Richard,
 
I've heard this kind of experience from other folks too. I'm not sure what
the difference is. (May be just dumb luck.) I will say that our Community
Service Program Office is desperate for good sites in our community. (We're
in a fairly rural/suburban county with little public transportation.) We
also have one of our local judge's on our board. That may have some
influence too. My administrative assistant is also key - she's been around
the block a few times and is not inclined to suffer slackers or fools. Early
on, she called the Program Office and told them to find "Bob" another site
since he was worthless to us, and she didn't sign on to be his mother! Go
Wendy!!!. Since then we've gotten extremely good workers - I'm wondering if
folks are being warned that we're a good site but don't tolerate a lot.
Whatever, it's working here.
 
We don't use the workers in places where theft is an issue, and it's an
adult only program. I agree with you about minors - I wouldn't want to deal
with court adjudicated community service with them.
 
It also sounds like there's a lot more paperwork in your area of the
country. We just have to keep a timesheet and sign the worker's copy. Once a
month Wendy faxes the timesheet in, and then we file the original away for
posterity. 
 
Becky Fitzgerald
  _____  

From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Richard Fields
Sent: Monday, June 26, 2006 5:44 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: cleaning
 
Although I am not a museum director anymore (now I.m from the Government and
here to help!) I have dealt with this at a couple of places. When I was new
to management, I was excited to have community service workers. I thought we
could be in a situation to help each other. I was wrong. what I found out
was, it generally took more labor than you saved when you figured in
supervision and paperwork. Equipment damage was a problem, as was theft
(shocking! They were not paragons of virtue.) If you had male and female
minors, it was another headache. Under certain ages, they were forbidden to
do certain jobs (climb ladders, run mowers, weed-eaters, etc.). For adults,
they were prone to not show up, and do a poor job. I stopped using them, and
told the program coordinators at the courts we were not interested anymore.
 
As to volunteers,  I found that as a general rule, it was good in theory,
bad in practice. With the rise of molestation and harassment lawsuits, we
stopped using minors as a rule, just in case. When I stopped using minors,
many of my staff thanked me.
 
Just my 2 cents worth.
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