Aaronic Priesthood quorum attendance

[dennismjohnson]

Is there a way to tell who is entering attendance for Aaronic Priesthood quorums? We recently verified that none of the Bishopric members are, we don't have a YM called as a secretary due to low numbers of youth, and the Ward Clerk confirmed he is not filling it in either. But we are seeing attendance being checked periodically (with suspect accuracy). Can the Elders Quorum secretary or Sunday School instructors/Presidency update those boxes? We are very confused. Maybe the angels are making their record.

[jdlessley]

Is there a way to tell who is entering attendance for Aaronic Priesthood quorums?

No, not locally. Or at least you cannot see any electronic tag. You can narrow down who has the ability to mark Aaronic Priesthood quorum attendance (explained below).

We recently verified that none of the Bishopric members are, we don't have a YM called as a secretary due to low numbers of youth, and the Ward Clerk confirmed he is not filling it in either. But we are seeing attendance being checked periodically (with suspect accuracy). Can the Elders Quorum secretary or Sunday School instructors/Presidency update those boxes?

Youth leaders, including youth secretaries, do not have access to the electronic attendance in the Class and Quorum Attendance tool. The Elders Quorum secretary and leaders only have access to Class and Quorum Attendance for male adults. The Sunday School Presidency, including secretary, and youth Sunday School Instructors have access to enter youth attendance. There is no distinction in the Class and Quorum Attendance tool for whether youth are being marked for Sunday School or a youth class/quorum since the tool shows all the Sunday dates for each member on the list. It is the responsibility of those marking attendance to ensure they are only marking for the correct date.

You can probably narrow down who is marking attendance for Aaronic Priesthood quorum meetings by noting the young men that are being marked for quorum meeting attendance and what Sunday School course those young men attend. A Sunday School presidency member, secretary, or Sunday School course teacher are then potential suspects. If an electronic device, smartphone/tablet/notebook, is passed around in the Sunday School course for marking attendance then anyone in that course could be marking an incorrect, or additional, date.

[rwstum]

It is too bad that the youth secretaries don't have access to reports. Isn't recording attendance that part of their calling? Isn't delegation a principle we try to instil in them?

[BrianEdwards]

It is too bad that the youth secretaries don't have access to reports. Isn't recording attendance that part of their calling? Isn't delegation a principle we try to instil in them?

This is a topic that has previously been discussed -- you're not the only one asking that question! For example here: Young women class secretary access to take attendance.

For those desiring to help our youth secretaries fulfill their callings, even if they have to go through adult leaders to get the LCR data, I'll repeat what I posted in that thread (ok, I'm a bit biased, but I think it's a good perspective )

As an aside, I think we often focus exclusively on the "recording of attendance" (at least that's common for me). But of equal importance is for somebody (aka the secretary) to "analyze the attendance". So even if youth secretaries don't enter anything into LCR, they could be keeping on eye on youth attendance patterns, and bring this up in class/quorum presidency meetings. This is a meaningful way to fulfill their responsibility to "keep track of attendance".

[BrianEdwards]

You can probably narrow down who is marking attendance for Aaronic Priesthood quorum meetings by noting the young men that are being marked for quorum meeting attendance and what Sunday School course those young men attend. A Sunday School presidency member, secretary, or Sunday School course teacher are then potential suspects. If an electronic device, smartphone/tablet/notebook, is passed around in the Sunday School course for marking attendance then anyone in that course could be marking an incorrect, or additional, date.

I've definitely seen this type of occurrence. With adult attendance, it could be where one presidency member (SS, EQ, RS) notices that attendance data for the "other Sundays" is not getting entered, and continues to not be entered even after they share that with the other presidency. So they take the initiative to enter the data for the 2nd/4th Sundays based on what they see, even though they're a SS Presidency member (or vice-versa for EQ/RS). Or could be a ward clerk who is frustrated with repeated asks to have current attendance info, and yet he always ends up with missing data for the quarterly report, so he ends up doing this on his own at regular intervals. Same kind of thing for youth attendance, along with @jdlessley 's other ideas.

It's good that you noticed. Way too many times, tracking attendance is low on the leadership priority list. Let us know what you find out