[leaders] Girl Scout training - very important

Leaders,

Every year, council has told us and told you that training is essential. You must be trained.

Well, this year they are coming down on that rule.

If you were a new leader this year and did NOT take the Leadership Essentials for New Leaders class
OR
if you were a returning leader and did NOT take the Leadership Essential for Continuing Leaders class,
you may not be reappointed as leaders next year.

This is the training that discussed the new Journey books and the new GS mission. The following link tells it briefly and, if you took the training, you will say, Oh that class.

http://www.gsmists.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46&Itemid=54

This means that if you did not take the training and do not get it this summer, council is saying that you are not qualified and may not be allowed to be a leader in the future. I believe they will be sending out letters and/or postcards pretty soon to that effect.

So, if you took the training, please let us know. We have the council computer records, but want to double check.

What does this mean in the short term? Well, we are working with Council to find all the available dates for these classes during the summer and will be shortly forwarding those to you. It also means that we will try to offer it in the Service Unit, but we're not sure who all is "trained" to be the "trainer."

What does this mean in the long term? Well, if neither you nor your co-leader have taken this class, there will be a problem. If one of you has taken it but not the other, then the trained one will be the leader and the untrained one will not be allowed to register as a leader.

Obviously, we are hoping that as this is the first year and there have been so many other changes, there will be a grace period.

Please note that this is not a service unit decision. This is not really even a council decision. This is a directive from the national level that the correct message should be presented by our leaders, that we want our leaders to be the best trained ever, that we want the right message going through to our girls, etc.

Please work with us to make this happen and we will do what we can to support you.

Thanks,
Beverly
--
Beverly Dickinson
Rockford Neighborhood Girl Scouts
874-8926
304-2615 (cell)
beverlyd@charter.net

Please visit www.rockfordgs.com for the lastest info on Rockford Girl Scouts.