Leaderboard

So I have an answer from my husband, finally. For context, he was a cub scout briefly but quit after getting weird vibes from the (female) leader, and has not come along to anything scouting-related other than a Pinewood Derby and a campout two weeks ago. "You know that annoying course I had to take before the campout [YPT, we require all parents to take it if they're going camping with us]? I had no idea that existed." We have to keep explaining because a lot of people have actually never heard about anything we've done to improve scout safety. We may have heard it ad nauseam, and i

At least in the BSA case, that is simply not what happened. Several courts had the opportunity to reject the plan or at least pause its implementation, and did not. It wasn't just one trial judge. The bankruptcy court (Judge Silverstein) first had to confirm the plan, which she did in September 2022 after lengthy proceedings. Then the district court (Judge Andrews) had to affirm the plan which happened in March 2023. Plan opponents then moved in the district court to stay implementation of the plan pending appeal, which Judge Andrews denied. Finally, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals de

Here is the link to the info. https://www.scouting.org/program-updates/cub-scout-program-updates-announced/ The four areas of improvement are the Bobcat badge, Cub Scout Adventures, Webelos, and Cub Scout Awards. Bobcat will no longer be a badge that is earned once when a Cub Scout joins. It will become a required Adventure for each rank and earned each year. The requirements for the Bobcat Adventure are different for each grade to make them age-appropriate. Cub Scout Adventures have been improved to make it easier to deliver the program to mult

In April 2018 I posted about getting a Scouters paycheck when I watched one of 'my' boys, as Meteu, drape an ordeal sash over his younger brothers shoulder, as his older brother,the head eleongomat, looked on, smiling. I just watched the same middle brother ( who is the best ceremonalist I've ever seen) welcome his younger brother into the circle of the Vigil, in our very secluded ceremony ring, as once again the older brother stood by trying to look serious, but the smile kept breaking thru. Some scouts who were past members of our ceremories team, drove or flew hundreds of miles to

"Observation" means "no participation or interference" in what you are observing. Many parents can't do that.

The main point of these changes which most people seem to have missed is that each rank is vertically aligned now. This helps a pack in 2 ways. First of all a pack suffering from lack of leadership can more easily combine grade levels into a "mixed" den and keep the whole program running. Secondly the pack leadership can align when they do the related adventures month-to-month so that the monthly pack meeting/outing aligns with what the cubs were learning all month. This brings the cub program into alignment with how a troop should function (practice in meetings, execute in outings). These

Going back to three years would be a huge improvement. Expanding cub scouts to be same size as boy scouts has been a killer for retention, perception, etc, etc, etc. The current 5.5 years way too much.

Locally, our Scouts participated in a number of Veterana' Day programs or recognitions. One of them was at our local county government center where Scouts acted as honor guards for Vets being recognized from each of the services, including Coast Guard. They even note the Space Force, though not sure that is ever going to be large in the short term. For our area, we actually have Vandenburg fairly close, ust up the coast. Anway, at the event we had one Gold Star family recognized, and we had two WWII Vets, one 98, and one 102. We have a photo of one of my own unit scouts shaking hand

FYI. Recommend a faster playback speed setting. 1.75 worked for me.

I really like this new organization. It looks like someone has actually thought about and designed a six-year program, as opposed to the current structure that appears to be made up of one band-aid solution on top of another. I'm also glad to see Arrow of Light as simply one of six rank badges. The idea that Arrow of Light was some great culmination of Cub Scouting never made any sense to me. Any kid who joins a Pack in 5th grade and participates for six months can get Arrow of Light. Whoop-De-Do. I also agree about eliminating the random awards. In the past six years I think our Pack aw

With due respect, are that many people going to be upset with the removal of the Bobcat Badge as a rank? I've always thought of it as a bit of an "odd duck" among Cub Scout awards. The diamond of "Lion, Tiger, Wolf, and Bear" is going to look sharp and show an intuitive progression through the program.

My guess from reading the recent Report of the Governance & Nominating Committee (page 6, blue column about half-way down) is that around 5000 scouts would be National's preferred minimum council size.

