Re: write to national

Auntie Beans (Wendie Howland) <WAHowland@aol.com> wrote and asked:

>Is there some particular preason which actually PREVENTS official
>announcements from being posted here, so we can then pass them
>along?

Nope. But there's a problem with getting that OFFICIAL information
and announcements: those announcements and information are NORMALLY
released through *your local Council* as it is received from
National. Your Council gets a packet of information consolidated
from all of the BSA's program and support divisions and sent to
each and every local Council. Some get there at the same time that
announcement is made through the BSA's print media (_Boy's_Life_,
_Scouting_, the old _Exploring_Journal_ (which will probably be
called now "_Venturing_Journal_") and the Direct Service
Newsletter). Other Councils don't get the information before the
"public" announcement is made.

Now, even with all of that, Auntie, your Council may choose for a
variety of personal or professional reasons, NOT TO EVEN RELEASE
the information to their volunteers until they can figure out how
they are going to use/interpret the new policies and options.

So, that's the problem with the flow of information. There's not a
way that information can go from National to Scouts-L or any of the
other lists *officially*. What I and some other Scouters here get
are copies of those items as they are sent from National or
Councils to the field, and we share them with everyone here as soon
as we can do so. Admittedly, I have had things sent to me with
notes to PLEASE don't release this until after the "Council packet"
has been released to local Councils....this is because the
information is contained in the Council Packet and therefore it may
risk someone's employment or continuance.

(Officially, that information is ONLY to come from National to the
Regional offices and from there, to local Councils where it is
distributed to all of us.)

So, I do this because I would rather to continue to receive such
information under those (and other) circumstances and to share it
with you, the people that it will affect, than to not get it and
later enter into long discussions with lots of you here about "how
come we're just NOW getting this" and "Why don't they tell us far
enough in advance to all us to adjust our programming".

(Which we STILL get here, but it's in smaller portions.)

I can't speak for others here that receive information from their
national or regional counterparts and share it here with all of us.
And naturally, as with anything you get from someone else, it's
subject to be incorrect or inaccurate....I try as hard as I can to
check with a couple of resources to see "what matches and what
doesn't"; but sometimes, Auntie, even *I* get it wrong and I'm
quick to come back and say so. I get a lot of copies of summaries
of task forces and papers presented which also gives me some idea
of how the program is shaping and moving toward. In order to
promote and move forward the ideals of the BSA, I need more and
more information in order to "craft the messages".

(and I can always use more stuff, no matter what my wife says!
*smiling*)


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
(note that these addresses will expire on 1 October 1998)
privately at kyblkeagle@aol.com or waltonm@hq.21taacom.army.mil
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