FARMINGTON — Richard Wilde, a longtime instructor at Foster Career and Technical Education Center and founder of the nationally recognized Blue Crew Robotics Team 6153, resigned last month in protest of what he said is the administration’s decision to no longer let the robotics team meet on the Mt. Blue Campus.

“This decision comes in direct protest of the recent administrative move to relocate the Blue Crew Robotics team,” Wilde wrote in his resignation letter. “I have witnessed firsthand the extraordinary growth, innovation, and leadership this program has cultivated in our students, growth that would not have been possible without the integrated support of the Mt. Blue community and the collaborative environment of Foster Tech.”

In an email Tuesday afternoon, however, Regional School Unit 9 Superintendent Christian Elkington said the district is still discussing a possible future home for the Blue Crew.

“There seems to be some incorrect information that a final decision has been made,” Elkington said. “A final decision has not been made on where the Blue Crew’s new space will be for this important and respected extracurricular opportunity which many in RSU 9 and RSU 73 have enjoyed.”

Attempts to reach Galen Dalrymple, director of Foster CTE Center, were not successful.

Elkington said the district is planning to continue discussions about the team, even as Wilde claims the administration has already made the decision to move them off campus.

“More conversations along with possible options will occur over the next week,” Elkington said.

The Regional School Unit 9 board of directors met in June and discussed where the team’s meeting space might be in the future. Elkington did not respond to a question asking why the district was considering moving Blue Crew’s meeting space.

The Blue Crew, based at Foster Tech on the Mt. Blue campus for nearly a decade, is a student robotics team that competes in the international FIRST Robotics Competition. The program combines engineering, programming, design, leadership and public outreach, and has earned national and regional recognition for its student-led achievements.

Wilde, a U.S. Army veteran and career educator, launched the team with the belief that high-level technical learning could be embedded into public education through extracurricular mentorship.

“The Blue Crew has been a transformational force for so many students, building confidence, skills, and community,” Wilde said in an email. “Outside of my service in the U.S. Army, I believe the Blue Crew has been the most impactful contribution I’ve made to this community.”

Wilde said the team’s relocation from the Mt. Blue Campus, and the reassignment of Room B-210, the robotics team’s home for nearly a decade, undermines a model of integration and proximity he sees as essential to student success. The room was adjacent to the preengineering program and intentionally designed to serve robotics collaboration and build space, he said.

“In a system that values precedent and student success, retaining that space for Blue Crew would have been the logical and educationally sound decision,” Wilde said.

According to Wilde, he was told that the program’s space could not be prioritized over credit-bearing classes and that Blue Crew was “just a club.” He challenged that framing.

“When I pointed out that the average student on the Blue Crew puts in more hours than any tech program at Foster Tech, I was told I should have made it a formal program,” he said. “I explained that under Maine law, in order for something to be classified as a Career and Technical Education (CTE) program, it must lead to a national certification exam — and currently, there is no such certification available for competitive robotics.”

He also noted that CTE centers must offer student organizations or extracurriculars in order to qualify for federal Perkins funding. “At Foster Tech, we currently have only two: the Blue Crew and the Technical National Honor Society. Despite this, the decision moved forward without further discussion,” he said.

Wilde said he does not believe moving the team is retaliatory or personal, but rather a result of a disconnect between administration and the reality of what the program offers.

“I genuinely believe that the administration simply doesn’t understand the depth of impact that Blue Crew has on students — largely because they’ve never attended a single robotics competition, despite multiple invitations,” he said. “Every year, I get goosebumps watching freshmen step into their first event and realize they’ve ‘found their people.’ That moment changes lives.”

“The only scenario in which I would consider coming back is if the Blue Crew were given a permanent home on the Mt. Blue Campus,” he said. “Sadly, that’s not the world we’re in right now.”

No longer bound by employment with the district, Wilde said he plans to actively organize public advocacy against the move.

“I plan to take every possible step to advocate for the Blue Crew and the students it serves, with the goal of putting maximum public pressure on the administration to reevaluate this decision,” he said. “I’m also engaging our state representatives to ensure this issue is brought to the attention of policymakers who care about education, youth opportunity, and STEM growth in Maine.”

At summer events, Wilde said, the robotics team will display signs to educate the public and invite community members to get involved “through outreach, advocacy, or simply voicing support.”

Wilde said that while he does not expect to return as a Foster Tech employee, his role as a mentor will continue.

“I’ll continue to serve as the team’s No. 2 mentor and will support Blue Crew’s mission and students in every way I can,” he said. “Whether inside or outside the system, my commitment to them remains unchanged.”