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Showing content with the highest reputation on 06/15/19 in all areas

  1. Tonight my small linked-troop of five registered scouts will be visited-upon by a GSUSA troop of TEN junior girl-scouts. Why the interest? Among the several BSA advantages discussed elsewhere in Scouter.com (greater outdoor challenges, perceived prestige of Eagle vs. Gold Award, etc.), two stand out as fatal impediments to this troop of Juniors moving on to Cadettes: Their leadership, primarily mothers, are resistant to the perceived expenditures in tents, stoves, cook-sets, etc. required to support outdoor overnighters; and These same leaders are at best reluctant and at worst f
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  2. You may want to also look into the Swim and Water Rescue course...it goes over the practical application of Safe Swim Defense as well as in-water rescue practice. Good course, geared toward adults who are supervising aquatic activities. And you are correct, SSD says "response personnel," not "lifeguards". So, that does not require a certified lifeguard, but someone with the knowledge/ability to rescue a swimmer who gets in trouble in the conditions of that particular swim. So, it could be an older scout or young adult who has Lifesaving MB if that was appropriate for the conditions.
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  3. Liz, thank you for being conscientious and wanting to do the right thing. Sounds like you got good advice and you will have a safe outing. If you have a chance to go to summer camp and are a good swimmer, I highly recommend taking the BSA Lifeguard course (which I used to teach). It is a fun, but valuable way to pass the week, and I guarantee you will sleep well at night! Scout on!
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  4. Now, in direct contravention of my post on page one, I was just taking the most recent training on "Annual Troop Program Planning for Scouts BSA" and it does explicitly state that the SPL and SM have to submit the annual Program Plan to the Troop Committee for the Committee's review and support and that the Troop Committee has the right to refuse the Program Plan or request revisions if they feel it's unsafe or unwise (for whatever reason).
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  5. I have a post on my blog with 75 ideas. Hope it’s helpful! https://cubscoutideas.com/6276/75-pack-activities-for-summertime-pack-award/
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  6. I guess times have changed. I grew up in a family that went out of their way (looking back on it) to help in the community. My dad was a Lion, club president for some years. My mom was deep in the PTA, other local clubs, wrote a column in the local paper, They just did stuff, and I tagged along, helped out where I could , I remember many of my friends were of the same sort, not just in Scouts. Finding satisfaction in DOING and finishing a job. We mowed the church lawn (now it's a pro outfit), served at the church /VFD dinners, variety show raised money for various charities, the
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  7. If you are not treated fairly, take your business elsewhere, Well done BSA council.
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  8. Maybe I'm naive about the court system, plea deals, etc... but this seems like an open-and-shut case to me. They have a blood test that shows the driver was drunk, more than double the legal limit. He's given statements admitting his role in the accident and resulting injuries and death. And yet despite his claims that he won't prolong the family's suffering, he is pleading not-guilty, going to trial, and trying (unsuccessfully) to suppress other evidence. Kind of hard to believe that he's truly remorseful when his actions since the accident contradict what he says.
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  9. Thank you so very much! I am a Nova Counselor too so we can easily complete that award over the summer.
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  10. The news conferences this week again raised the issue of the future of BSA finances and properties in light of abuse incidents and the ongoing repeal of "statutes of limitations" by states. This topic will narrowly focus on what financial reorganization bankruptcy is, the high likelihood that the BSA will file one this year and the likely organizational and operational impacts such a process will cause. I am doing this to allow Scouters to be informed in an organized manner in advance of a filing so we can help others understand the circumstances when they occur. The filing will provide an
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  11. Son #2 asked me to be his Eagle Project advisor. Aside from that, I didn't sign-off with Sons and Daughter because -- although I knew that I was best at many of the requirements -- I fondly go through my old book from time to time, and cherish those PL signatures. I wanted them to have that same sense of a panoply of leaders that I had as a scout. So, my thinking: If someone else is the better expert, send your son to him. If he is almost as good, but you think you think that person deserves a significant role in your son's life, send your son to him. If your son knows y
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  12. The formal rule in the Guide to Advancement is what I posted above. The Scoutmaster may (has the discretion to) sign off on his or her own son's / daughter's advancements. Whether this is a good or wise thing to do is a separate question. Some troops have policies against parents signing off on their own children. Some troops are small and don't have as many options as larger troops. There might also be cases where a parent is the only merit badge counselor for a particular merit badge. Personally, I agree with @Jameson76 and think it's a good thing for Scouts to interact with other adul
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  13. From the Guide to Advancement: Mechanics of Advancement in Scouts BSA "Parents or guardians are involved at home encouraging, mentoring, and supporting, but they do not sign for rank advancement requirements unless they serve as registered leaders and have been designated by the unit leader to approve advancement or are Lone Scout friends and counselors (see “Lone Scouting,” 5.0.3.0)." 4.2.1.2 The Scout Is Tested "The unit leader [Scoutmaster] authorizes those who may test and pass the Scout on rank requirements. They might include the patrol leader, the senior patrol leader, the
