[WOW, FMA] - Next Steps – Regional vs. District Model

FIRST General Forum
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All teams in Western PA / Ohio / West Virginia (WOW) and Eastern PA / New Jersey / Delaware (FMA) received the following email today from Erica Newton Fessia, FIRST Vice President, Field Operations.

I would ask that any discussion related to the “FIRST Ecosystems Project” mentioned below that does not directly relate to the Western PA, WOW, and FMA discussion be taken to a different thread. Thank ye in advance.

FIRST® Community,

I’d like to introduce myself as the new VP, Field Operations for FIRST and let you know how excited I am to be joining you at an important time for our community. I have an open style of communication and look forward to engaging with you directly on many topics.

As you may know, there has been much discussion about a transition to the FIRST® Robotics Competition District competition model in many parts of the country, but more specifically, Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. I’d like to clarify some misconceptions and share more about where we are and where we’re headed.

The Big Picture
We are launching the FIRST Ecosystems Project this month, which in its initial stages will focus on global data gathering and analysis of the current state of delivering our full progression of programs, including FIRST® LEGO® League Jr., FIRST® LEGO® League, FIRST® Tech Challenge, and the FIRST Robotics Competition. This analysis will lead to the development of a framework for building, supporting, and growing coherent local ecosystems to deliver FIRST programming to all children.

We will be seeking input from a broad spectrum of stakeholders in the FIRST community, which will inform any decisions that are made. Implementation of these changes will take place over many years, and no conclusions have been reached at this time. The outcome of the initial analysis will be shared with the subsequent decisions and implementation phases communicated directly by FIRST leadership.

More Specifically – Your Areas
FIRST HQ has had discussions with FIRST Mid Atlantic (FMA) and RaiseSTEM, who is working to form a FIRST Robotics Competition District in Ohio and West Virginia, about the possibility of Western Pennsylvania joining either of their District territories. We have surveyed teams in Western Pennsylvania about their interest in joining the FMA District. Those survey results are being tabulated and analyzed and will be shared in the near future.

In either scenario, Western Pennsylvania will remain in the Regional model for the upcoming 2019 FIRST Robotics Competition season, and no decision has been made as to whether Ohio, West Virginia, and/or Western Pennsylvania will be moving to the District model in 2020 or beyond. Additionally, no recommendation or decision has been made about whether Western Pennsylvania will join either FMA or the potential OH/WV District or will remain in the Regional model in 2020 and beyond.

As with the Ecosystem Project, any decision by FIRST HQ (in collaboration with local District or Regional leadership) about the future trajectory of Western Pennsylvania will be informed both by input from our community and by our analysis of which solution will lead to sustainable growth and support of FIRST programs and teams in Western Pennsylvania.

We believe the above has been consistently communicated to the leadership of all organizations throughout the region, however, many questions have been circulating, so we thought it best to clarify for you now. We will continue to engage and inform the community and local leadership throughout this process and will use official FIRST channels for communicating any decisions.

In the meantime, if you have additional questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me and/or your Regional Director or either of our two Field Operations Managers. We thank you for your patience as we work together to create the future of FIRST.

Best regards,

Erica Newton Fessia
Vice President, Field Operations

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Sniped in that other thread.

I do think this merits its own thread, though. May a mod can fix it?

–edit: from that other thread

Thanks for sharing.

A bit about Ms. Fessia, from the Leadership link at FIRSTInspires.com: (emphasis added)

In her role, Erica’s primary mission will be to work with the overall FIRST community to develop and evolve our vision and implementation for sustainable, coherent, growth-oriented local FIRST ecosystems, where kids throughout the world have access to a solid progression of FIRST programs.

Senior leaders are supposed to articulate the vision. Erica is doing that.

I like it. But of course I have no stake in MAR, WOW, or Western Pennsylvania – apart from sharing FIRST’s vision and mission for all areas.

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It definitely deserves its own thread. Much appreciated if a mod can head the other discussion off at the pass. Even close the thread and direct people here, if you like.

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Some questions and thoughts for discussion:

This is the first time RaiseSTEM as an organization has been mentioned in official communication from FIRST. If they’re now actively including them in discussion, their opinions on the issue, as well as those of the community, might finally be represented. Also, from discussions I have had on the FRC Discord and various other platforms with both students and mentors, both WOW and FMA members previously indicated a preference for Western Pennsylvania joining the future WOW district. However, there has recently been a slight shift towards a willingness to “see what happens” if all of Pennsylvania is united under the FMA district. What is prompting this shifting in opinion from members, and for what reason? Is new, previously unreleased information coming out that might serve to shift our perspective on the issues? If so, why was it not previously cited?

These survey results have been requested by members of the WOW region time and time again. Will these survey results be shared with the general public and be taken into adequate consideration in the final decision? Were the people who took the survey informed on all sides of the issue, or merely given the survey to complete and submit? If they were merely given the survey, how much is FIRST taking it into consideration, given that the participants might not be fully aware of all sides of the issue at hand?

Will the reasoning and sources of input for the eventual decision, as well as the pros/cons of said decision be shared by FIRST and the various participant organizations? I would love to see where the reasoning and justification for the eventual decision comes from, in case it is reasoning that has not been given much previous consideration.

Currently the communications sent out by FIRST are only to key volunteers and mentors in said organizations, who are voluntarily forwarding said communications to members of the region. Will other members of the region’s communities (students, alumni, younger/non-key mentors) be included in future communications if they wish to receive them? Will they also have opportunity for input, and if so, how much consideration will said input receive?

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Until FIRST announces some final decision via the blog regarding where West PA lands, don’t expect FIRST to bend over backwards to reach out to students/young mentors/alumni. Any established organization can tell you that transparency has it’s practical limits. FIRST isn’t going to hold off on making a decision until they’ve made sure every individual who might care about this decision has the inside scoop.

As someone who has previously felt stiffed by HQ, I understand the frustration of possibly being left out of the loop. But if you aren’t a lead mentor, KV, or staff on an associated 501c3 in the area, understand that you’ll probably get lots of info second hand, and that is to be expected.

-Mike

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The Big Picture
We are launching the FIRST Ecosystems Project this month, which in its initial stages will focus on global data gathering and analysis of the current state of delivering our full progression of programs, including FIRST® LEGO® League Jr., FIRST® LEGO® League, FIRST® Tech Challenge, and the FIRST Robotics Competition. This analysis will lead to the development of a framework for building, supporting, and growing coherent local ecosystems to deliver FIRST programming to all children.

Emphasis mine.

Does this mean that HQ wasn’t doing any sort of analytics in any of their programs or data-gathering up to this point? Frankly that’s a little disappointing but would be par for the course.

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I would be careful about trying to read too far between the lines. We’ve been exposed to FIRST’s data gathering for quite a few years now (post-event surveys, Kit of Parts surveys, senior mentor surveys, FMS API, control system reports, etc).

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Not just expected, but necessary. Giving updates before decisions are complete result in rampant speculation, trial by mob, and general confusion. The internet is just a giant room where some people feel the need to complain unendingly. (Irony intended).

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Nice to have this officially cleared up.