Re: About Professional Scouters
settummanque, or blackeagle (blkeagle@DYNASTY.NET)
Wed, 10 Dec 1997 21:12:06 -0600
Randy Woo wrote and later asked:
>Mike Walton wrote:
>>There's a forumla that is followed pretty closely in most Councils that
>>basically state that for every 1200 youth members, that there should be
>>about a quarter of that number that are volunteers (about 300 or so) and
>>one professional supporting that number.
>
>My DE is at 1400 and he said that this will probably go to 1500 next year.
Sounds like a really profitable District operation, Randy....you and he
should be proud of the increase!!
>As these numbers go up and expenses continue to get shaved and >funding
gets more difficult to come by, I predict that the role of the >commissioner
will again become a prominant one in Scouting in the U.S.. >It should be
today, but I'm not sure that most District Executives have >this figured out.
So has National. Over the past ten years, the BSA has been trying extremely
hard to provoke local Councils into emphazing the role of the "local
Commissioner" as a way to decentralize much of the many tasks that District
Executives/Directors and their staffs (if they have such) do right now for
the volunteers and in return, for the youth in their Districts.
National started this out by appointing its first National Commissioner
since Dan Beard, a Black businessman from Chicago. It didn't work out,
primarily because it had been eons since the BSA had a National Commissioner
and there wasn't a cut-and-dried job description AND a lot of lattitude to
get this guy out in the public and into the local Councils where he -- and
the role that he represents -- could be seen and emulated.
There's a great National Commissioner's newsletter that was supposed to be
in the hands of every unit, District and Council Commissioner and their
staffs....that was really short-lived, like a lot of National publications
shoved down to the local Council for "distribution"....and a lot of "field
Commissioners" never seen but perhaps one or two issues of the publication.
Then, the BSA tried to "rail in" the roles of the Roundtable Staff from that
of being "Commissioners" to that of being "ordinary joes and janes". It
didn't work...and as you'll see come spring (and those with the current BSA
Insignia Guides see), the Commissioner role is back.
So now, the BSA is going to go back to the basics and insist to local
Councils that in order to have a Quality program, Districts and Councils
have to have at least ONE "unit-type" Commissioner for every four units.
That's the only way that Commissioners will once again be placed where they
belong, Randy....as the key to quality control of our programs.
>Now I'm looking for an answer to a history question. Hopefully, some of
>the more experienced in our group can help me. When did the Unit
>Commissioner and Roundtable commissioner replace the field >commissioner
and neighborhood commissioner?
Officially, in 1972 with the new "improved program", which brought
officially the Roundtable Commissioner and which renamed the Field
Commissioner to Unit Commissioners. In 1973, the Neighborhood Commissioner
position was converted to Unit Commissioners (some Councils still had them
up until 1975 or so) and in 1983 or so, the BSA introduced Pack and Troop
Commissioners to the "mix" as part of a streamlined District Commissioner
"structure" which lots of urban areas took up (as well as other suburban
areas and Councils with large numbers of units, like the National Capitol
Area and Los Angeles Area Councils).
I *personally wish* that we bring back the "Neighborhood Commissioner". I
think that it was a neat position!
>And when did the Cub Scout Commissioner and Boy Scout
>Commissioner positions get introduced? When were they dropped?
Officially, they haven't been dropped. Unofficially, they are dead as of
1994 or 95. Councils can still "divide" their Commissioner operation
between Cub Scouting (with a District Cub Scout Commissioner and Assistant
District Cub Scout Commissioner and Pack Commissioners) and Boy Scouting
(with a District Boy Scout Commissioner and Assistant District Boy Scout
Commissioner and Troop Commissioners) but with the reduction in overall
Commissioner support as I've outlined above, most Councils are just happy
with a District Commissioner and several Assistant District Commissioners
and Unit Commissioners period. If a person wants to work specifically with
Cub Scouting or Boy Scouting units ONLY, then they can wear the Pack or
Troop Commissioner patch.
If a District chose to divide their "unit service function" between Cub,
Scout, and Exploring, those patches are available to support it.
But very few Councils are doing it and it's getting smaller and smaller each
program year....it just didn't work out the way the Council Support Division
expected it to work.
Hope this helps!!
Settummanque!
(c) 1997 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
kyblkeagle@aol.com or waltonm@hq.21taacom.army.mil
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