Re: SPLITTING PACK contd.
Alan Houser (troop24@EMF.NET)
Tue, 10 Jun 1997 22:54:13 -0700
AL DEBENEDETTO <alcjjj@MSN.COM> wrote:
>I wrote to you all last week about splitting a pack of 120 Cub Scouts and how
>your experience had been and/or advice as to the best way to go about it
>(geographically?, etc...). The committee and den leaders talked for 2 and a
>half hours and have decided not to split the pack (due to the difficulty in
>forming another committee). However, we need to do something since the size
You can always do what the local pack your size did: Nothing. Eventually
the membership crashed to about half. I attended a few of their pack
meetings from time to time & it was chaos. Evidently, the pack could no
longer provide what the Scouts and families wanted or needed, and they
voted with their feet.
If you can't find enough people for another committee, then you probably
don't have enough for the pack as it is now. There is no economy in
numbers.
>of the pack with family members as well could reach up to 300 people at a pack
>meeting. We are toying with the idea of having one committee but two pack
>meetings a month splitting up the pack that way. Half the group wants to
>split the scouts by their age, that is, have the Webelos Scouts and the Bear
>Scouts have a separate pack meeting from the Tiger and Wolf Scouts. This way
>the ages of the boys would not be so varied and the attention of the scouts
>would stay more focused on Scouts around their own age. The feeling was that
>we could offer the boys more age appropriate activities since the age range
>would not be so great. Also, we would not have to split up any grades since
A good pack program does have age appropriate activities. They are called
den meetings! Do not underestimate the value of having the Webelos present
as role models and examples for the younger Cubs. As you note, it's
important to keep them looking forward to what's to come.
>we are a small town of 5400 with only one elementary school. The other half
>thought that if we split up the meetings by age, the younger Scouts would not
>have the benefit of seeing the things the older scouts do and especially feel
>that having the younger scouts see the Webelos scouts and all they do is an
>incentive for the young scouts to continue on in scouting. Still another
>committee member thinks that maybe splitting up this way is not necessary.
>Maybe if we rethink the way we run pack meetings, we will find the answer
>there.
What are the purposes of the pack meeting? To recognize the achievements
of the Cubs should be first and foremost. But a long meeting to recognize
a long list of Cubs can get to be tedious, so we punctuated the awards
with songs, skits, and other fun activities. We did not (as I have seen
other packs do) try to play a game during the meeting, but we occasionally
would have a guest speaker (such as the police department's robot). Our
pack meetings (for 60 Cubs) would take about an hour. That seemed to be
about the limit for still keeping things under control. Most of the other
packs I've visited run about the same.
>We are to think up ways we could possibly make this work and meet again in
>early July to discuss and hopefully decide on our course of action.
>Any suggestions out there in regards to which way to split. How long are your
>pack meetings and what do you hope to accomplish at each one?
Announcements are deadly. Try to get everything important down on paper
(Pack newsletter) and handed out at the pack meeting. Keep the meeting
focused on the Cubs.
YiS,
Alan R. Houser ** Scoutmaster, Berkeley Troop 24 ** troop24@emf.net
** WWW page ** http://www.emf.net/~troop24/t24.html **
Scoutmaster, Mt. Diablo Silverado Council Jamboree Troop #637
** http://www.emf.net/~troop24/council/nj-637.html **
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
