Update: We had our monthly board meeting this past Monday evening. The president of our GMO allowed another member to demean and demoralize the Jr board member. When the Jr board member’s mother asked that it be stopped, the president did nothing to stop the tirade. Then she went on a tirade herself. Needless to say, the Jr board member (15 yrs old) has stepped down from the board position and actions will be taken against the president (USEF member) due to this. Lawyers are now involved. 
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Oh good grief. And people wonder why GMOs are in dire straits.
(And one of the reasons I’m a USEF member is that their insurance offering is pretty good.)
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That is just horrible.
Why would anyone think that is appropriate, ever.
Was it over the whole including the mother in the communications?
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Omg we need juniors so bad! This is awful why would anyone act such a way on a board. People get power tripping
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I have to say it sounds like the mom had the right instinct to want to be included in the communications.
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Why ?
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Thanks for the update but yikes !!! They just showed why a parent or guardian should be included on any correspondence with a minor.
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Well that turned into a cluster.
President and the board member who did the berating should step down voluntarily. If president allows another board member to treat a jr that way in front of a parent, I can imagine how they would treat others.
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Members of a board and the officers shouldn’t demean or demoralize any colleague…junior or adult. It’s their job to maintain a respectful and professional tone throughout their service. What a poor example this group has set.
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All I could do was shake my head and wonder if they are like this in a board meeting, what are they like at home?!? Where they teach?!?! UGH! Jr will still be riding, but not activly involved in GMO any longer. It is sad because she had SO many good ideas for the board and Jr riders as a whole.
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Yes, they didn’t want to include the parent on any communications and called an executive meeting where mom was not going to be allowed to sit in.
I can not imagine why they are so set against including the parent on any communication?
That is a strange hill to die on.
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I am still trying to understand why they didn’t want parents or guardians involved with a minor board member ? If I was a member of your organization I would be a little concerned with the lack of communication.
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This is quite shocking. Our GMO goes to great lengths to get juniors involved. Please keep us updated on how this issue progresses. I’m sure other GMO members and offiicers will want to know so they can make sure the same mistakes aren’t made in their groups.
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Was this about reprimanding or firing the junior?
I’m shocked. Once in a blue moon our board meetings get a bit, shall we say, spirited, but never anything like this.
Yes, as someone who has been a board member/officer this seems crazy to me. And it’s hard to imagine how anyone could justify it even to themselves.
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Unfortunately it is not uncommon for their to be strife on boards. GMOs and lots of other types of organizations. Usually it stems from a “history” of conflict or dislike or petty jealousy between a few board members more than from the actual question at hand. My guess would be that someone on this board has “history” with the mother and didn’t want to include her for that reason. Still not right, but might explain the reluctance.
I am not sure that putting a single junior on the board is the best way to include/support the involvement of juniors in general. I know of one GMO that instead has a group of 3-4 junior leaders, elected by other juniors, who serve as a committee with a few adults to develop activities for junior members.
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Scribbler, The Jr board member was an elected position at our annual meeting and awards ceremony. The president and some other members were sending her bullying emails and when the parent requested that she be CC’d on all correspondence, they got upset and didn’t want to do that. The Jr hadn’t done anything wrong to get get reprimanded over. This was an issue from about 6 years ago at a boarding barn between two Jr’s. It has flowed over into the board business.