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  14. We will want the report: will they join en masse? What we have seen around here in GSUSA is a huge attrition somewhere around 4th/5th/6th grade. The majority of the kids quit scouting, and only a small fraction fold into the local "older girl" troop for grades 6-12, after the troop they have been with since kindergarten disbands. I don't know how much is because the current Cadette/Senior/Ambassador program is unappealing, and how much is that the girls become interested in other activities. So if you get even 4 or 5 of this troop joining Scouts BSA, that is a good yield. Make s
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  15. I also have thought that the Junior-Girl-Scout to Scouts-BSA is a great logical procession. GSUSA's Brownie and Junior program, at least if run in a traditionalist sort of way, has one very appealing advantage over cub scouts: the emphasis on "girl led" in an elementary-school sort of way, where the girls are encouraged to begin making decisions and carrying them out. I could certainly see families wanting to do Brownies and Juniors, and then planning to cross over into Scouts BSA at the end of 5th grade. (It's almost what my daughter did, but she had to wait a little for Sco
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  16. Although being an outdoor focused program is an advantage BSA has over GSUSA for girls interested in the outdoors, I think the real advantage BSA has that you're exploiting is structural. It's always seemed to me that GSUSA' s failure to build institutional knowledge and experience into its units was its real weakness. For most BSA units, hopefully including your linked troop, there is a cadre of leaders who have been with the program past the time when their own sons, and soon daughters, have aged out, and that experience is passed on and used by new leaders coming up. No leader comi
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  17. Good for you! You could mention to those GSUSA leaders that if their girls become active in a BSA troop, they (the adults) could become SMs or ASMs and do the IOLS training, which would give them some experience and training in precisely the kind of outdoor skills they would need to become minimally competent (and to understand what it is that the kids need when they are working on Tenderfoot -> First Class requirements). Many of the BSA training courses are utter rubbish, but IOLS is not. It's really the heart and soul of a "trained leader" (which is supposedly what "every scout
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  18. If scouts cannot get together, what hope does our country have.
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  19. Very sad. Local partnerships between GSUSA units & BSA units have been a great thing. In fact, I thought it was one of the best reasons against needing to expand Scouts BSA in include girls. The GSUSA making these kind of decisions seems like completly the wrong idea to me. From a marketing perspective, it seems completly backwards to me. This would seem like a great time to show strength by continuing to engage with the units in the BSA - show the world that girls don't need to join the BSA in order to have the occasional joint activities.
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  20. Posted on my Council FB page today.... Today the National Council held a press conference call to address the inaccuracies and mischaracterizations that were made in yesterday’s press conferences held in New York and New Jersey. Below is the transcript for your review. Prepared Remarks of Michael Surbaugh, Chief Scout Executive for the Boy Scouts of America I am here today to correct inaccuracies and mischaracterizations about our organization and the efforts we have taken to protect youth, which has been and continues to be our absolute top priority. First, I want t
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  21. This definitely look like a money play. In no way discounting what happened to the youth and in no way excusing the way the BSA (National / Council / Local CO) handled these cases. Challenge is there is liability in the way this was handled. Problem is many of these go back (even in their admission) almost 80 years. The lawyers typically state they want policies to change etc, which BSA has clearly done. This is grandstanding, nothing else. If they have incidents in the last 10 years, after the more stringent YPT was rolled out, then you have a case that warrants attention. The only
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  22. This is all very sad & so very unscout like, from a cub scout leader prospective. I have a friend that runs both BSA units and a GSUSA unit. When her GS unit arrived at a camp owned by GS, she was told that the girls could enter if they had enough adult leaders but that the head of the unit, my friend, was banned because she also ran BSA units. Just horrible. So what happened, she made a quick call to our BSA council for a camping site & brought the GS troop to the BSA camp. What kind of message did that send to the girls? Not a positive one for the GSUSA
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  23. Wake services will be held for Andrew McMorris at Branch Funeral Home of Miller Place on Thursday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday from 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. A funeral Mass will be held Saturday at 9 a.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church in Islip.In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Wildcats Helping the Arts & Music in Shoreham, and Suffolk Boy Scout Troop 161.The entire statement from the McMorris family is as follows. Andrew McMorris was no ordinary boy.Andrew was born with a sense of wonder and amazement of the world around
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  24. Update 10/1/18 One scout has died. https://abcnews.go.com/US/driver-charged-dui-plowing-group-boy-scouts-critically/story?id=58197864 https://abc7ny.com/1-dead-man-charged-with-dwi-after-car-plows-into-boy-scouts/4377783/
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