What to do? Girl Scout related...

[mykidsand_i]

Our 'district' that we're in for Girl scouts is a huge dissapointment, I'm not looking to complain, but more needing thoughts from Girl scout leaders/parents involved in the organization.

last year, our city was really on top of things. We had cookie rally, several events planned for all of the girl scouts to be included (about once a month), we did a great world thinking day event (which we'd done EVERY YEAR for the last 7 years) and we'd do some sort of scheduled events regularly, the leaders were meeting monthly to discuss upcomming events/yearly gatherings...

This year it's a big FAT NOTHING! The leaders from other troops only do things/plan things for their own troops. We were all told at the beg. of the year (aug) that EACH TROOP was to pick a month and plan something for ALL GIRLS to participate in. My troop picked Nov. NOT ONE of the other troops has done ONE SINGLE THING!

The leaders from this town have pretty much gotten LAZY- no one goes to our monthly meetings (last meeting was in OCTOBER and only me and two others showed up!)...No one planned Cookie rally (I tried to assist in planning it, but the other person CANCELLED IT), No one scheduled or planned world thinking day, no one has planned ANYTHING for ANYONE except for their own troops...which kind of defeats the purpose of 'girl scouts' and being 'sisterly'...

I've tried to arrange a bowling event with our 'sister troop' and we've been working on it for the past two months trying to figure something out, then ALL OF A SUDDEN, TODAY I called the troop leader and she said that her troop is DONE! DONE!!!!! What?

There is NO COMMUNICATION between ANYONE from our town and the district office- the district office has messed up registrations- saying that two of my girls from my troop aren't registered!!! I HAVE THE YELLOW COPIES SAYING THEY ARE!! And they've just told us this NOW? TWO MONTHS before the school year is over?

My girls (kindr. and 2nd) LOOOOOOVEEEEE to be in girl scouts- but this year has been a total dissapointment. We have a troop of 9 girls who are constantly asking when we get to do things with other troops...my co-leader is so mad at the entire idea of our cities girl scout 'ethics' that she wants to be DONE co-leading at the end of this year.

WHAT DO I DO? I grew up in Girl Scouts. I would love to AT LEAST have our girls continue to meet- even if other troops and their leaders don't do anything.

Half of the girls from my troop are just dropped off as more of a 'babysitting' service than anything, I only get help from 1 other parent this year (my co-leader) and she wants to be done, so what do I do?

I'd go to our council/district rep. but in my opinion, she's not helpful AT ALL ( she's the one who told me that certain girls weren't registered when they actually are.....) she never came/comes to any of our meetings when we've had them...

Do I just end at the end of this school year? Do I still plan to meet with these girls next year and just not participate with 'other troops' as everyone else has so obviously decided to do this year? My girls will be dissapointed to be done, but do they just become 'independants' and we participate in what ever is in the area (if there's ANYTHING?)

Sorry, I'm just hoping to get some feedback from someone!

 

[agnes!]

Can you declare your troop to be a troop of Juliettes?

agnes!
PS - I'm sorry things aren't going well.

 

[ajk912]

My girls love girl scouts and there is usually enough to do without getting together with other troops. The only time they see other troops is if there is an invite for someone's bronze or gold ceremony or whatnot, and they usually aren't very popular because they don't know the other girls.

Maybe each troop prefers to do their own thing? That's not necessarily bad, btw!

 

[aprilgail2]

We don't like doing things the service unit arranges for all the troops to get together etc...we find that we can do things much better with just our own troop. We have SO much to do and go on so many trips on our own that we don't feel the need to have other troops join us on doing things.

 

[tommya60]

Call your council and ask to speak with someone in volunteer support. Ask them about monthly meetings for troop leaders, council wide activities for girls at the Daisy and Brownie level, summer day camps, etc. See if there is a council wide email list that you need to join. As far as registration goes, it happens. Most Girl Scout councils are understaffed, and paper puzzles. It's good that you kept the yellow copies, be sure and do that each year.

I am a member of the Service Unit team (I think it's what you call a district). There is no way we would REQUIRE a troop to host a Service Unit Wide event. There is a lot of work involved, and some folks are just not good running events. A few well run events could be more successful in the long run. We typically do about one a quarter, and the event may be level specific. The two biggest events are Association wide---one is Community Camp Out (over 200 girls, hosted by the Senior troop) and one is Holiday Bazaar (a team of long time volunteers does this one--800+ Girl Scouts in attendance).

