Re: merging packs
(no name) ((no email))
Mon, 20 Jul 1998 03:57:40 +0000
Linda Markley <Linscouts@AOL.COM> asked:
>Does anyone know if councils don't like if packs in the same
>community merge?
Depends on the SENIOR DISTRICT PROFESSIONAL (in all caps for a
reason, Linda) in your Council.
I've placed the title in all caps because in most cases, he or she
is the final decisionmaker. In many Districts, the loss of a unit
can be disasterous to a professional. That's how they are
recognized for doing a good (or bad) job, in part by the number of
units they he or she has within their District and the number of
youth registered in the District at a certain timepoint.
We can play "numbers games" here, but suffice it to say, Linda,
that if your District is already suffering from a loss of Cub
Scouting Packs, more than likely your senior District professional
(I've kinda stopped saying "District Executive", because the titles
vary by the place you live in....) isn't going to let you combine
two Packs, even if the result would be better service for your
community through having one Pack.
The more Packs, the more opportunities for those Packs to gain new
members and to grow, and the more growth, the increased
opportunities to gain more adults to support those units and new
ones that will spring out from them.
Besides, one or both of the chartering organizations will have to
agree on this merger; if either or both have had a long tenure as a
Cub Scout Pack, they may NOT be receptive to having their tenure
end as a result of a merger. The problem may be that your senior
District professional may not have been able to convince both heads
of the chartering organizations that this is in the best interests
of their community...after all, Linda, each Cub Scout Pack belongs
to those chartering organizations -- not just to the BSA.
Now, let's turn this around the other side. Your community has two
Packs that aren't doing well and it only makes sense to combine the
two and make Cub Scouting work more effectively in your community.
It's a great idea, and in many other communities, not only is it
permitted, but it's more or less mandated that each community has
ONE Pack and ONE Troop (makes it easier to manage from a
professional standpoint, especially if both Pack and Troop are
chartered to the same chartering organization). The benefit there
is that you're not burning out the ENTIRE community's adult
leadership pool nor resources, and at the same time, your Pack's
large enough to actually DO those things illustrated in the varions
BSA booklets and materials without a lot of "compromise" and
"alterations"!
Also it makes good community sense in that the community knows who
the leaders of the Cub Scouts in their town, instead of having to
"guess their way around" the Scouting terminology ("Pack? Oh yeah,
they met at Norma's house on Wednesday afternoons. But there's also
another group of them that meet every Monday afternoon at the
school.")
A strong singular Pack in a given community is a GREAT thing and
beats everything out of two or three smaller Packs that barely have
enough adult leadership and barely can meet together as a Pack.
How in the world are you going to decide which way to go?? That's
the job of that senior District professional. Hopefully, he or she
is looking out for the WELFARE of the community and it's youth and
NOT his or her "paycheck and bottom line". If he or she's not, you
and your District's Commissioner needs to notch him or her down a
couple of pegs and remind them of their obligation to be of service
to communities and their youth.
To answer your question, Linda, it depends. It depends on the
attitude and willingness of your District Executive/Senior District
Executive/District Director to look at the community's Scouting
needs a year or so down the road instead of right now, right then.
This is "report card time" for professionals across the nation, so
if he or she's not receptive to combining the two Packs now, you
might want to reask and relook it in late September or October,
when nationally we get a "boost" from School Nights and fall
recharterings and new unit creations.
It also depends on the people in BOTH Packs to agree to combine
resources and programming in an effort to make the Pack more
responsive to the kids in your community and not just "so it would
be more convienent" for the adults.
Your Council isn't really involved in this, because from a
management standpoint, the management of each District is the
"bailywick" of the senior District professional residing in or
managing that District. It is he or she that has to respond when
"report card time" rolls around twice a year!
Hope this helps out!
Settummanque!
(c) 1998 Mike Walton ("no such thing as strong coffee,...") (502) 827-9201
(settummanque, the blackeagle) http://dynasty.net/users/blkeagle
241 Fairview Dr., Henderson, KY 42420-4339 blkeagle@dynasty.net
privately at kyblkeagle@aol.com or waltonm@hq.21taacom.army.mil
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