YW/YSAs on the Quarterly Report

[kisaac]

For purposes of calculating line 13 on the quarterly report, do you recommend that I should, or should not, count the 18-year-olds in my ward who (1) appear on the YSA list (line 12) but who (2) attend YW rather than RS? In preparing the report (I have not yet submitted it), I opted to count them in calculating line 13.

I counted them...If they show on the YSA list, and attended (either in their assigned YW class or in RS) I counted them as attending.

We count others in a similar fashion. Do I count serving Missionaries as YSA's that are attending? Yes. Do I count YSA's called to primary, thus unable to attend PR or RS, as attending? Yes. Do missionaries in the field or primary teachers ACTUALLY (or technically) attend a RS or PR meeting in your unit? NO. But that's not the point.

What is the real purpose for this new YSA count- the "spirit of the law?" I believe it is to make sure leaders are accounting for those in their care in this apparently susceptible age group- Are they away at school or home? Did they make the transition from YW to RS? Are they really attending a student ward or just "saying" they are? Do they really attend the YW classes or are they skipping? Sometimes the parents don't even know, but this number promises to help leaders find their YSA's.

While we here discuss the technicalities of "how" and "when" youth become YSA's, it is a discussion for ward councils on which leader is shepherding which YSA on an "individual by individual" basis. The clerks then must work out the mechanics of how each individual is counted for attendance between the Youth Leaders, the RS and PR, and the ward clerk.

[kisaac]

We count others in a similar fashion. Do I count serving Missionaries as YSA's that are attending? Yes. Do I count YSA's called to primary, thus unable to attend PR or RS, as attending? Yes. Do missionaries in the field or primary teachers ACTUALLY (or technically) attend a RS or PR meeting in your unit? NO. But that's not the point.

While the original thread question deals with YW and YSA's in your unit, to clarify my post quoted here, I will not count as attending:
1) YSA's that are attending any other unit's meetings and not my units meetings (singles ward or student ward, etc.)
2) YSA's that are living outside my unit temporarily and not attending my units meetings. (But not on missions.)

In my experience, "second-hand" accounts of attendance in the case of YSA's often prove incorrect. A determination by leaders of both units is needed in this case to decide if the records are indeed in the right unit.