Jobs... and feeding at the trough of donations...

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has begun working with the Boy Scouts of America in a new program to prepare youth for a preparedness role to help communities across the country be more resilient and prepared should the need arise. This has been facilitate in some BSA troops nationwide and there is a movement to bring it to the local Walton County (Georgia) area. Arlene Magoon, with the Spirit of Adventure Scout Council in Massachusetts, has worked with her local Scout leaders, the state Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to work within the Cou

Many local councils had to sell properties and dip deeply into endowments in order to kick in their share of the settlement. AS you pointed out, the settlement will have long lasting financial consequences for the BSA and structured fee increases was and is a part of that settlement. I believe that part of that projection was predicated on membership growth which seems ridiculous on the face of it since the BSA has not had traditional membership growth since the early/mid 1970's. I believe the loss of the LDS church was factored into things but the impact of covid and the bad press from all th

That is IF, and I stress IF, they kept the records and/or the records have not been lost or damaged. For my troop's 100th anniversary, we wanted names of all SMs. We had most of them, but not all of them. My council did not have the records.

What is going to happen to the Pack when your Scout crosses over? *Are you going to stay in the Pack forever? What is to say that the current structure isn't going to fail regardless once you leave but maybe just in a year or two from now rather than sooner? And sometimes things have to fall to ashes so the Phoenix can rise again and maybe somebody else will actually come along and bring in a new motivated network to take over. I've seen Packs come and go. With the right group of adult volunteers where everyone is pulling in the same direction it can be great. In the end, you are a volunt

I would never presume that BSA keeps such a list of significant detail on the position that a registered adult served in going back in time, just that an individual was registered. There would be a pretty slim chance that anything from the 60's has ever been digitized to easily scan, and most likely those records are archived. My particular council has only existed for slightly longer than five years, and the legacy councils that merged were also resulting from mergers over the previous four decades, so something that old I can guarantee for our council is kept in a Banker's Box in a storage l

Membership is still a challenge apparently

We have 10 Webelos from our pack visiting next week. It looks like nearly all of them intend to crossover. The crazy just keeps coming for us.

In the pre-2015 program, as soon as a Webelos den completed the Webelos Rank, they began work on the AOL. The entire reason why BSA went from a 9-12 month Webelos program in the 1980s and earlier to the 18-24 month program was because studies showed it took the Webelos, and their parents, that look understand the differences between Cubs Scouts and Boy Scouts. I am friends with one of the 411 committee members that came up with the current program design. I asked can we still start working on AOL as soon as they completed Webelos, and was told yes, they shorted the number of required acti

With all of the TCC and Coalition Town Halls explaining everything it seems like it would have been impossible to check that box not knowing the ramifications.

IMHO This is not a YPT issue, but a ego PT... BSA is very careful about ALL events and operations being open to observation by parents. This does not mean "manipulation" but looking on and "being there". Registration as an adult and taking the YPT is necessary, but no one can deny the parent the right/ability to "observe". Converstion wih those involved seems appropriate. The CO and COR are to be involved, and IMHO, a Troop cannot have too many WELL TRAINED ASMs... And maybe your local Unit Commish, if you have one. Right, Fred?

I think it's a mistake to look at cubs that way. Some things are just different. Nature centers do a far better job with pre-school level programming than scouts ever can, or should. It's far easier for parents to just plunk down a few dollars and show up for a few sessions with the naturalist. Youth sports is similar. Young kids mostly sample -- they'll play soccer in fall, basketball in winter, T ball in spring -- and cubs is not a sampling program. I don't think we so much as lose kids to other activites, I think some activities are better suited to kids at these younger ages. A lot of pare

I won't disagree that 5.5 has been too long of an expansion; however, the alternative allows youngsters to be captured by alternative programs (Y-guides, AYSO soccer, etc.), which all have programs for small-fry. Without a BSA small-fry program, a youngster's life would already be full with alternatives before a BSA program ever gets a chance at him/her.

