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Not a huge fan of massive troop "rules". Never had one, do not plan to have one. Once you have written "guidelines" one will need to follow them and then you get boxed into a corner. Sort of like the academic zero tolerance policies. Huge difference when a kid goes camping with dad and accidentally leaves an axe in the car as compared to kid who brings a knife to school to settle a score. One must look at intent and hopefully be able to judge and work with kids as individuals. We have a large troop and literally have only one written policy, and that concerns cell phones and it was w

I'm not sure I like the words "redundant or dumb" but there are just a lot of words in these policies. No slight to the lawyers among us but when things start getting into that much detail it sounds like there's just no trust between the SM and the scouts. Much of it is already in the GTA so maybe that's what DuctTape means by redundant. Also, so much of it just begs for more complex answers. It says there will be a uniform inspection at least once a month. What if there isn't? So what if there is? If a scout shows up in blue jeans then what? Is this really a policy or is it what the troop usu

“They have this range all set up where the boys can shoot an M4, M240, and M249. It maybe the first and last chance a lot of these guys get to shoot some of these weapons. They do have some bigger guns and they were telling them that if they want to shoot those, they have to join the Army,” said SM Murdock. What a great Scout outing. Thanks to US Army and SM Murdock. https://www.wibw.com/content/news/Boy-Scouts-shoot-Army-weapons-at-Fort-Rileys-32nd-Annual-Apple-Day--494075211.html Though I did not enter the military, Scouting ,and only Scouting, provided me some exposure to mi

Oh. Then maybe the job of this subcommittee is to find out which policies are/are not being followed, and which ones are. For example, maybe it was the boys who wanted monthly inspections to keep the adults from wasting meetings with excessive announcements. But, I suspect that actually they are saddled with a goal that's nearly impossible to meet.* This thing needs more strikethrough than insertion. For example, under SMCs. Have: Our SM and assistants will arrange conferences with scouts promptly in accordance with the BSA Guide to Advancement. Actually, I would not have it under "A

What works best for us is to get comfortable with the BSA source materials. Have a question about advancement, check the guide to advancement. Have a question about uniforming, check the Guide to Awards and Insignia. This may seem obvious - but when we tend to bump into a problem, I find it's often because we haven't taken the step to really understand the official guidance on how to do things. I think this topic is a great example of that. Some documents we go to regularly are: Guide to Advancement Boy Scout Handbook Boy Scout Requirements book Guide to Sa

Is a Totem Chip a miniature totem pole?

Hello all! Love the forum and have taken in lots of info and ideas and am glad to be here. I am an Eagle Scout (class of 1997) and am currently the Cubmaster for my sons Pack, which was the Pack of my youth. I took over earlier this past spring. I am excited about my role as Cubmaster and the opportunity to give back what I have learned through the values of Scouting. As you can see by my user name (my last name is Hill) that I am a BIG believer in and supporter of traditional Scouting methods especially the patrol method (which I know isn’t as much of a focus at the Cub level however our Web

I can understand the frustration some folks are having, depending on how their District or Council has approached the whole YPT thing. I know that we started discussing this is our monthly Commissioner meetings back in February, when the new YPT was first available. I took it right away, and while there were network issues, I was able to complete it within a few days. I have been reminding leaders in my units for the past 8 months that Sunday's deadline was coming. I have spoken to people face to face, sent e-mails, texts, we have made numerous announcements at every Roundtable sta

I have no knowledge about what may or may not be happening with Personal Progress or Activity Days. It does seem that the Church is generally moving away from awards as a motivation and more towards personal development. The key phrase I remember is that activity programs will be focused on meeting needs, not satisfying requirements.

I fully agree with that. My experience is troop specific rules are not read, not followed and are just a boat anchor. BSA has plenty to of guidance and it's best to not compete with all that is already written. At most, I'd recommend a short one page white paper. Dues and when to be paid? Standard troop meeting schedule? Web site? Email? Troop accounts? More about the specific HOWs. Not an additional set of rules. From my experience, troop specific rules just age and add confusion. Better to invest learning BSA docs the best you can.

This whole thing, at the Boy-Scout-age level, is not going to work unless and until the parents and other relatives of the girls who want to join, including mothers and other female relatives, step up to plate to become SM's and ASM's for the girl troops. That is true regardless of whether it is a linked or standalone girls troop. (I have said that I would be happy to be on a "linked committee" and to serve as Advancement Chair for both troops. But I would not want our SM or ASM's to be involved with the other troop, beyond maybe one person to service as liaison between the "uniformed lead

@GreenBarHill welcome to scouter.com, a relaxing oasis from Cornhusker football.

Having seen some of the Scouts I have seen, I might consult with legal counsel first.

After reading through the proposed policies, I literally groaned. I never realized that some troops are run like this with such a heavy hand. I was wrong to compare things to a SCOTUS confirmation hearing - instead it sounds more like an IRS audit. If that policy doc is reflective of how your troop operates, I would spend no further efforts at reform. I’d be moving my BSA membership to a different troop immediately. Rigid governance docs like this are just so foreign to my Scouting experience. Where is the fun? Where is the adventure? Are the boys involved in any of this? The problems of

Personally I would delete most of it as either redundant or dumb.

I didn't get all the way through it because one of the things that struck me was the uniform requirements. BORs can't make such a requirement above what BSA requires. A scout shows up to the best of their ability. Some scouts can't afford the full uniform. We had a scout lose everything in a fire. While he did get a shirt provided as a gift that was the best he could do. And i know in my case we couldn't keep my son in anything long as kept growing out of everything. A shirt was the best we could do.

Reading this thread up to this point and not knowing whether your sone would be staying with this troop, I was kind of wondering how that would work out. In all unfortunate likelihood this SM would have made life more difficult for him going forward. Sad that it came to this but in these kinds of situations there often is no other way forward. Glad to hear your son is happy to continue scouting elsewhere.

This might encourage them to bring those ideas to the PLC - part of their job.

As with any bully, the solution is simple. Ignore her. Do not respond to any of her emails on this subject. If she confronts you in person, simply tell her kindly and calmly "the issue is already decided." Do not offer up any other explanation, do not attempt to satisfy her demands, do not engage with her on this matter at all. She has absolutely no right nor authority nor legitimate reason to make any of these demands on you nor your son, so just let her scream and holler till her voice is hoarse and she collapses in frustration. These people always tend to dig their own graves, so

I'd tell him to show up at the first troop meeting following Ordeal wearing his sash with a huge grin...