Unexpected email

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

So what if the school changes the time or some other issue comes up? You never talk to the school just to make sure what they might be doing that night or special occasion?

Peace

Nope. We never have any contact with the school until we show up for the games. It keeps things simple and removes a potentially large conflict of interest. The schools provide their entire schedule and changes to one contact (assignor) who takes care of any and all communications about the game to the officials. The school have no need to keep track of who is on the game and the officials have no need to confirm anything with the schools. The partners only confirm with each other 1-3 days before the game. The system works nearly flawlessly except when a school forgets to request officials for a night (which wouldn't be any differnet in areas that do direct contact).

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

Nope. We never have any contact with the school until we show up for the games. It keeps things simple and removes a potentially large conflict of interest. The schools provide their entire schedule and changes to one contact (assignor) who takes care of any and all communications about the game to the officials. The school have no need to keep track of who is on the game and the officials have no need to confirm anything with the schools. The partners only confirm with each other 1-3 days before the game. The system works nearly flawlessly except when a school forgets to request officials for a night (which wouldn't be any differnet in areas that do direct contact).

I am not contacting the school to give out Christmas cards. I am in contact with the school to make sure the game starts at the right time, I am on their schedule for the game, I park in the proper spot if need be, I know who is greeting me or do they need specific information to fill out a check.

Also there are very few problems with most assignors I work for. But there are times when someone makes an honest mistake and the proper people (including myself) were not contacted for the changes.

Peace

[Nevadaref]

The beauty of our system is that we don't have to worry about most of the specifics that you have listed.
1. Our pay is handled by the association. We bill each school district in bulk for their games, the districts send one check to the association, and then the association treasurer deposits those and cuts our individual checks from one central association account every couple of weeks. Thus the schools don't need to know our names for pay.
2. Game times are posted and updated on the computer. When the computer is changed you receive an email from the system.
3. Partners are posted on the computer.
4. I live in the Sierras and I seriously doubt that weather is more of a concern where you are than here. Have you heard of the Donner party or Squaw Valley where the 1960 Winter Olympics were held? We service five schools up at Lake Tahoe. If a game is cancelled due to weather the schools contact the assignor and he calls the officials. We all have cell phones. Over the years we have become quite good at watching the forecasts and making decisions a few hours in advance, so that the word can get to those as necessary.

Our methods seem to work rather well.

[Dan_ref]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

The beauty of our system is that we don't have to worry about most of the specifics that you have listed.
1. Our pay is handled by the association. We bill each school district in bulk for their games, the districts send one check to the association, and then the association treasurer deposits those and cuts our individual checks from one central association account every couple of weeks. Thus the schools don't need to know our names for pay.
2. Game times are posted and updated on the computer. When the computer is changed you receive an email from the system.
3. Partners are posted on the computer.
4. I live in the Sierras and I seriously doubt that weather is more of a concern where you are than here. Have you heard of the Donner party or Squaw Valley where the 1960 Winter Olympics were held? We service five schools up at Lake Tahoe. If a game is cancelled due to weather the schools contact the assignor and he calls the officials. We all have cell phones. Over the years we have become quite good at watching the forecasts and making decisions a few hours in advance, so that the word can get to those as necessary.

Our methods seem to work rather well.

For those of us who aren't consumed with worry over re-living the Donner experience (and don't live in perpetual fear that an AD might want to contact us) our methods work just as well.

AD wants to contact me? Sure, why not. No one is gonna try and eat our dead bodies, so there's no need to hide.

[Nevadaref]

I'm sure it does, Dan. But there seems to be a few individuals who cannot fathom how it could also possibly work without the officials having any direct contact with the schools, ADs, or coaches.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

The beauty of our system is that we don't have to worry about most of the specifics that you have listed.
1. Our pay is handled by the association. We bill each school district in bulk for their games, the districts send one check to the association, and then the association treasurer deposits those and cuts our individual checks from one central association account every couple of weeks. Thus the schools don't need to know our names for pay.

Pay is handled by the schools. It is their money and they pay us how they wish. Whether that is through cash or a check or pay by mail.

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

2. Game times are posted and updated on the computer. When the computer is changed you receive an email from the system.

I work for a few conferences that have now put all the assignments on the computer. But just like anything, it is only as good as the humans that run it. I had a JV game in late January and I did not contact the school the day of because of past problems getting a call back. Then I show up and my partner shows up for a game that originally had a time change only to be at the game in the 4th quarter. The assignor did not know there was a change and the school was not aware there was a problem. They did have one official that did work the game by himself. I took for granted that the computer was right only to find out that we were late.

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

3. Partners are posted on the computer.

I personally do not care about partners. I just want someone to show up most of the time.

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

4. I live in the Sierras and I seriously doubt that weather is more of a concern where you are than here. Have you heard of the Donner party or Squaw Valley where the 1960 Winter Olympics were held? We service five schools up at Lake Tahoe. If a game is cancelled due to weather the schools contact the assignor and he calls the officials. We all have cell phones. Over the years we have become quite good at watching the forecasts and making decisions a few hours in advance, so that the word can get to those as necessary.

I realize this but this in my area weather is a very realistic concern. I have a few games this year cancelled and it was not the assignor that had that information. I even worked a game the first week of December where just about every other game was cancelled. The game was in the city limits of Chicago and it was one of the few games in that particular league that actually played. I contacted the school in order to find out all the possibilities to play. The two schools were rather close to each other, so they did play. Considering that the decision to cancel games are between the participating schools, I do not expect an assignor to relay that information. Officiating is a part time job for most assignors, not everyone is sitting by a phone waiting to call everyone. The AD of a school is doing their job to contact participants of the game. That after all is the AD’s job.

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Our methods seem to work rather well.

So does our system. I would not have it another way.

Peace