Reply to How to handle too many girls for a Girl Scout troop?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]First,
Be sure the  number is as large as you think it is.  Have you picked a meeting time/dates yet?  You could have some fall off with that.  In that case, you should consider having two troops meet on different days or have one big troop meeting on the same day in two groups--with two sets of leaders.
Be advised that the organization has LOTS of rules (mostly for the protection of the girls and the leaders),  These rules can become cumbersome and annoying, but you do need to follow them.  You MUST always have at least two adults present, if I remember correctly.

Second,
Sadly, as the girls get older, there is generally a drop in membership.  If you split up into more troops, be prepared to consolidate in the future.

My suggestion:  break into two or three smaller groups now--I would suggest 12 girls per troop.  However, I strongly suggest that you coordinate some activities so that you have activities together.  Try to be careful to break into somewhat diverse groups so that you don't have all the "soccer girls" in one troop and all the "nerds" in another.  (That tends to happen in some schools.)  Girl Scouts should be an inclusive organization.  I've known GS troops that never camped and others that only camped.  I'd aim for balance.  [/quote]

OP, as a GS leader for years now (Brownies into Senior troop in HS today), I can say this post above is excellent advice!

I want to add, OP, that your question really is best addressed to your Service Unit leaders and school coordinators. Are you familiar with your service unit? Sometimes new leaders aren't given enough information about what their SU can do for them. And be sure you know, and contact, the person at your GS Council who covers your area. If you don't know your SU leaders or your school coordinator, ask at Council for those contacts ASAP.

If you do not have a school coordinator for GS or haven't heard that term before -- it's a person who oversees the formation of (but not the regular running of!) troops based in a particular school. Not all schools have one but it would help if yours does. The school coordinator is [u]not [/u]a school staffer but is a GS leader or someone from the service unit. Sometimes school coordinators are the ones who say "We really need to split up this very large number of girls and find one more new leader" etc. But be aware, one good thing about GS is that leaders actually can set the numbers for their troops. I'm not sure where you got the number 15 -- maybe that's what's normal in your school's troops. But a leader can limit the numbers if there is just too little parent help to make a troop work with larger numbers for younger girls. That's when a school coordinator or SU leader should be very active in finding another parent to be a leader of a second troop, so no girl has to be told there's no space.

It's also required to have more than just one adult leader present. Here's why: GS has rules about how many adults are required to be present at meetings and outings. For instance, you must have two unrelated adults present for 12 or fewer Daisies for a regular meeting, and for camping, outings or certain other events, you need two unrelated adults for every SIX daisies and another adult for each additional four girls. There are numbers for each level of GS and of course fewer adults are required as girls get older, but Daisies and Brownies have the highest adult to girl ratio. This is all laid out in GS safety rules and it automatically means you can't really have huge troops unless you have enough adults committed to be present at meetings, camping, outings etc. Not all these adults have to be leaders, but you need people. It is doable -- I know of one troop that claims 27 girls on the rolls though not all attend everything, and there are two co-leaders and a serious expectation that parents will help out in person. Consider setting up a roster of parents who commit to being the helper parent at certain meetings, so the attendance is shared among all the parents.[/quote]

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