Earlier today, in a post that has since been hidden from their news page, FIRST in Texas published an official statement regarding the cancellation of the Early Bird Qualifier and their perspective. This statement from FIRST in Texas so deeply misrepresents the situation at hand that we, as long-term members of the North Texas FTC community, wanted to provide commentary on what actually occurred here and why.
FiTs Post: Note to our Community: FIRST Tech Challenge in Texas - FIRST in Texas : FIRST in Texas
Disclaimers, Position, and Call to Action
Before reviewing our comments please read the following disclaimers and position of the volunteers:
Disclaimer
We, as key volunteers of North Texas FTC, do not speak for Lon Cherryholmes, the FTC Program Delivery Coordinator of North Texas. The information shared below are conclusions drawn from our own experience with FiT and are not intended to represent Lon Cherryholmesâ opinions.
Position of the Volunteers:
We support Lon Cherryholmes as our local FiT representative.
Request for Remedy:
We ask that FIRST in Texas take the following steps to make this right
- Reinstate the qualifier as an official advancing event
- Issue an apology to the teams affected by their statements
- Issue an apology to the North Texas planning committee for accusations of collusion with teams
- In the future: work with the volunteers and teams first before issuing guidance on how to proceed.
Texas Model
FiT Claimed:
âIn 2019, we worked with then local leadership to draft the âTexas Modelâ that FIRST approved in 2020. It aligned with the diverse needs of our state that provided a consistent method of engagement for our young Texans. This initially established Texas as a âLeague Playâ environment. â
âThe Texas Model was developed with input from regional leaders in 2019 and was approved by FIRST in 2020.â
Volunteer Commentary:
As long-time volunteers, we have encountered the so-called âTexas Modelâ a few times during our tenure. This proposed model was first discussed in 2019. At that time, FTC in Texas had five distinct Regions (North, West, Central, South, and East). North, South, and East were not under FIRST in Texas at the time. FIRST in Texas worked with the Partner Organizations in North, South, and East (as well as Texas Tech, who managed West on FiTâs behalf) to create a proposal for a State Championship model. Since each region was considered its own entity at the time, a state championship had to be approved by all PDPs and FIRST. Some members of FiT tried to implement in versions of this State Championship Proposal restrictions around models of play for the entire state. However, the version ratified and approved by FIRST in no way dictated the expected play models in Texas, beyond providing a long term goal of moving the state to league play.
In fact, following the quote âapprovalâ of this model, North continued to run primarily qualifiers until the 2022-2023 PowerPlay season.
If this âmodelâ was later ratified by the FiT board of directors, that has never been communicated to us and we were not aware of this limitation.
In the 2023-2024 season, the then FTC Operations Manager at FiT created the Competition Model Manual linked in the post (Texas Model). Though she wishes to stay out of the fray, she offers the following comments to the record:
âWhen I created this manual the singular focus was to explain how advancement worked in Texas. We had just merged from four separate regions into one single region and I wanted to accommodate for the different versions of advancement and play in each area. This was never intended to be a firm example of all states of play, and did not account for the last call qualifier since that event was unique to North.
When I was at FiT, I had multiple conversations with the executive director about qualifiers and reintroducing them to which he gave his blessing and told me that he believed in the North PDC and I to handle North as needed. The executive director never once said that this state of play needed to be approved by the board. And in fact in my time working for FiT as the FTC Operations Manager I was not aware that there was a formal mechanism for board approval needed in order to put on events when a clear need was demonstrated. It was my understanding that it was up to the discretion of the PDC to plan events for their area.â
So while FiT claims this was a known model, even their previous FTC Operations Manager was unaware of this being a firm model that required board-level approval to change.
Last Call Qualifier:
FiT Claimed:
âFor the 2022 â 2023 season, with feedback from our North Texas community, we introduced the âLast Call Qualifierâ as a pilot program, for rookie teams that were still being impacted with supply chain issues or rural teams facing significant transportation cost challenges without local funding. This accommodation is part of FIRST in Texasâ broader efforts to grow access to our programs, not just in metro areas, but also in support of rural and underserved communities.
We now have the âLast Call Qualifierâ available in all five sub regions of Texas, ensuring this crucial resource is available statewide. The local Program Delivery Coordinator is responsible for activating the Last Call Qualifier as needed based on registrations and feedback from their community.â
Please note: the initial release of this document stated that the Last Call Qualifier was first piloted in 2023-2024.
