Minor membership controversy

[John.Nicholas]

@Jojo

Now he is to afraid to come back to take any classes because he has been informed he is unwanted, I am disappointed by this behavior from someone who is supposed to be an adult.

Jo, I’ve seen your kids in Adult Situations… I’d be happy to have him in a class.There are a couple of ornament classes and an Open Turning on the calendar. Introductory level.

John

[dom]

Thanks for sharing your story here, Mike - every bit of it.

I was an incredibly curious kid, but grew up in a home with extremely limited resources. The first time I touched a power tool was as an adult. My involvement in MakeICT from the beginning has always been inspired in part by the idea that we, as a community, can provide things (ideas, knowledge, tools, experiences, etc) that are otherwise unavailable to people. The younger a person is, the more impactful that can be.

The concerns about keeping people safe from harm and the organization safe from liability are valid. I’ve had countless positive experiences with kids in the makerspace, but I’ve also had to go searching the facility to find a parent after seeing their unattended children rummaging through people’s things. Some kids are better than others, as are some parents and people in general. Personally, I think our current policies regarding youth are pretty sound, but there may be room for improvement with adherence / reporting / enforcement of the guest policies.

If any changes (policy, cultural, etc) are made to help ensure the safety of youth in the makerspace, I hope it’s carefully balanced to ensure that those changes also make our org even more inviting and supportive of our local youth. The world needs more excellent makers

[tonyreid]

May be off topic slightly, but if a bring an adult guest and I am just popping in quick to run somthing on the laser cutter or cut a couple boards in the woodshop, can a “non-member” adult sit in the lounge and look at their phone, eat a snack, or whatever while I am working (less than 30 minutes) as oppossed to them sitting in my car or standing in the woodshop while I run boards on the table saw?

[whateg01]

According to the other thread on minors…

Where is the Minor Maker Safety Meeting?

It was honestly a mistaken post in the event creator. It refreshed and reset the date. I checked in room 2 at 7, but the only people in the building for the meeting were the membership committee. Since people did show up, we talked about first steps. The first real meeting is planned for the 18th. The Membership committee did clarify that anyone under 16 needs constant supervision in the room with them. That should help with the decisions we need to make about the minors who are actually key ho…

“…the membership committee. They feel that “direct supervision” is being misinterpreted. It’s like they say in orientation: “you need to be with your guests (physically in the room with) at all times unless they are going to the restroom…””