It sounds like a core group of volunteers from years past are burned out. They tried to spread the work load by requiring people to host events, most people were not ready to do that, so they bailed. Not a good plan all around. Take a deep breath, work with your council and see what you can do for next year. And remember--progression is part of Girl Scouts. You don't need to do it all in one year.....

 

[Anne34]

We don't like doing things the service unit arranges for all the troops to get together etc...we find that we can do things much better with just our own troop. We have SO much to do and go on so many trips on our own that we don't feel the need to have other troops join us on doing things.

We do not have council wide or service unit wide events every month either. There are a few service unit events during the year and you can sign up if you want. Most of the times it is an evening or weekend and many of the girls are busy so our troop didn't attend too many as a group.

I have been a leader for two troops over the past 10 years (some years with 2 troops) and we usually found it esier to do things with just our own troop just like the previous poster.

 

[descovy]

And yet sometimes they age out too.

We've had a phenominal Service Unit Manager for the past few years. She goes above and beyond. People come to her for *everything* which if you think about it can be quite taxing. She takes the heat for every little complaint too.

Anyway, she has been AWESOME but her girls are in high school and they are aging out. So we can't keep her forever. And yet no one feels qualified to fill her shoes. We have a committee now looking to take her position and cut it into different positions... one for recruitment, one for public relations, and so on.

While I enjoy going to some Service Unit wide events, my troops (I lead 2) don't go to most of them. We like to do our own Thinking Day. The Service Unit Father Daughter Dance is fun... but it takes a lot of work. We had a SU wide caroling event at a nursing home that was so jam-packed crowded it wasn't fun (and it was a "nice", expensive home) we prefered to take our girls to a small public funded home (which we had a connection)

I guess my only advice would be, make the most out of it for your daughter and your troop. Does your council have a website with information on camps/classes, etc? Take your girls to council wide events. Our Council also publishes a bi-monthly magazine with all the available classes trainings.

Service Unit = suburb I live in (about 6 elem schools)
Council = the entire Houston area

 

[minniebeth]

Our GS pecking order is:

Troop
School
Service Unit (city-wide)
Council

There are activities planned at each level that include all troops. Some years more than others, depending on the leadership.
As you know, it is all volunteer driven. It is not only a lot of work to manage your own troop, but then to coordinate school, service unit or coucil activities on top of it. I know each council is different, but the amount of paperwork and documentation alone required for everything for us is enough to deter some of the activities that leaders would like to do.

Like others have said, it could be that the leadership aged out, burned out, or may have even lost interest. It may be frustrating, but it's the age old, you can only control what you have control over.
Do you have other troops in your school? We've done some really fun school- wide troop activities and even though it was multi-aged, all the girls had a lot of fun!

I would stick with your troop and do what you can with the help of other parents. Don't give up! It makes me so sad when troops disband. Get the parents together and brainstorm to see how you can restructure so that you can move forward with a fresh start.

Best wishes! I'm so passionate that GS is so great for girls!!

 

[LisaNJ25]

Sounds like the service unit is dropping the ball. I would ask if they need new people or if their will be any positions opening up so maybe your voice can be heard?

I am a service unit manager.. I dont do monthly events.. for this year we planned a Halloween dance, world thinking day, blast from the past event and su camping. I did have a father/daughter event scheduled but I could not get 1 troop to step up to run it so I canceled it. We have some troops that attend every su unit event and some than attend none.

When My daughter first started we had no real service unit and we did just fine our own.

Try to hangit there.

 

[ferrytale]

I feel your pain, but unfortunately think these things run in cycles. Up until the last 2-3 years I would say we had a terrific SU, then some people on our service unit team decided that they were going to run things more like a dictatorship and try to make and enforce rules that had nothing to do with council and it turned a lot of long time leaders anti-service unit - including me and my co-leader who have planned and been involved in tons of events over the past 14 years (for me) 20+ years for her.
We decided to just focus on our girls and doing what they like and getting them out in the community. I know that the unit has tried to put together a few events, but I think a lot of them have fallen through.
I know for a fact that many of the leaders in the SU, and I am sure this is the same with a lot of units, the leaders are not just girl scout leaders, but volunteers for school, sports, scouts, church, etc and simply just do not have the time to put into organizing ANOTHER event. And those that do have time do not volunteer.
My co-leader and I got in touch with some other local service units and started a group to focus on organizing large events for older girls in our area. Maybe try contacting some other leaders in your age level and see if they would be willing to work with you to organize some things?? We really enjoy working with the leader from other units and bouncing new ideas off each other.

Good luck, and don't let this bring you down about scouting, it really is a great thing!