Volunteer Commentary:
FIRST in Texas claims they introduced a last-call qualifier in North in 2023-2024, but this is categorically false. They have now adjusted their statement to update dates. See the first recorded Last Call Qualifier here: USTXNOFMQ FTC Event Web : Event Information
North Texas FTC swapped from a majority qualifier model to a majority league model in the 2022-2023 PowerPlay season. We were told by FiT that we needed to be majority leagues, but we kept and maintained a last-call qualifier for rookie teams who did not sign up early enough to compete in leagues. As far as we were aware, as long-time representatives of North, this was not a pilot program by FiT; this was an event that occurred in only North due to need.
Prior to the recent developments that led to this decision, neither West nor Central had any plans on their season schedules for a Last-call qualifier. See below where Centrals most recent season schedule (posted on their padlet) does not have any qualifiers in their season schedule. If this was a plan to roll out across the state this season it was not in any prior communications until this situation arose.
Additionally this statement says âall five sub regions of FiTâ. However, East (Houston) is not under FiT and is a separate PDO from North, South, Central, and West. FiT cannot make these claims on Houstonâs behalf.
Ensuring Parity Across Texas Together
FiT Claimed:
âOn October 1, 2024, we were contacted by a FIRST Tech Challenge coach with concerns there were two Qualifiers established in his Area to directly support the request of 14 teams, with over 85% of the teams from one school that also travels and participates in the FIRST Robotics Competition program.â
Volunteer Commentary:
All three NTX qualifiers (including the Last Call qualifier) were intended to be 32-36 team events. The idea was that any team who wanted to opt out of leagues would have the option to compete in two qualifiers as a replacement. Any teams in leagues could opt into one qualifier. There were 14 teams who had previously competed in C-League (the league that these qualifiers were replacing), so they were guaranteed spots in these two qualifiers. In order to broaden the experience for those teams, and prevent teams in those two events from having preferential opportunities to advance, the qualifiers would also be available for other teams in the area to compete at. Historically, traditionally top teams â teams likely to advance to the Area Championship in any event â take the top advancement spots at these early-season tournaments. This would ensure that for the 14 teams ensured spots in these two qualifiers, they would have to still outperform other teams in the area in order to achieve advancement. Having some teams âadvance earlyâ would also free up advancement spots in later League Tournaments which helps other teams to obtain advancement.
These qualifiers were never intended to be only a specific 14 teams. We expressed this to FiT multiple times in the ensuing conversations. FiTâs statement seems to imply that these two qualifiers were only for the 14 teams competing which is untrue.
FiT Claimed:
Original Release Version: âFIRST in Texas reviewed the concerns, interviewed our staff, and connected with others within that Area. We found that the local planning committee and our coordinator, during the summer, and at the behest of the school mentor, worked outside the scope of what they were allowed to do without approval in a few key areas.â
Updated Release Version: âFIRST in Texas reviewed the concerns, talked with our staff, the local planning committee, and connected with others within that Area. We found that the local planning committee and our coordinator, during the summer, and at the behest of the school mentor, worked outside the scope of what they were allowed to do without approval in a few key areas.â
Volunteer Commentary:
Please note the timeline here:
- May 2024 - the previous FTC Operations Manager left her role with FiT
- Late August 2024 - The new FiT Operations Manager started at the end of August
- September 7th - North FTC PDC announced the season schedule to North Texas teams, including the qualifier
- Late September 2024 - former C-league teams completed the Regional Registration fee ($300)
- October 1st - Coach complained directly to FiT Executive Director
- October 5th - The local planning committee was informed that the event was going to be canceled.
- October 8th - A call happened with selected local key volunteers and the new FiT operations manager
- October 9th - Qualifier event organizers send an appeal directly to FiT
- October 9th - Appeal was denied by FiT Executive Director
So, during the most critical time for season planning, North Texas planners were left without guidance or a formal way to contact FIRST in Texas about season planning. In previous seasons similar changes and suggestions had gone through without objection by FiT.
When the previous operations manager left, she said that she had been given the green light to explore qualifiers in more depth. Since there was no âformal approval processâ that she (or anyone else in North Texas) was aware of, we proceeded with exploring the model that best fit the needs of the teams in our region.
FiTâs claim that they communicated with the planning groups to get insight into this is a false narrative. By the time we were included as part of the discussion, the decision had already been made to cancel the upcoming event. No feedback or appeal we provided on why the event should remain seemed to matter.
