Pack Communication / Contact List

[drmbear]

I am wondering whether anyone here thinks it is a mistake or a problem putting out a contact list (names, phone, email, etc.) to MEMBERS of the Pack. My church publishes a directory of both members and friends, my son's t-ball, soccer, and basketball teams all put out rosters, etc. It seems reasonable that if I am working to develop more shared leadership in the Pack, asking parents to be actively involved in putting on Pinewood Derby, Blue & Gold banquet, and more, that they should be able to get in touch with each other. It seems unreasonable to me to have someone agree to coordinate the holiday parade float (for example) and be saying: "You'll probably want at least three or four additional folks to work with you on that, but I am not going to give you a way to get in touch with other Pack families."

 

Behind this issue - I am a new Cubmaster this year working with a Pack Committee Chair that has done nothing but complain about my leadership style, even when I am getting lots of great positive feedback from other parents in the Pack. Two months ago, the Pack Committee consisted of the CC and his wife serving as Treasurer (reluctantly). We had four people, including me and the CC, that were all den leaders and doing everything. In the last two months I recruited and got trained at least two den leaders per den and four or five new committee members, without help or support from the CC. Groups of parents, other than den leaders, are working together to plan and coordingate holiday parades, the pinewood derby and blue & gold banquet.

 

With rechartering around the corner, we just finalized our current membership roster, and I put out a clean contact list to the Pack, organized by den. Seemed to make perfectly good sense to me. But I was criticized again by the CC, saying it is was a mistake to send out the list. Do you put out a roster to your Pack?

 

[ScoutLass]

We have a couple different contact lists we issue. Each den has a contact list that includes all leadership contact info then the contact info for each family in the den. The pack list has everyone's info and goes to leadership or anyone that is organizing a specific thing (such as the Blue & Gold coordinator). The only we reason we do it this way is because chances are a tiger parent doesn't need a webelos parent's contact info, so the pack list would be overkill to give to everybody. Giving each parent a list with 50 or more families on it seems overwhelming and unnecessary.

 

Personally, I always find it odd when parents don't want their contact info known, but this has been an issue in the past. We announce the list at the first pack meeting and request any updates to emails/phone numbers before we issue the new one for the year. At least one parent always requests to be left off the list. We explain they can be left off the general list, but not the pack list that goes out to leaders. This could be what your CC is concerned about.

[OwntheNight]

Absolutely we do. All of our corespondance goes through Scouttrack. We have a master list that shows all boys contact info and the den's they belong to. Since Scouttrack is password protected, all the data is secure, and not released to the general public, only our families.

 

Why all the secrecy from the CC? These aren't classified documents chained inside a briefcase. I can understand not posting in public forums, but not being able to share information with the whole pack seems absurd. How do you all communicate with everybody in the pack? Tell one person, they tell one person and so on. We know how the end of that game turns out.

 

So what about your leadership style does the CC not like. Are you actually changing the culture in the pack, that shared leadership is a good thing.Or is this CC still in the mindset that the pack is his toy, and only he can run it and play with it the way he wants to?

 

Keep up the awesome work, you are making a difference, and welcome to the campfire!

[shortridge]

"Since Scouttrack is password protected, all the data is secure, and not released to the general public, only our families."

 

Actually, no, it's not. Or, rather, it's only as secure as the families make it. Someone could still turn around and release that info to the general public. Don't get lulled into a sense of false security.

 

As far as the broader issue, think of it this way. A decade ago, before everyone started going cell-phone-only, you could look all this info up in the phone book. People with restricted landlines were few and far between - most people in fact wanted their phone numbers out there so they could be reached! I'm not quite sure why people get all antsy about having their cell phone numbers "out in the world." You can still get most addresses through online searches with the click of a button ... and if 411.com or anywho.com doesn't have it, your county land records or property tax office probably does. Very little of that "directory information" about us is really private.

[perdidochas]

I think the best option is for you as cubmaster to provide leader contact info to everybody. Then have each den leader provide a contact list to the den. I usually ask if people mind if their contact info is provided to others. Usually it's no big deal, but sometimes, especially in the case of divorced parents, things get more complicated.

[drmbear]

It really is a change of culture. It's not really the Pack Committee Chair trying to be in charge, because even that would be better than this. In the two years I've been here, I was never once invited to a Pack Committee meeting, because there wasn't any. There really wasn't a Pack Committee. There were no planning meetings for the Pack meetings, the former cubmaster did it all himself, I suppose. All last year, there were a total of four or five people that were doing everything. Late last year, about April, I started taking over and set up a meeting to plan the JSN - it was amazing. Gave us a good start on this year. In early August, once we started talking about getting planning going and involving other parents, I got regular pushback from the CC. He didn't even bother to show for the Pack Parent Planning Meeting to launch the year.

 

One of his comments - you know nothing about leadership, leaders communicate short and to the point. He's made other comments about not reading any email from me beyond the first sentence, and misses things because he won't read the newsletter. Since I'm working to educate folks on how a pack could operate, and because I'm trying to motivate them to take action, it takes more than a brief message to get things moving.

 

I've also tried to involve the families in solving problems, like a financial crisis that caused a whole lot of boys that were expecting awards at a pack meeting not to get them. Of course, I wasn't told this until I got to the pack meeting, and I had little first graders asking me why they didn't get their Bobcat badge. For some reason he seemed to think that needed to be kept a secret. But when brought up, parents help engage in solving the problem.

 

All I really want is to just be able to be cubmaster, focus on program and fun, but I am just frustrated by not having someone willing to do what it takes to handle the administrative part of what's needed to allow that to happen.

[ScoutNut]

As Advancement Chair there were times when I was unable to get some of the awards I needed. I would not usually let the CM know before the Pack meeting, unless there was something he could do to facilitate their purchase. However, since I was always one of the first to arrive, I would immediately let the CM, and the relevant den leaders, know of any change in the awards that had been requested for that evening.

 

Get the COR/Charter Organization on your side. Get completely trained. Recruit an Advancement/Award Chair. With the help of your COR, your Unit Commissioner, and the CC, get monthly Pack Leaders Meetings set up, and on the Pack calendar. If the CC refuses to attend, then you, as CM, should run the meeting.

 

Do your job the best that you can, and ignore the snide comments from the CC.

 

Contact lists - Families should be asked at sign-up if they have a problem with their contact information being given to Pack leaders. Note - Every family MUST have some way, that they regularly check, of being contacted. All BSA registered Pack adults should have a contact list for the entire Pack. Den leaders should be in charge of disseminating den contact information to their own den. Event Chairs should receive contact info as needed. Usually Event Chairs will talk to folks in person at den or Pack meetings to garner their assistance on a Event Committee. Or sign up sheets, including space for contact info, for helpers will be placed out at Pack Meetings. Pack-wide communication should go thru the Pack Leaders Meeting (fliers given to den leaders, info blurbs given to newsletter person, etc). Event Chairs should also report progress toward the event at the monthly Pack Leader's Meeting.

 

Good Luck!