Reply to Annoying Girl Scout Family--what to do?

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[quote=Anonymous]
Longtime troop leader here.

The many repeated e-mails with zero replies are your answer. Did you give parents a specific deadline by which they had to confirm daughters' participation? And Suzie's parent did not respond by that deadline? Then go ahead right now and book the trip and events without the girl. Don't send future trip or troop communications to her parent.

Keep all those emails you sent, showing that the parent was sent them--they are your "paper" trail if the mom pops out of the woodwork asking for her child to come. "I'm sorry but here are the communications I emailed to all parents on 12/5, 1/10, 1/15...etc. And I never received any replies regarding Suzie so had to assume she was not participating. As I wrote in the 2/10 email copied below, 2/11 was the deadline for confirming girls would attend. The activities are now reserved and we cannot add any more girls." Or whatever calm, professional language works depending on the details.

I truly DO believe GS is a huge help to girls like Suzie and it's incredibly sad that during the divorce she wasn't brought to meetings so GS could be a support and distraction for her. But that is not on you. And the mother's drunkenness while chaperoning on a GS trip (even if that was at night in her hotel room--clearly she was drunk enough it was evident to you) is way beyond the pale.

If the mom urges you to let Suzie come, promises she'll pay extra for Suzir to come, promises to chaperone etc.--don't cave in. Such a sad situation overall for the mom too, but you have the troop as a whole to consider, their safety, their enjoyment of how they spend the troop money, and you gave the mom many, repeated opportunities to respond to the same notifications ALL the parents received.

OP, if you still are unsure about this situation, or just want to talk over how to react if the mom gets emotional/angry/starts complaining you're excluding her child etc.-- Do you have contacts you trust among your GS Service Unit leadership? Maybe someone on the SU can help you prepare your response in case the mom takes her failure to communicate out on you.[/quote]

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