SPLITTING PACK
Bob Nieland (rgn@MCS.NET)
Thu, 29 May 1997 09:58:29 -0500
Laureen,
We split our pack a year ago. We had resisted a split for many years, but
both packs have been pleased with the chnage. Its something I would highly
recommend to any large pack.
In response to your specific questions:
>Some talk has been about having
>a geographical split in our town. So depending on where you live would
>determine which Pack you would belong to. . . . Should you be told
>where to go or decide for yourself which Pack you would like to join?
We did a geographic split. Our goals at the outset were to keep the two
packs relatively close in size, keep contiguous neighborhoods together,
split existing pack leadership and money as fairly as possible and minimize
disruptions to existing dens. We used a spreadsheet as an analysis tool so
we could see the makeup of each den by subdivision and played with the
"sort" function to try out different split scenarios.
The practice of the existing pack had been to draw the membership from a
single elementary school. After the pack committee and den leaders agreed on
a dividing line within the school district for the two packs, we decided
that any new recruits would be assigned to the pack that covered their
neighborhood, with no exceptions. Existing dens were assigned to a pack
based on where most of the boys lived (or if the numbers were close, where
the den leader lived).
We then communicated the plan to all of the parents and asked for feedback
(we got very little). In the parents letter, we indicated a strong
preference for keeping existing dens together but indicated we would try to
accomodate switching boys who were in the "wrong" pack, with preference
being given to families with more than one boy in Cub Scouts. Out of the 105
boys in the packs at the time of the split, only 2 changed dens (both 2nd
graders at the time).
>If it is geographically decided and you have a new Scout joining next year and
>that puts him in one Pack but your older son is in the other Pack because
he is >in his 2nd year of Webelos Scout and he is finishing up with his existing
>den..........then your family belongs to two Packs......Any ideas out there???
I would leave it up to the family to decide whether the older boy changes
dens or they have boys in different packs for a few months. Only as a last
resort would I place the younger boy in the "wrong" pack. It would seem to
set a bad precedent. What you'll find is that over the years, one pack or
the other will be perceived as the stronger pack.
> Also, do the Pack Committee meetings include both packs? Do you have the
>same monthly themes? I would like to go the the Pack Committee meeting with
>some input but I am not quite sure what will work. Thanks in advance for
>your help.
No, we created separate pack committees which meet at separate times and
places. We thought about having a joint pack committee but decided against
it as the only size management problem we would have solved would been pack
meetings. If you're going to try to stay with one committee, there's no real
need to formally split the pack. You could simply have an infomal
arrangement in which half of the dens have a pack meeting at different times
each month.
We do coordinate our calendar at a joint pack committee meeting in June. The
reason for this is we share equipment (pinewood derby track, sound
equipment, camping equipment) and need to avoid pack meeting conflicts when
any of this equipment is needed.
Other suggestions:
* Split the treasury basically down the middle, but give the new pack a
little extra money to buy new American, pack and den flags, and anything
else they may need to get started.
* Try to have some joint outings, at least in the first year, so that
existing relationships are maintained.
* Meet with your District Chairman and/or District Executive to let them
know of your plans and get feedback.
Bob Nieland
Committee Chairman, Cub Scout Pack 101
Naperville, Illinois
http://www.pack101.org
mailto:rgn@mcs.net
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