I think it's easy to get way too carried away with awards. While some things in cub scouting may take some perserverence, nothing is hard. It is no more difficult for a 10 year old to earn AOL than it is for a six year old to earn Tiger because it's an age appropriate progression and the skills are easily attainable by the particular age. This seems to be reaching for ways to make certain groups of kids seem more worthy than another. Cubs simply isn't built that way.

Wait, seriously? You regard standards as "just words on a page"? What are you teaching the kids with that attitude? Why bother? Would you accept any professional regarding the laws or codes as "just words on a page"? Attitudes start as children. They see adults just handing out awards without regard for meeting standards and they will expect that to be the case all the time.

Thank You @RememberSchiff. It is sad when I get information faster her and other social media than through my council.

The original version of the current program had a committee of volunteers working on it for over 2 year ( I thinkit was closer to 4)and getting input from other volunteers in the field. If you pack likes boating activities, or your Webelos/AOLs like the CASTAWAY ADVENTURE, you're welcome. I was the one that reminded a committee member that Cubs could only do boating activities at council event s at the time. And I talked up how my troop growing up used wilderness survival as a recruiting tool. As for the hoopla, prior to June 2015, you had to earn the Bobcat and Webelos Ranks in order t

So now there is a PROGRAM for the kids. Do we have a PROGRAM for the parents? Maybe that's what this really is. The original Cub Scout "program" was supposed to be (as I remember it) a fun thing where the kid had some fun stuff and (without really realizing it) learned some important stuff along the way. Trust, cooperation, teamwork, good ideals, handy skills, pride of craft, ,,,, What else? Ranks weren't so much GOALS TO BE MET, as MILESTONES ALONG THE WAY. The parents we had were folks that had lived thru the Great Depression, the World War, the Korean War, ,

We didn’t / we don’t. It became the Scout rank in 2015. Things change.

This is the first time I've seen the Badges of Rank requirements lined up side-by-side since I returned to Scouting as a parent volunteer. Obviously, there have been a few changes since I was a Cub Scout and this view is really helpful. I assume Cubs would wear the Lion, Tiger, Wolf, and Bear rank badges in a diamond? I think that will look a lot sharper than having the Lion strip dangling below the other badges.

Small world, I know a SM who's troop travels to camp at Camp Seton in that council due to it's expensive but high quality program. Looking at the website I notice some staggering differences in the amount of information provided straight up vs my local councils website which is as lean as it can get with pre-covid out of date information and broken links. I also know that the Greenwich Council is one of the most financially stable councils in New England. Wondering if this is such a jump but; are some small councils prospering because of good information flow, above average economic area,

@fred8033 I understand the economy of scale but I think this is not the only factor we should look at. The Council my units are residing in has been merged several times in the past 5 years. It has been in constant decline, even with the mergers and is now less than 3'000 active youth. However, it geographically spans across each half of 3 states! We no longer go to our Council Summer Camp because of programming and distance for our Troop. My oldest did NYLT last year and is looking to staff it next year. The in-Council NYLT which I would have preferred was 5hrs driving away which makes it an

I understand that there are over 30 councils with less than 1000 youth.

One of the biggest concerns many parents have in my experience is camping. And now they cannot camp with Scouts, Sea Scouts, or Venturers as all adults MUST (emphasis)be registered. And even without the council add on fees, that can be prohibitive to some families. At least National listened to Cub Scout folks who stated that if the new rule applied to Cub Scout camping, it would destroy the program. I am glad family camping is still allowed without restrictions at the Cub level.

The easiest way to ensure a child's activities are safe is to volunteer. You don't have to be a registered leader to show up and help ensure kids are having good, clean fun. My son's other big activity is basketball and I have no desire to be a coach; however, I don't mind being a "coach's helper," parking lot attendant, usher, etc. This isn't a big time commitment. I was already planning on being there and reading a book in the corner. If you need me to put out some cones, I'll gladly put out some cones.

Greenwich Council BSA (greenwichscouting.org)

I trust he will bring a more streamlined organization. With the number of Scouts and units, even if doubled, the BSA is bloated. The organization needs to get more efficient technology. The professional scouts need to focus on how to grow the program and not how to raise money and sell popcorn. The BSA is a youth organization that (for Scouts BSA) is somewhat unique in that at its best is youth led. The endless cub scouts and family camping is moving away from that and burning out kids and families. Look not further than the great and hallowed National Jamboree went from 40K scou

@Davo welcome to scouter.com

I think some places are lucky and have a very competent CM or SM, or a well run unit, or a functional council. That can be a very mixed bag around the country though.

