Nasty e-mail from Scout parent

[dhendron 26]

I am gonna have to try that complaint form sometime! I shouldn't have been drinking my soda when I read that one and then clicked on the link!

[CalicoPenn 729]

My, my, my...

 

How did we all survive, and even thrive, without e-mail alerts every other day regarding activities, events, meetings, etc.

 

If your sole source of communications to parents and Scouts is e-mail and you have a Scout without effective access to e-mail, then YOU are FAILING that Scout. NOT the other way around. You need to figure out a way to communicate with this family that which you communicate by e-mail to every one else. There should be no need for a parent to have to attend a weekly meeting to get the information or to have to go to a local library to open an e-mail account and have to trek there on a regular basis just to check it.

 

A well-run unit will have a calendar pretty well set for the year - a hard copy of which can easily be given to the Scouts or mailed to the Scout's homes. Any changes throughout the year should be communicated in a variety of ways. Any additional information should be communicated through the Den Leader or Patrol Leader - they're the one's who are the folks that should be regularly communicating with the Scouts - and they're the ones who need to figure out how to do it. If they're relying on just e-mail, and one of the Cubs or Scouts isn't getting the messages, then they aren't being effective in their jobs. 70 people in a unit is a lot of folks to have to communicate with all at once, but communicating with a patrol or den of about 8 people isn't that difficult, even by "old fashioned" telephone calls.

 

At the Scout level, an 11 year old should be able to take all the notes needed on upcoming events. For a Scouter to take the attitude that relying on a Scout to take notes is "not recommended" says an aful lot more about that Scouter than anything else. It suggests to me that being in the Scouter's unit is "not recommended".

 

E-mail is a tool - and like every tool, even those that seem to be perfect for the job will have some drawbacks. A smart Scout/Scouter will understand that e-mail is just ONE of the tools in their quiver, and will endeavour to utilize as many tools as needed to make sure that communications get to everyone in the unit.