Rotations

This past weekend we got back on the road, with two instructionals in the north part of our state.  It has been great having the chance to meet with our local members and talk about plans and upcoming events that they should consider attending.  I wish we had more time to talk.  In years past, the meeting was the last thing, so groups that were done earlier could go and groups that had more to cover could stay and we have a defined time, so that is less useful, but then again, there were years when we didn't do these at all or only in very limited areas, so some is certainly better than none.

Having an e-mail list though has made up for a lot of it though.  I've already put out two e-mails with more information in the past week and am ecstatic that I have all but twenty-eight of the Associate Matrons of California on my e-mail list.  Of course I also have ten Chapters that don't have an Associate Matron and I am very worried about those because how are they going to have a good year next year if no one is planning it this year?  The new Dragon Riders coming in now have a lot of catching up to do, but at least they will be in on the planning of the Official Visit and such.  Those who come in next year, and every Chapter will have to have SOMEONE take the office or the previous person has to stay in it, will spend the whole year scrambling to catch up and that's gotta be tough!

One of the questions that keeps coming up is "From what Chapter will you choose the Deputy Grand Matron for our District?"  I am a little puzzled at this question because I would think that getting the best person is more important than getting someone from a particular Chapter, but I can appreciate that if there is a good person in every Chapter in a District, you'd want to do a little rotating around so that one Chapter doesn't supply the person all the time.  And I have found out that in some Districts, they are very strict about their rotation and quite put out if you don't follow it.  Unfortunately for those Districts, they've been put out for a few years now because between consolidations and people not wanting to serve, most rotations have been blown to the place of eternal punishment in a wicker container carried by grip.  So at this point, how do you rotate those?

To be sure, I have a list of all the people who have served as Deputy since 2007, sorted by the Chapter from which they came and I have listed on my spread sheet the two or three Chapters who have waited the longest since they had a Deputy and when I have lots of recommendations in a District, I have no problem in considering that timing as one of several factors.  But in some Districts, I have no recommendations at all and in others, only one or two, so if they don't come from the right Chapters, what can an Associate Grand Matron do?  In a perfect world, I would have a couple of names from every Chapter but in that perfect world, my teleportation machine works and I save tons on gas and airline tickets, so much for that!

So getting back to unfortunate reality, the choices are limited, especially if you are looking at new people and not as much as repeaters, which is the other wrinkle that a hot iron set on cotton doesn't seem to affect.  Some people feel that if there is any new person, even a marginally qualified new person, that is better than taking a repeater and some people feel the exact opposite.  There has been some discussion about what would happen if we tried to consider re-appointing the same Deputy for two, three or even four years.  One of the advantages of the plan is that presumably, the Deputy would get better, more knowledgeable and more capable each year.  Another advantage is that, let's say on a three year rotation, each AGM would only be trying to fill a third of the slots instead of all of them each time and that would really help!  It also means that there would only be a Deputy reception in the District every three or four years instead of every year.

But the downsides are that people would have to accept that the Deputy is not changing Chapters each year, that less people will have the opportunity, and in some areas, they would have to change their expectations.  Right now, there are some districts where it is understood that the Deputy will be coming to two, maybe three meetings and will be holding one, maybe two practices for each Chapter.  In other areas, they think that the Deputy is supposed to show up for EVERY meeting of EVERY Chapter in their District for the whole year.  That simply blows my mind!  I think that sometimes, the Worthy Matron ought to get to preside without her teacher sitting at her elbow watching her and we'd get more people willing to do the job if we didn't overburden it.  Nevertheless, in the areas with the 100% tradition, if the Deputy substantially fails expectations, they get a lot of grief about it and, needless to say, you'd burn a person up pretty quickly if you required that of them.

So it is a tricky issue, but given our demographics, one that will probably have to be wrestled with sooner, rather than later.

Next weekend, I am in San Jose, Fairfield and Vallejo.