Tech Forum

I serve in a singles ward in Orem and when assigning home teachers to households the "HOUSEHOLDS NOT ASSIGNED TO BE HOME TAUGHT" tab is very helpful for the unassigned males in the ward. The issue is that There are never any Females on this list. I checked the "HOUSEHOLDS NOT VISITED IN 3 MONTHS" drop down list and there are females on it. So the issue is only with the "HOUSEHOLDS NOT ASSIGNED TO BE HOME TAUGHT" list.

Thank you

GDaniels1987 wrote:I serve in a singles ward in Orem and when assigning home teachers to households the "HOUSEHOLDS NOT ASSIGNED TO BE HOME TAUGHT" tab is very helpful for the unassigned males in the ward. The issue is that There are never any Females on this list. I checked the "HOUSEHOLDS NOT VISITED IN 3 MONTHS" drop down list and there are females on it. So the issue is only with the "HOUSEHOLDS NOT ASSIGNED TO BE HOME TAUGHT" list.

Are you in the Elders Quorum presidency? Households with a female head of household are shown on the unassigned households list of the High Priests Group (which is rarely organized in a singles ward). EQ leaders don't have access to HPG lists. The ward clerk has access to all unassigned households, so you'll need to work with him.

I'm guessing that the females you see in the "Households not visited" list are females that are assigned to be home taught by companionships in the EQ -- but even on that list you won't see females who are not yet assigned. Once you've assigned all the females to be home taught by companionships in the EQ, you'll see them in all your reports.

I had been wondering about this same issue for a long time. This is good to know. Are there future plans to adjust the settings so that EQ presidents in singles wards can view unassigned RS sisters?

tylerpaxman wrote:Are there future plans to adjust the settings so that EQ presidents in singles wards can view unassigned RS sisters?

There has been some discussion that this is a need, but I am not aware of the status of any change. There is also work toward the ability of an elders quorum president to see the high priests unassigned list, which is were you would find the sisters.

In the meantime, your best option is to have the clerk print out the list of HP unassigned, and then type in their names as you assign them to elders quorum companionships.

Is there an official directive somewhere to the effect that the High Priests Group has the default responsibility for home teaching single sisters? I can't find one in the Handbooks. Section 7.4.2 of Handbook 2 makes it sound like there is no default.

chrisgrant wrote:Is there an official directive somewhere to the effect that the High Priests Group has the default responsibility for home teaching single sisters? I can't find one in the Handbooks. Section 7.4.2 of Handbook 2 makes it sound like there is no default.

The developers work under the direction of the Priesthood Department, who defines the "business rules". While the Handbook shows no default, the software needs a default. And that's the rule they came up with.

I'm sure some change will be coming at some point. The ones who have it worst are the YSA wards - they have no HPG and 50% of their households are single women.

chrisgrant wrote:Is there an official directive somewhere to the effect that the High Priests Group has the default responsibility for home teaching single sisters? I can't find one in the Handbooks. Section 7.4.2 of Handbook 2 makes it sound like there is no default.

The First Presidency letter dated 3 November 2004 transferred responsibility for the progress of prospective elders to the high priests. The letter said that where there are insufficient numbers of high priests, the elders quorum would retain that responsibility.

The letter includes instruction that the bishop continues to oversee and coordinate the efforts of the high priests group leader and elders quorum president in this work. At that time, the default became that the elders quorum was responsible for an elder and his family, and the high priests group was responsible for all other households in the ward, unless the bishop made a different assignment.

I am not aware that there is specific guidance concerning single sisters, but they became the responsibility of the high priests at that point. Before then, high priests normally had responsibility for older single sisters anyway. Because of that, I believe the default became that they would have them all until the bishop approved a different assignment.

But as you mentioned, the Handbook requires the bishop's approval of any home teaching assignment. And while there may be a default for administrative purposes, it will usually be a short-lived one, as families are assigned to either the elders quorum or the high priests group for care.

The Handbooks are 6 years more recent than that non-archived letter. They have specific sections devoted to "Organizing Home Teaching" (HB2, Section 7.4.2) and "Responsibility for Prospective Elders" (HB2, Section 7.6.1). Neither section says prospective elders are the responsibility of high priests, although they seem like perfect places to have said so if the 2004 policy were still in effect (and they do state other default responsibilities). In the Worldwide Leadership Training accompanying the release of the 2010 Handbooks, Elder Oaks specifically highlighted as significant the fact that in the new Handbooks the bishop decides responsibility for each prospective elder.

lajackson wrote:

chrisgrant wrote:Is there an official directive somewhere to the effect that the High Priests Group has the default responsibility for home teaching single sisters? I can't find one in the Handbooks. Section 7.4.2 of Handbook 2 makes it sound like there is no default.

The First Presidency letter dated 3 November 2004 transferred responsibility for the progress of prospective elders to the high priests. The letter said that where there are insufficient numbers of high priests, the elders quorum would retain that responsibility.

The letter includes instruction that the bishop continues to oversee and coordinate the efforts of the high priests group leader and elders quorum president in this work. At that time, the default became that the elders quorum was responsible for an elder and his family, and the high priests group was responsible for all other households in the ward, unless the bishop made a different assignment.

I am not aware that there is specific guidance concerning single sisters, but they became the responsibility of the high priests at that point. Before then, high priests normally had responsibility for older single sisters anyway. Because of that, I believe the default became that they would have them all until the bishop approved a different assignment.

But as you mentioned, the Handbook requires the bishop's approval of any home teaching assignment. And while there may be a default for administrative purposes, it will usually be a short-lived one, as families are assigned to either the elders quorum or the high priests group for care.

chrisgrant wrote:The Handbooks are 6 years more recent than that non-archived letter. They have specific sections devoted to "Organizing Home Teaching" (HB2, Section 7.4.2) and "Responsibility for Prospective Elders" (HB2, Section 7.6.1). Neither section says prospective elders are the responsibility of high priests, although they seem like perfect places to have said so if the 2004 policy were still in effect (and they do state other default responsibilities). In the Worldwide Leadership Training accompanying the release of the 2010 Handbooks, Elder Oaks specifically highlighted as significant the fact that in the new Handbooks the bishop decides responsibility for each prospective elder.

Until a home teaching assignment is made, the prospective elder will be assigned to the high priests group by default. We have to have a default place to put the prospective elders and we (the developers) have been instructed to default to the high priests group until an assignment is made.

scgallafent wrote:and we (the developers) have been instructed to default to the high priests group until an assignment is made.

IIRC, instructed by the Priesthood Department.