Additionally, despite our appeals and feedback, itâs clear that they still do not understand the intention of the event since they seem to believe that these were geared to serve only â14 teams.â
FiT Claimed
âThis in no way aligns to the âTexas Modelâ and equitable delivery of programs that we promote in Texas. FIRST in Texas leadership made the decision to change one of the two events to a âscrimmage / non-advancingâ and left the second event as a âQualifierâ to allow those 14 teams, not wanting to compete in League Play, to earn possible advancement for this season. Our decision involved discussions with our management team and we decided that since the season had already started, that canceling both events could possibly impact the teams ability to join a league as they have done in previous years.â
Volunteer Commentary:
FiTâs claim is that having qualifiers is ânot equitableâ. FiT claims that having a mix model of play, is ânot equitableâ. That organizing events to work best for the teams who are competing, is not equitable.
FiT for many years has misunderstood equitability. To them âequality = equitabilityâ. That an equal playing field is preferred over a level playing field. They believe that all regions of Texas should look and play the exactly the same. However, the core issue is that Texas is so large geographically, diversity, and in number of teams that trying to make things exactly the âsameâ is actually a disservice to the teams competing in these areas. West, which is comprised almost entirely of rural town teams, has different competitive needs than North which is comprised of a lot of inner city teams. Even within North we have a special league targeted to our rural teams, since their needs are different from those of the inner city and suburban teams. Our community is rich and diverse. In FiTâs version of trying to substitute âequalityâ (identical) for âequityâ (level), FIRST in Texas is working counter to their mission, and closing more teams out of the program, particularly those teams that are underrepresented or underserved to begin with.
We are being told the cancellation of the event is because we âcircumvented processâ. But we were unaware of any specific process that needed to take place to approve this event, as these have not historically been in place. This process is a new construct being created whole cloth and in real time, seemingly prompted by a local mentor complaint with little knowledge of the actual facts. FIRST in Texas takes the position that our perceived transgressions warrant taking away an event opportunity from underserved students.
Final Thoughts:
In our experience FiTs lack of trust in the community, their inability to strategize, their incapability to remember details, their proclivity to lie about reasons for actions and decisions and their appalling reactions to feedback make them a very difficult to work with and in turn make FIRST in Texas a challenging organization to support as a volunteer.
Working with FiT is a vicious cycle of:
- They ask you for help in planning or executing events
- You ask for more context and details on processes or how to go about it but get no answers
- You make the choice to do something based on your knowledge of the program in the hopes FiT will approve
- Fit finds out about it, disapproves, and instead of recognizing that their lack of processes are responsible for the miscommunication, they berate you or blame you for going against them
- You provide feedback and examples of how you tried to work them or why you did what you did but their position remains despite your feedback
- FiT decides you can no longer be trusted and implements arbitrary restrictions or management over you that are inconsistently applied
- Rinse and repeat.
FiT does not understand the community or how to execute on the program. Any attempt, kind or otherwise, to provide context or feedback on how to resolve the issue is dismissed. From our experience with FiT, they truly believe that as the leaders of this program in Texas, their way is the most right and while they are good at saying things like âAlways Evolving and Listening to our Communityâ in words, in short order they actively dismiss the concerns expressed by that very community.
The truth is that âAlways Evolving and Listening to our Communityâ is actually âlistening to small pockets of preferential voices without regards to the facts.â
At the end of the day the FIRST community is one that values teamwork, collaboration, and professionalism. Our core ethos is centered around building young professionals to be âMore Than.â To not only excel at their roles as engineers, but their roles as team members, as communicators, and as leaders. Our programs rely on these values and rely on volunteers who exhibit these values.
FIRST in Texas will never succeed under the current leadership because they will never understand what the programs or community need. They will never be able to listen and to celebrate the successes we have as a team because the only successes that matter to them are the ones they are âin complete control of.â
When you look up the qualities of a leader you find things like: active listener, visionary, creative, courageous. By refusing to communicate with the community on this issue - the FIRST in Texas board continues to show that they are not listening. When every year we lose more and more of the rural and underserved communities FiT claims to serve, with no clear solutions on the horizon - they show that they are not visionaries. When the only special programs they have released in years are poor ripoffs of ones that FIRST already offered (like the Texas Mentors and Professional Development Trainings) they are not being creative, they are not engaging in partnership â they are seeking command and control. And when they refuse to allow changes to be made to an archaic model of play- they show that they are not courageous enough to embrace change. If we were to rate FiT Leadership on the very values we look for in our students - we would say âneeds improvement.â
