girslcout leader/co leader/ money question

[sunlver]

Ok this a question for all you girlscout people. Please excuse me if gets long. I suppose I am just looking for to other ways of thinking/opinions.

Ok, I am a co-leader of a Daisy troop(I have a daughter who is a Daisy)and co-leader of Junior troop(Daughter is a Junior).
This question is only about the Daisny troop.

The leader has been doing GS for over 10 yrs, and basically she just needed a name to put for co-leader. She is the take charge type of person, which is actually fine by me as I am more the sit back type person..In this respect, it works fine. SHe runs the meetings, I sit and take due money in, and field trip money and answer question from parents, but basically I am the quiet one in the meetings.
Our girls earned A LOT of money selling cookies. We have gone on several field trips.
Our last field trip for this season is to a local water park next week. We require all Daisy parents(Well one of them)to go with their daisy on fieldtrips. Depending on the cost, our troop covers the price for Daisy and one parent only. This week the waterpark she is chargin $20 for Daisy and parent, because it is a more expensive field trip. This price isnt a problem for the parents, still a great deal

The leader told me her daughter was coming. The leaders daughter is 20 yrs, old, never graduated from highschool, doesnt work..basically a freeloader. She is technically a registered girlscout, but doesnt do anything with the girlscouts. When our troop had parties during the year, the troop leaders daughters would both show up(they are 20 and 23). You would never see the daughters anytime else except when food/party was involved.

So I questeioned the leader why is your daughter going,what will her "Job" be if she goes for free???? The brownies were invited as well, and the 3 of them who are going, are all bringing a parent..so no need for any
babysitters, so to speak.
Well the leader was beside herself when I questioned this. I said, if all Daisy'
s need to be awith a parent, and the few brownies who are going have a parent coming, what is your daughters role??
Well she stumbled with words, as she is not use to people calling her out. She is the one in our service unit it goes over all other troops financials and makes comments and questions everything.
So she tells me well her daughter did help to sell cookies..And I said "SO", as parents, we all sold the majority of cookies for our girls. I said if u are using that rational then all the parents should go for free..Well she didnt say a word after that.

Then I remembered that last month we had another daisy field trip, it was a boat ride and then to dinner. Her 20yr old daughter showed up for the boat ride and came to dinner, her 23 yr old showed up just for dinner, all paid with from the DAISY account?

Either one of the daughters has anything to do with our troop. So why should she go for free?

I called somebody at the counsil office, who has a paid job who has come to some of stuff.. I asked her these quesions. She said she agreed with me, and there is no reason why they should come for free etc.. She was deciding how to approach the leader with my concern. Finally she did, the leader now wont talk to me on the phone. She use to always answer my calls, and if she wasnt home, she would always call back.

Am I wrong to think, that her daughter shouldnt be going to these field trips free of charge if she doesnt have a job to do. With the adults going on Saturday, we have our "Swim watchers", and the first aid/CPR person...her daughter is not needed for a free ride.

Right after this all happened., her daughter posted on facebook , that SHE wasnt going to the waterpark, because ONE Of the parents opened up her big
mouth..so funny to me...

 

[scrapbookworm]

No, her daughter should not be going under those circumstances, and her ticket should NOT be paid for with troop funds. When we take field trips, we only take the number of adults required for safety-wise, or the number required to safely transport the troop. We are very strict on this.

If she's been a leader for 10 years, then her youngest DD was 10 when she started. I would guess that she still sees her adult children as 'children whose way needs to be paid'. But to the rest of the world, they are just another couple of adults. They've grown up and out of Girl Scouting, and unless they are truly helping when they do attend events, they are just hindering.

 

[scrapbookworm]

Maybe some of the other troop parents will see her FB posting. That really sounds mature...

 

[LisaNJ25]

Unless they are needed for safety wise ratios she should not be paying for them. I have 3 troops and 2 girl scouts. I am not going to bring my cadette daughter to a trip on my daisy troops dime for example.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Hopefully she steps up and does the right thing.

 

[minniebeth]

Your co-leader should not be paying for her 20 yo DD's way to Daisy events out of the troop's funds. Period.

If your co-leader is not answering her phone, then she knows she is in the wrong here.

I am a co-leader of both a Brownie troop and a Cadette troop. The only time I paid for my older DD (going into 8th grade) to attend a field trip for the younger group is when we met the safety-wise ratio, but still felt like we needed more hands/supervision. Older DD is awsome with the younger ones and really 'earns her keep' since we have a large troop of 20 girls. And the price of the field trip was $3.50 so I felt like our troop could swing it.
But that is different~

If your co-leader's daughter wants to be involved with the troop, she should pay her own way, imo.
I'm sure your point was made, let it go and move on and hopefully your co-leader will be wise with choosing how she spends troop funds in the future.
Best wishes~

 

[ccgirl]

That actually sounds like a bit of embezzlement to me. I would be totally ticked if I knew myself and my DD were paying when the leaders adult DD was not. Good for you.

 

[sunlver]

Your co-leader should not be paying for her 20 yo DD's way to Daisy events out of the troop's funds. Period.

If your co-leader is not answering her phone, then she knows she is in the wrong here.

I am a co-leader of both a Brownie troop and a Cadette troop. The only time I paid for my older DD (going into 8th grade) to attend a field trip for the younger group is when we met the safety-wise ratio, but still felt like we needed more hands/supervision. Older DD is awsome with the younger ones and really 'earns her keep' since we have a large troop of 20 girls. And the price of the field trip was $3.50 so I felt like our troop could swing it.
But that is different~

If your co-leader's daughter wants to be involved with the troop, she should pay her own way, imo.
I'm sure your point was made, let it go and move on and hopefully your co-leader will be wise with choosing how she spends troop funds in the future.
Best wishes~

Ok..u have it wrong. I am the co-leader..This lady I am refering to his the LEADER...if that helps any.. I am the co-leader and the op of this post.

