Boy Led - Who Does The Emailing And Communications For Troop

[Stosh]

As scouts I expect my boys to do better than the average adult.  That's what they are training to be.

 

Scouting is a place to learn failure and make adjustments.  If a boy doesn't relay communications to his parents, then it's his fault and his failure to deal with.  Once or twice and things will smooth themselves out.  If boys learn though failure, this is a pretty safe situation.  This is pretty harmless.  I don't think there ever has been a scout that had to spend 30 years in therapy because he missed out on camp out.  Once they figure out it's no one's fault but their own, communications seem to improve dramatically.

[CalicoPenn]

The PLC sets troop meeting, COH and activity scheduling.  Since we elect PL's and the SPL 2 times per year, the PLC puts together a 6 month plan for meeting and activities, except for Summer Camp, which is selected in the fall, so that each PLC has an opportunity to put their own stamp on the Troop's program.  We do overlap so that the first month of the new PLC's troop meetings were planned by the prior PLC and the first two months of activities were planned by the prior PLC to make sure reservations and driving arrangements are covered without any last minute scrambles.  When the PLC has completed their planning, the SPL presents the plan to the committee, not for approval, but to give the Committee time to do their part in the work (making sure that there are drivers, making reservations (in most cases, reservations for campsites, etc. can only be made by adults - that's even true for our council's camps), etc.).

 

The Scribe maintains the calendar, and the Troop contact list - the Scibe e-mails reminders of Troop activities to the Scouts and their parents - for those folks without e-mail, the Scribe will either call or will mail a postcard or letter.  We include the parents in these e-mails so that no one can accuse us of being secretive - it's cut down the complaints about Scouts not sharing with their parents to almost zero.  If the SPL wants to send out an all-troop e-mail, he e-mails it to the Scribe to send out on his behalf.  Patrol Leaders are responsible for any patrol related communications to his patrol - same rule, must be sent to the boys and their parents with a copy to the SPL and SM, just so they know what's going on in their patrols.  We've asked that texting not be used for announcements and patrol wide reminders but suggest that it be used for minor communications like a text to a Scout to remember to bring their book to the meeting, or to check with the grubmaster before the camping trip if he remembered to buy butter.  This seems to work out for us.

[Tampa Turtle]

We have been using Trooptrack but with limited success. I suspect that is because most boys do not email much unless compelled to and that text does not appear an option with our setup. But the SPl and the PL's can email via Trooptrack if they wish.