Reflection of our current society. Overscheduled and overwrought.

I'll let others find the sources, but there are two opposing concepts that apply to the field uniform: A uniform is not required to be a member of BSA. The intent here is that we are not to discourage from membership a scout without means to buy a uniform. This goes way back to when the uniform was the most expensive aspect of membership, and a neckerchief of a particular color was the bare minimum. The PLC decides on the troop uniform. This typically involves neckerchief design and how/when it should be worn. It also involves defining the activity uniform. But in effect, if the PL

Years ago, as a council professional, I ran the entire cub summer program from a dozen day camps/firefly camps to 3 webelos and 3 cub parent weekends. One of my key volunteers (yes, every camp was run by volunteers) asked me, 'do you know why we all give up so much to do this?' and I said, 'Because you believe in the program'. And she said, 'No, it's because you thank us'. I think all of my volunteers knew that I both needed and treasured them. I learned the value of THANKS my first year in great part due to an outstanding council exec. But that is a longer story...

I just want to address this, because I think it misses the point of uniforms. Uniforms are part of everyday life, sometimes subtly, sometimes not so subtly. A uniform is really just an outward expression of an individual's commitment to the aims and ideals of the group the uniform represents, and can act as a mirror to help reflect that back at yourself. It adds a level of outward expectation to strive to live up to. When I worked as a bagger at a grocery store in high school, I had a uniform (branded polo, black pants). When I worked at Blockbuster Video in college I had a uniform (light b

Here're some that have worked for me... Go the extra mile: Send out a notice that you will sew on one patch for any Scout or leader who brings their uniform to the meeting. Bring a sewing machine and your box of sewing notions to a meeting and set up shop. Hand or machine sew... it doesn't matter. Offer to teach a Scout how to use the machine or hand sew. Keep track of who you sew on a patch for. They get one and only one, and you might help or guide on the rest. Bring sewing notions on a camping trip! Same idea... Incentivize the behavior you want! We hold a quarterly u

Being new I have not shared my story but one day I most likely will. I thank you for thanking others and I also would like to thank @ThenNow. Because of this thread I read almost all of 27 pages of of @ThenNowpostings. His grasp of the law, his understanding of survivor emotions, and most of all his personal story has touched me. I have been struggling for a long time with my mental health but with the way he has no qualms about mentioning his own journey and mental health struggles put me over the edge and I reached out today to my health care providor to get me help. I am 67 years old a

A few decades ago the "Issues & Politics" thread was created for the specific purpose to house many of the controversial areas of Scouting. Therefore, as a moderator, it was my belief to be slightly more tolerant of behavior that I thought was questionable - that is, something I may take an issue with in "Advancement" would get more of a pass in "Issues & Politics." But just like I tried to discuss in a Scout like manner on this forum why I thought the decision to ban avowed homosexuals was incorrect before the policy was changed (we could debate if it really ever was an offici

I'm sorry you feel unwelcome. You contribute much to this forum, and it would be a lesser place without you. I have learned so much from everyone on this forum (and hopefully will continue to do so). On thing that has always been clear to me, is that we all love scouting and are passionate about it. And because of that, we often bring lots of passion to our discussions. I agree that we need to try and stay scout-like in our debates, even when the topic is something that stirs strong emotion in us. We can disagree passionately, but can remain civil. That is something I have always tried to

Even after an official US Flag is "retired", it is still considered a US Flag and may be flown at any time just like the current US Flag (provided it is done within the guidelines of the flag code, of course). Should you choose, you can fly the 13-star "Betsy Ross", you can fly the 48-star flag, you can fly the 21-star flag (etc. etc.) without special government permission. It was once, and always will be, considered an official US Flag (kind of like "Once an Eagle, Always an Eagle"). The exception would be units of federal government - I'm sure a military post or national park would nee