggestions, support and

vigilance, we are sure that FIRST will continue to offer exciting and unique

learning experiences that are also safe and secure.



Thanks for your support,





John Abele Paul Shay

Chairman of the Board of Trustees Incoming Executive Director