 

[kymmyk13]

You did the right thing. I am a former membership director for Girl Scouts. My only concern at this point is, will the council continue to make sure this does ont happen in the future. If she was one of my leaders she would not be returning because she stole money from the girls and used it in an inappropiate manner. The money belongs to the troop and the troop is the girls not the leaders adult children. I would follow up on this. Also I would not let me daughter in her troop next year, she apperas to be the type who would hold it against your daughter.

 

[minniebeth]

No, I understood your original post
I just termed it wrong, I am the leader of my troop, I have a co-leader but I always refer to us as co-leaders, but shouldn't have written it in my post like that.

 

[Duckkie]

I've been a leader for 16 years and NEVER has my entrance to an event or my adult daughters (21 now) way been paid out of troop funds.

Yes, you did the right thing contacting your council and yes the daughter was immature posting on FB about it. However, look on the bright side maybe some other parent will see it and question the daughter going on future trips so you don't have to be the "bad guy".

Ah, my 15 year old just reminded me..... When on our cookie trip this past month we DID pay for my daughter and husbands dinner out of troop funds because they were giving us their house to stay in (18 GS, 4 adults) for free so we treated them to dinner at CiCi's Pizza. But that was voted on in advance by the girls. The girls also bought them a T-shirt each from the Indoor Rock Climbing gym where we did our badgework. Pretty cheap for the troop though considering we invaded their poor house for 4 days!

 

[agnes!]

The Daisy troop account is not this woman's personal piggy bank, she's fallen into some *really* bad financial habits. If your troop leader also leads other troops, I would be concerned that this kind of ongoing (perhaps small-scale, but *still*) embezzlement is happening in those situations as well. Just how many dinners do her daughters get treated to in the course of a year anyway?

I think someone outside the troop needs to take a look at the troop funds and am pretty sure that you or your Service Unit Director should be listed on the account. Actually, if the lady is leading other troops, someone from council needs to audit all the accounts this person has responsibility for.

And *yes*, I am serious about all this.

agnes!

 

[NHdisneylover]

You re absolutely in the right. I agree with the PP that i would not want my child in her troop next year (if she leads one--I feel she should be removed from leadership at least temporarily).
DD13 was a junior Aide for Dasies for a couple of years. One of those troops (the one I did NOT lead) paid for her to go on some trips because they wanted her along as an extra set of eyes and ears that knew the girls well, but she was asked and simply not planned on going on the trips prior to that--I guess I see that as different. These were small trips and did not involve having a parent for each girl (they were "just" in ratio).
This leader sounds like her girls are just looking for a free ride and she probably feels it is "owed" to her for leading

 

[sunlver]

I've been a leader for 16 years and NEVER has my entrance to an event or my adult daughters (21 now) way been paid out of troop funds.

Yes, you did the right thing contacting your council and yes the daughter was immature posting on FB about it. However, look on the bright side maybe some other parent will see it and question the daughter going on future trips so you don't have to be the "bad guy".

Ah, my 15 year old just reminded me..... When on our cookie trip this past month we DID pay for my daughter and husbands dinner out of troop funds because they were giving us their house to stay in (18 GS, 4 adults) for free so we treated them to dinner at CiCi's Pizza. But that was voted on in advance by the girls. The girls also bought them a T-shirt each from the Indoor Rock Climbing gym where we did our badgework. Pretty cheap for the troop though considering we invaded their poor house for 4 days!

Well thats exactly hit. I am no tightwad with the money. If you help our troop, in any manner, I would have no problem with it. I dont believe the daughter needs a "free ride" when she does absolutely nothing for our troop. I think the problem is that the leader is so use to doing things her own way, and never use to anybody questioning her. The lady I spoke to at counsil told me I have the right to look at our financials at any point as well as any of the parents.
My name is on the troop account as well. It is just she keeps all the stuff, which is not a problem. If I buy things for the troop for crafts or snack stuff, I bring her the receipt and she pays me back..

 

[Duckkie]

In our troop the only time you are paid for is if your daughter is not attending the event but you must go as a trained leader. I still pay my own way if Meg doesn't attend something. (we are Daisy - Ambassador) However the troop does cover the fuel costs of trips when leaders drive their own vehicles.

I'm not big on the free ride thing, especially when it's the GIRLS that earned the money. Yes, I know parents and leaders sell cookies too, but GS policy states that is GIRL money not ADULT money.

If you trust her overall I would just ask to have an audit done yearly (we do it in our troop) by a parent/leader team to protect you both.

In our troop I have the troop binder (bank statements, monthly financial report, monthly receipts) available at each meeting if parents want to look at it. I have nothing to hide so it doesn't bug me.

Well thats exactly hit. I am no tightwad with the money. If you help our troop, in any manner, I would have no problem with it. I dont believe the daughter needs a "free ride" when she does absolutely nothing for our troop. I think the problem is that the leader is so use to doing things her own way, and never use to anybody questioning her. The lady I spoke to at counsil told me I have the right to look at our financials at any point as well as any of the parents.
My name is on the troop account as well. It is just she keeps all the stuff, which is not a problem. If I buy things for the troop for field crafts or snack stuff, I bring her the receipt and she pays me back..