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
[email protected]
Also: This. Is. Sparta! (ok ok I’m only here for comic relief)