Posted by Adam W. in Discussion Topic: A One-Ship Academy

Posted by Rear Admiral Sarah Hemenway (Second Assistant Personnel Director) in Discussion Topic: A One-Ship Academy

Posted by Thomas B in Discussion Topic: A One-Ship Academy
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Discussion Topic: A One-Ship Academy

Although we’ve had a one-ship Academy in the past, we did not have the formal procedures like we currently have. We also didn’t have the same formal Academy rules back then either - many of the modern Academy rules came out when we added the second ship and created the separate Academy fleet.

The problem that I see is that some of current elimination rules may be too strict in the sense that can create some very real potential placement concerns. But what’s the right step to allow flexibility?

For example, let’s say both CO and XO are on an LOA at the same time - or one position is vacant and the other one as to take a short LOA. We can’t place a new cadet in the Academy at all in that scenario. Outside of the Academy, we just move to the next available ship - it’s not like we’re going to run out. But in the Academy, we just have the one ship.

A vacant DH, an AWOL DH and an LOA DH… We may now have to go to the new member’s (inferred) “fourth choice”. Remember that we can’t place in that department if a DH has at least three days left on their LOA in the Academy.

So… what’s the right answer? I’m definitely interested in hearing feedback on this one.

Daniel Lerner
Personnel Director

I think we should be talking to the incoming cadet if we can’t give them choice number one or number two. I recall being a little bit surprised and disappointed when I was placed with my second choice. The next thing I had to do was post in threads explaining why my character went into that field, which was annoying since I didn’t choose it. I would have felt far more unhappy with choice three or four and being stuck with that for my Academy tour (which ended up being twice as long as I was told it would be).

I think a main fleet placement would be better than having a new member playing a department that they don’t want. But I imagine some would rather play their department and others would rather be in the Academy. So reaching out to them may be the answer.

Adam W.

I agree with Adam that, rather than going to second choice to satisfy the Academy request, we should consider moving directly to main fleets. This should be discussed with the cadet so that they’re the ones making that decision.

Can the presence/activity of a GM/CNS on the ship be used as a consideration for whether or not a cadet can be placed on the ship? A lot of the time one or both of them are a CO elsewhere around the club, or they have been, and while they aren’t directly involved in the management of the ship, the Academy ship by its nature is more of a collegial environment. Can the Academy Staff be conferred with?

Russell

I don’t think the CO’s and the XO’s presence matters that much in the Academy, to be honest. I don’t know that we’re doing it the right way, but Steve and I are pretty hands off with new cadets, allowing our DHs to take on the mentorship role so that new members aren’t inundated with information from multiple people.

That said, I think that there needs to be room in Academy placements to have a conversation with the new member as well as be selective about a mainstream ship if they choose to go that way. At one point, back in the day, we had a few informally designated “super new member friendly” ships that had strong, reliable command and senior staffs and excellent retention rates (comparatively speaking) but were not formal Academy ships. Oh, and they had to have mentors that were not the CO (because it can be awfully intimidating to reach out to your CO for assistance!). Yes, this was not precisely fair, but getting new members into STF to stay is a benefit to every ship in the club.

Sarah

I’d rather have a CO or XO around when the cadet joins. I’d leave that policy as it is. Sure, DH is the main point of contact and a hands off approach from leadership can work a lot of the time. But ships have a better chance to be functioning well when they are being led by someone who can right the ship if needed.

Adam W.

Personally, I lean towards Sarah here, in that I think COs are slightly less critical in new member interactions than the DHs are (or should be). It’d be nice to have everyone around, but their absence (especially if it is just an LOA) should not be a significant barrier if there is a strong DH there. Exception might be if both CO and XO are AWOL, in which case the ship likely has serious issues.

While saying that, I will caveat by saying I have literally no memory of my DH in the Academy, only Kat as the CO. Though… even then I only remember one thread from when I was in the Academy >10 years ago.

-Thomas

Sorry, my point was not that we should ignore the CO/XO but that we likely don’t have to entirely rule a ship out if one of them is on a short LOA (maybe something similar to the current guideline for DHs). Alternatively (or in addition?), this could be changed to include the CNS, who functions as almost a 2O (or at least that’s how I abuse James) in some ways… at least one of the three needs to be active. A CNS can easily jump in to help with a psych eval of a new character, etc., so I feel like that’s fair.

AWOL is a bit of a different story to me because I don’t think that’s a good “look” for a new member, but that’s an Academy responsibility to deal with, not PDept.

Sarah

These are fair points.

Maybe it goes from:

“No cadet shall be placed on an Academy ship that has both its CO and XO as AWOL, on an LOA of any length, and/or vacant.”

To:

“No cadet shall be placed on an Academy ship that has both its CO and XO as AWOL and/or vacant.”

Adam W.

I actually think that works well. But I would consider adding the CNS to that as Sarah said normally they do act in a 2O role.

Cale