Quality Units and what it means
Tom Petrik (EC92@AOL.COM)
Sun, 24 Nov 1996 18:37:51 -0500
When a Pack, Troop, Post or Ship is a Quality Unit it means that they are
meeting _at least_ the minimum of the requirements to be a unit that is
offering a good Scouting program. Those 10 items are the things that allow a
unit to operate efficiently, to keep its program in line with the National
guidelines, and to continue to grow. Anybody who says "not everyone can do
it" has missed the point. The requirements are simple and _there is no reason
any unit cannot do it_.
As Service Team Chair (Exploring's equivalent of a District Commissioner) for
a relatively small Exploring District I can guarantee you, the Posts that are
not completing these requirements are presenting an Exploring program, but
not a _Scouting_ program. You can use the example of the local schools - any
class or even an entire school could take as their goal to teach the kids to
"do their best" but is that a Scouting program? It lacks the guidance, goals,
and skill development (and in my case social development) that Scouting has
built in, and that it measures using the Quality Unit form.
I've been a Cubmaster, never had a unit that didn't earn the award, a
Scoutmaster who took over a Troop where the adults were running everything
and had to expend three years energy on pushing advancement and youth
leadership instead of growth in unit size- always got the QU, Associate
Advisor for a small Post - never missed receiving it. The requirements aren't
going to hurt anyone and completing them only _helps_ a unit.
The required items changed? Change your outlook toward your program and try
to complete it, not cry about the change. Find an adult to take
responsibility for the requirement you haven't been able to complete, which
appears to be membership growth if I follow the thread correctly. So now
every unit that can't grow gets a membership chairman (who might even attend
the District Membership Committee meetings, what a unique concept) who comes
up with new ideas and places to try to attract youth. Share the ideas here,
not the complaints.
Since I was a Cubmaster my Districts have always felt the Quality Unit award
was _too easy_ and that it didn't force a unit to be involved the way it
should in the district and council. We wrote our own awards. I brought the
same to the new Exploring district when asked to move to it. The requirements
we set for ourselves are not easy - in the second year of the district (first
year of the award) one unit completed it, in the second year of the award
only two units are still eligible, and we had 10 quality units (requirement
#1 of the district award) before I started my end of year push that now has
us at 12 completed Quality Units and 4 or 5 more that can complete it before
12/31.
Its November and you can't earn it because you aren't trained or whatever?
Get on your District Training Team's tail and get a unit training course.
Don't go to the DE or Council except to get the name of who you should call
and pester. And stay on them. Our Exploring District _lost_ our training
chair, and we'll _still_ run a training course for a Post if they ask, and if
we have a resource we need to use that isn't in the office we call the Region
or National for them so that they get the information and data. That's a
Commissioners job, a District Committee members responsibility, and more. And
if they aren't helping you complete QU its your fellow volunteers you need to
force to get you the help you need.
And if your district thinks it's too busy to help you, remind them that
_they_ are measured by how close they come to getting the Quality District
award and the council is measured by how many of them get the Quality Council
award. And requirement #1 on that Quality District form is that more than 50%
of units registered on 1/1 complete the Quality Unit award. If they can't do
that, they need help, or a completely new group of district officers that are
willing to get people who _will_ complete the requirements.
Tom Petrik
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
