Tonight I went to a pot-luck dinner held by the Band Boosters association, in support of both the band and the color guard. As part of that, a meeting was held to review and approve bylaw changes for the assocation. The meeting almost immediately dissolved into bickering, the thrust of which was a) 'I didn't hear about these changes until tonight', b) 'You reference Robert's Rules of Order in some places, but not in others, so this whole thing is invalid', and c) 'I don't agree with some/all of these changes'. After extensive back and forth, they agreed to table the motion, and to vote the next time. Along the way, several heated remarks were made. Some were justifiable, and some were not.
I despise confrontation, I despise bullies, and I despise rigorous adherents to procedures.
2 comments:
Bill, as a high school and college Marching Band veteran, I'd like to impose these words of wisdom regarding Band Booster Meetings: Run Bill, run far far away from there. Just show up at the games and parades, carry the bags and tables and equipment and hide from those stupid-ass meetings. They suck and are only bound to get worse at some point. The parents usually forget that it isn't about them, its about the kids yo. Peace
Well... I admit, thats my first reaction. And second, and third. It seemed to me that they were making way too much out of this. One woman said, with some heat, that she had worked in the offices of several politicians, so she was quite familiar with Roberts Rules; one guy said that he was sure that notifications had not been sent out because he looks at his email all the time, and he didn't see them . After a while, one guy said he was just there to support his kid, and he didn't care about the damn bylaws, go find the people who do and let let them have a separate meeting. He got applause for that.
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