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Showing content with the highest reputation on 02/14/19 in Posts

  1. Being the only Scouts BSA Troop for Girls in the District of Columbia, we received plenty of local and even some national coverage of our opening. I'm frankly happy to simply move out of organizing and into operations at this point. On Saturday we have our second meeting, form into three patrols, elect leaders and get to the program!
    3 points
  2. Nope, but that is my Wife, Daughter, fellow Scout and my District Executive with the hippie hair.
    3 points
  3. Some people aren't very good at communicating. Some aren't very good at putting themselves in others shoes and seeing how someone else might view things, or be so wrapped up in the excitement of what they see as a good thing that they never see someone else might have qualms and reservations. Into this vacuum, people will talk, assume, jump to conclusions, fret, worry. Maybe it's all in hand, maybe none of it is, maybe the powers that be don't understand there's a groundswell of concern, worry, which could easily, if not already, morph into frustration, anger, resentment, etc. T
    2 points
  4. But they are very close. And the committee sits at the pleasure of the CO, not equal. Council does not like to upset COs because they would rather the COR be the bad guy with enforcement. Council will train and counsel COs, but they rarely wrestle with them. Barry
    2 points
  5. Private Investigation firm hired by the Diocese of Covington released their report today. https://www.yahoo.com/news/report-covington-high-school-incident-225252440.html
    2 points
  6. SPOT ON! And worse, we now have folks in key levels at national who have little to no experience in the program making policies and procedures. I am told the national director of training has 0 experience in Scouting as either a youth or volunteer, but has the position because they hold a PhD in education. Ditto program director, no expereince in the program. yet they are making policy. Another factor is online training. So much is being left out in order to make it convenient. has anyone looked at some of the Scouting Facebook groups and the questions being asked by "trained" adul
    2 points
  7. I was a Cub Scout earning AOL and a Boy Scout briefly in the early to mid 80s. We didnt have siblings tagging along nor did we have sisters doing the same stuff we were but not getting credit. So the girls have always been there reasoning has not been a convincing factor for me. I was against girls in Cub Scouts and Boy... Uhhh Scouts BSA. What's the logically next step for someone with my views on the subject?? Yep, I had a lenghtly discussion with my CM about laying groundwork for a female Troop in our area. My daughter is a 5th grader this year and a member in another nationa
    1 point
  8. So, you think I should take the time to let every parent know that if there were girls interested in starting a unit, the CO would let them do it under the same roof as ours? Even if there aren't any such girls? Isn't that a form of stirring up hype, where poor @mashmaster want's it to settle down? Should I also let them know that we'd take on boys from outside our district if they'd ask? If immigrants/refugees settled here, we'd welcome their boys? That we'll start a crew up again as soon as a few of the boys and their girlfreinds ask? What other hypotheticals should I disclose? And
    1 point
  9. How much drama could there be if everyone was onboard with the decision? Of course there would be drama with the objectors but it also lets everyone know where the CO and/or troop leadership stands on any future changes. Backdoor meetings and whispers between leaders certainly doesn't build respect or trust.
    1 point
  10. To explain a little more... The boys had this sprung on them. Imagine being told two weeks prior that oh, we forgot to mention it, but... we are essentially marrying you to a girl troop in two weeks in an arranged marriage. You have to share all the equipment and troop funds. Our boys, by the way, had an extremely good popcorn sale season and have typically had a very healthy bank account. On top of that, they are told, not asked, how they are going to mentor this new troop and invite them to events, along with sharing meeting space, which is already kind of tight. The adult leade
    1 point
  11. If the girls are meeting, hiking, camping, etcetera separately from the boys... then yes the CO does not have to solicit the approval of others. But... if I was recruiting girls, I would tell existing parents more then 1/2 month ahead of time to help advertise a new Troop. I assume thou... the girls are meeting jointly and will be going on outings with the boys, in which case most definitely the boys and parents should have been given more then 1/2 month notice. A situation where someone signs up for a single sex program and with nil notice it goes coed - is simply wrong. Whether
    1 point
  12. I don't disagree but many COs don't have any involvement with the packs or troops other than providing meeting space. It wasn't our CO that wanted a girl troop, it was the leaders with daughters that wanted the girl troop and asked for one. Every leader and committee member in our troop has a child in the troop. Some adult leaders actively petitioned for the girl troop and their voices were heard. Being involved with committee meetings would have been the only opportunity for anti-girl parents to voice their opinions. If parents are not actively involved in the troop, decisions will be ma
    1 point
  13. Up until the '72 Improved Scouting Program, BSA visionaries included Beard, Seton, Powell, as well as Goodman and Edson with the OA...all with naturalist or outdoorsman credentials. After '72, we see the outdoors relegated to a much lower priority at the national level. If scouting is presented as sedentary, consisting of meetings, seminars, and merit badge fairs, we can find just about anyone to run those. Vision doesn't really factor into it.
    1 point
  14. I wouldn't go that far. I don't think there is any difference in intent there. I don't think they previously meant you have to be 22. It is just a clearer way of saying the same thing.
    1 point
  15. Up until the 60s (Bill Hillcourt), the BSA had visionaries and founders who when they spoke, everybody listened. We don't have that today. There really is no accountability because there isn't a vision to relate with. Oh, the BSA has their Vision and Mission Statements that hold many of us accountable, but I would guess 2% of scouters could even get close to repeating the intent, much less the words of those goals. Scouters work outside the lines today because there is very little instruction to describe those lines. And if they find themselves in trouble, they dig in because they invested so
    1 point
  16. Welcome to the forums @NickWeaver! Here's an old-school strategy: ask your classmates if they or anybody they know is in boy scouts or venturing. Then talk to those friends (or friends of friends, or enemies of friends, whatever) about when their troop/crew meets. Obviously if you happen to be someplace where you see a troop doing a service project or other activity, go up and ask them for info. Talking to strangers ... almost as fun as the internet, twice as rewarding.
    1 point
  17. Yep, over thinking. Any serious donations can/should be written to the Acme Group, and they (they !) are your charter org (speak to your DE) so what's yours is theirs and so they should give unto the Troop. If the donator is desirable of claiming the deduction, they should deal thru the CO, since the Troop is not the tax exempt entity, Most Troops just accept the donation, and hike along, since most folks aren't concerned so much about the legalities with tax deductions , " I was a Scout once, I don't really want any popcorn/wreath/carwash/sausage, here's a twenty." Good luc
    1 point
  18. I believe there will be two types of family scouting adults: One type is the adult who wants a program that builds character for their kids along with the convenience of bringing the whole family. The other type wants an outdoor get away from the city for the weekend with the whole family. Both believe they are using the program as intended. Because National let "Family Scouting" out the bag, they gave parents permission to think of unit as family program, leaving them to build toward their interpretation. Council will be spending a lot of time sorting it out. Everyone likes to use
    1 point
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