2009 Fall Newsletter

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Phone Calls/E-mails to Visitors – 2009

We appreciate that visitors are conscientious and submit score forms in a timely manner. As we reviewed these score forms and listened to the challenges of our visitors, we have identified challenging areas from the score forms. This year, we received 852 score forms at the national office. Of these, 189 (22 percent) required calls to visitors to correct errors or clarify scoring issues. Here are the primary reasons for calls to visitors:

• Standards left blank is the leading cause for calls to visitors. Here is a tip: As you finish the visit, take a deep breath and sit down one more time. Turn the paper horizontally and slowly review the score form from this perspective. All items need to be marked in some manner; any item that is not a "yes" must have a "no" or "DNA" score. Consider having the second visitor and camp director do this as well. Seems silly, but it is amazing what a new perspective can do to catch the dreaded blanks.
  
  
• Missing or confusing comments is the second highest reason for a call. Since every "no" score requires a comment; if a "no" score is missing a comment, expect a phone call. Additionally, if you change a score from "no" to "yes," (usually because of the 72-Hour Rule) this must be indicated with a comment. Occasionally those reviewing the score forms are confused by a comment that indicates one thing and a score that indicates another. Comments and scores need to agree with one another.
  
  
• Inappropriately marked DNAs is the next cause for a follow-up phone call. If you are uncertain during the visit process, re-read the entire text of the standard carefully. Things are often gray or have an odd applicability. Please remember that you are welcome to call your standards chair or the national office during the visit if there is confusion over the applicability of a standard or group of standards.
  
  
• Profile/Modes and scoring patterns do not agree comes in as the fourth leading cause for phone calls to visitors. This is most often caused by inconsistency between the camp profile, the mode or modes indicated on the score form, and the standards that are scored. Begin your visit by talking with the camp director and determining what modes the camp operates with and the activities they actually offer. Then make certain that the profile, the modes indicated, and the scoring reflect the correct modes of operation and activities offered.
  
  
• Staffed Public Facility confusion is the final reason for calls to visitors. Remember, staffed public facility standards are only to be scored when a person or persons other than camp staff are responsible for the supervision and conduct of a given activity. These calls were typically related to the aquatics section staffed public facility standards more than the other program sections. More often than not, a visitor scored a few of these standards when the camp would swim off property but were guarded by their own staff. In these cases, the entire sub-section should have been scored "DNA" because the applicable standards (in these instances) were scored earlier in the aquatics section.