Good day, Teams and Volunteers,
Welcome to the tenth email blast for the upcoming PA FIRST Tech Challenge Season. Please liberally and broadly share this email with your parents, students, friends, co-workers and acquaintances in and outside of the FIRST robotics community.
Also, if you missed our first 9 blasts of the season, please go to our Communications page to reference Announcements and Archive Emails for this and all past seasons.
https://www.ftcpenn.org/communications
Action Required: Pennsylvania YPP (Please go to your FIRST Dashboard and complete the incomplete PA YPP within three weeks).
FIRST is requiring adults associated with Pennsylvania FIRST teams and adults who volunteer at Pennsylvania FIRST events to obtain and upload their Pennsylvania Child Protection Law screening documents.
If you volunteered at a Pennsylvania FTC event in the past, you should already be familiar with obtaining these screening documents as Pennsylvania FIRST Robotics has required these documents since it became a Pennsylvania state law over 10 years ago. Starting this season, Pennsylvania FIRST Robotics will leverage FIRST Inspires collection of these Child Protection Law screening documents and will no longer separately request them directly from event volunteers.
For an explanation and details regarding this requirement, please go to https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/youth-protection-policy section + Local YPP State Requirements for California and Pennsylvania
Summary: The Pennsylvania Child Protective Services Law (CPSL) requires employees, volunteers and other individuals who interact with minors to obtain three different clearances, together known as the Child Protection Clearances. These clearances are valid for five years and must be resubmitted before they expire. If you already have valid clearances and documentation, you may simply submit them directly to FIRST following the instructions in PA Guide on how to complete your volunteer clearances and submit your clearances to the FIRST YPP team using this form using this form here
Note however that Clearance expiration dates are backdated in the FIRST system to align with the end of each program season which is currently set as April 30th each year. For example, if a volunteer’s original clearance date is 1/1/2021, the five-year validity would typically extend to 1/1/2026, essentially expiring during the season. To prevent volunteers from becoming ineligible mid-season, the expiration date is adjusted to 4/30/2025. As a result, the Youth Protection Program (YPP) team will request updated clearances before the 2025–2026 season to ensure continued eligibility.
Please go to your FIRST Dashboard and complete the incomplete PA YPP within three weeks.
To investigate your compliance with Local YPP State Requirements for Pennsylvania:
- Log into your FIRST Dashboard and click your name on the upper right of the screen.
- Choose Youth Protection Screening and scroll to the bottom of the page.
- If you passed the traditional YPP screening, you would see a note under your name at the right that reads, “Status: Youth Protection: Meets Youth Protection Policy Requirements” Also, be sure that all “Acknowledgment Forms” have been signed by you.
- Local YPP Clearance for CA & PA are at the bottom of the page.
- If you are not cleared for any reason, the message will read: “Incomplete”
- If you are cleared, the message will read: “Youth Protection: Meets Youth Protection Policy Requirements”
- If you are not a coach in PA (or CA), or if you didn’t sign up to be a volunteer, the message will read: “You currently have no known roles which require screening”
- If you are a resident of PA, you will see a line that reads: “PA Non-Resident Attestation Status: This clearance does not apply to you”
The YPP Youth Protection Screening page doesn’t explain the compliance process, but simply has a link that reads, “Youth Protection Training Available Here” that takes you to FIRST’s Youth Protection Policy page on the firstinspires website: https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/youth-protection-policy
You are guided in the first paragraph + Local YPP State Requirements for California and Pennsylvania for more information.
Step 1: Gather your Clearances.
Follow Steps 1, 2, and 3. If you have lived in Pennsylvania for more than 10 years, Steps 1 & 2 are still required, but the FBI Criminal History Clearance is not. In lieu of the Clearance, please sign the Non-Resident Attestation form.
The Non-Resident Attestation Form may be found under PA Resources. Click on the form, print, sign, scan and upload to FIRST HQ.
If you are resident or a non-resident, all forms that you have need to be uploaded to FIRST. Under PA Resources just below the Pennsylvania clearance steps on this page, you will find a line that reads, “Submit your clearances to the FIRST YPP team using this form here This form is a very short survey where you will be instructed to upload your files. Please be sure that the email address you add to this form is the exact same email address you use to log into your FIRST Dashboard.
Expect the clearance process to typically take 24 hours from the time the forms are submitted until you will see the “cleared” status on your FIRST Dashboard, but the process may take up to five days.
Please direct questions about PA clearances to your Program Delivery Partner Tom Zawislak at ftc@pennfirst.org.
Pennsylvania FIRST® Robotics
FIRST Tech Challenge® Program Delivery Partner
phone: (302) 383-9925
email: ftc@pennfirst.org
Website: www.FTCPenn.org