Re: Troop help needed

Colonel Ron asked about how to go about rebuilding a Troop.

Here's how *I* would do it and have done so in the past to build a
successful Troop. This reply is broken into three parts:

This posting, what the CHARTERED PARTNER ORGANIZATION
should do, before, during and after the orgnization;

The next one, which addresses what the VOLUNTEER LEADERSHIP
should be doing, before, during and after;

and the final one from me for now, which addresses what the PROFESSIONAL
and/or COMMISSIONER should be doing before,
during and after.

I chose to post three separate postings instead of trying to cram everything
into one or two 200+ line postings.

THE CHARTERED PARTNER ORGANIZATION (in your case, the Church), need to sit
down and commit themselves to operating and managaing a Scout Troop again.
This means that they need to take a look and see if the facilities that
they allocated for a Troop is adequate for a Troop to meet. Boy Scouting
is different from Cub Scouting in that your Scouts will be going off into
several directions before, during and after the Troop meetings each week.
Boys will be working with other boys on advancement steps on their own and
in Patrol (den, as a comparision) sized groups, led by a BOY youth leader.
Other boys will be working on planning things for future activities and
events, led again by a BOY youth leader.
The immediate involvement of the Scoutmaster is two-fold: to train the
youth leadership and to manage risk management proactively. There's another
thing: to relax and let his or her youth leaders run the show, good or bad.

If the Church doesn't have the facilities and if they are still wanting
host the Troop on their property, there should be some sort of agreement
between the youth leaders, adult leaders and leaders of the Church as to
what expectations the Church expects -- noting that eventually, not
everyone will be associated with the Church and that you will have those
that are not familiar with that Church's particular rules and policies.
Remember that Scouting is an extension of YOUR CHURCH'S program, not the
other way around. So if there's no smoking on the grounds, that's the way
it is.

The other thing the Church needs to do is to take an inventory of all of
the adults available to work with the reorganized unit. This is important,
Colonel Ron, because otherwise, it will be eventually you and your wife
operating the unit. A pool of people also insures the Church that those
with the same "ideas" of the Church are also "running their other
programs", like the Scout Troop.

The Church needs to be proactive in their promotion of THEIR UNIT. There's
a great tendancy to say that the "Troop belongs to the Boy Scouts".
It is both the BSA's AND the Church's, with the balance belonging to the
Church. If they fail to promote their unit, like they have done with their
Pack, the unit will eventually fold and die.

After the unit's reorganization and the signing of the documents (explained
in the third posting), the Church needs to continue to be involved with the
Troop. The Troop's going to expect a lot from the Church, and that
resource list that the new Scoutmaster has is going to be very important to
asking for, getting, using and storing the Troop's equipment and resources.
Also, before the signing, a procedure should be in place for the signing and
receipt of monies and "who have the authority to do what under which
circumstances". Work those things out BEFOREHAND, don't wait until the
first crisis and then plan it out!!

The final thing the Chartered Partner Organization needs to do is insure
that it has a committed, involved Representative that will work alongside
both Pack and Troop and to see that the needs of both are met.

Summary: The Chartered Organization needs to:

- make sure that they understand the differences between Cub and Scout
and has the appropriate facilities for it
- make sure that they have a Chartered Organizational Representative that
is committed to assisting both units and their leadership
- make sure that the organization has spelled our their expectations of the
adult and youth leadership, programming and activities which are to take
place on the grounds of the Church

Next: What does the VOLUNTEERS need to do to make this work???

Settummanque!!

(I have no current signature because I am in the process of changing email
providers. Please send your email to me at blkeagle@dynasty.net or
kyblkeagle@aol.com. They have proven to be reliable addresses for now.
Thanks!)

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