Districts in Texas proposal sent to FIRST

[Coach Norm]

Texas Mentors and Coaches received the email below yesterday regarding Districts in Texas.

Norman

You are receiving this email because you are the main or alternate contact of a FIRST Robotics Competition team in Texas. Please read the email in its entirety.


Over the past several years, FIRST in Texas, the FRC Regional Directors in Texas, Senior Mentors, and other Texas organizers have worked together to research and evaluate District Model implementation in Texas. We have met with our friends in other states and regions who have already adopted the District Model (Michigan, New England, Pacific Northwest, Chesapeake, Indiana, South Carolina, and Georgia) to learn from their experience so that we can make the best decisions for our state. The change is not just to the size of FRC events, but includes significant changes to financial responsibility, team opportunity within the state, and, in our great state of Texas, geography and team travel costs. Our shared goal is to increase accessibility and opportunity for our teams in Texas, including the ability to sustain expected team growth for years to come.

After careful consideration and planning, we submitted a District Model draft proposal to FIRST Headquarters in May. Over the next few weeks, we will work with FIRST HQ to jointly determine if our logistics and funding plans match their expectations and those of the board of FIRST in Texas. Our goal is to make a final decision by the end of June as to whether or not Texas is moving to the District Model in 2017.

If we decide to move forward, you will receive extensive information detailing the logistics, how we plan to move forward in the district model and what to expect.

We look forward to communicating our decision in the next few weeks, and we hope to see many of you in late July at the UIL State Championship—FIRST Division.

Regards,


Ray Almgren
Chair, FIRST in Texas