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Showing content with the highest reputation on 01/18/21 in all areas

  1. I admire all of our paid Scouters. Our SE is involved and engaged with our Scouts and enjoys spending time with them. Our DEs are exceptional and work tirelessly to assist our units to be successful. Thay are worth every penny they're paid. When I retired I was asked to take on the responsibilities of a DE and I declined the offer as I am well aware of the work they do and the sacrifices they make. If they were paid by the hour they would all be wealthy. Scouting needs those professionals and I am thankful for them.
    4 points
  2. I have been around the "legal system" for over 40 years and the only conclusion that I can make is that no one will know what will happen until it happens. Until this whole convoluted mess is adjudicated we just won't know. The only positive recourse, as I see it, is to keep our local units alive, support our districts and councils, and work hard to give the kids the best Scouting experience we can. This takes a lot of work and dedication in lieu of uncertainty. I am committed to helping do what is necessary to provide Scouting to every single young person who wants to be a part of this t
    4 points
  3. It is funny, we often hear the most complaints about the pay at the top, and then a snicker of the pay at the bottom. We will have a broken professional core as long we pay entry level DEs such a tiny wage for someone with a 4 year degree.
    2 points
  4. Very directly put, the claimants and their lawyers should want to see a BSA national and the councils to continue to exist so they can continue to pay into the pension plan. If national liquidates, the Guarantee Corporation attaches pretty much everything. I share this to encourage everyone that there are significant reasons why the claimants will want to agree to a reorganization plan.
    2 points
  5. The lawyers and claimants are incented to agree to a reorganization plan that includes payments to a victims trust fund. After the trust fund is in place and funded, a trustee would review the claims in detail. She would eliminate the ones she thinks are fraudulent, and pay remaining claims by applying criteria she would develop. More severe claims get a bigger payout, etc. If national liquidates and the Guarantee Corporation takes most or all national and council assets, there would be little or nothing left for either national or councils to fund a victims trust. (The council portion
    2 points
  6. As a former pro, I cannot tell you how many former coworkers either doubled, and in one case tripled, their salaries leaving the BSA to work for a board member or with the board member's company.
    1 point
  7. Yes, me to. I was impressed how dad wanted his son to prove himself with us. He was a great scout. He resuscitated a baby found face down in a pool. Came back a hero from Afghanistan. I am honored to have been his Scoutmaster for the year he was with us. I wish we had him from Webelos. He would have been amazing in our program. Barry
    1 point
  8. Can you blame them? Most people sitting in the unit, district, or even council chair don't see what an SE brings to the table. They see council workhorses serving most of their needs.
    1 point
  9. I don't think it's the pay that is at issue. It's who we are recruiting. We don't seem to hire competent people, but if we do, they leave or stay through altruism but suffer in frustration. This forum is full of stories about competent people being pushed out or around by the BSA farm system. There was a recent discussion about what DEs and DCs and Councils do and it was mind boggling how dysfunctional the whole structure is. If you don't hire competent people, or competent people are unable to operate within your system, then every salary is going to be resented.
    1 point
  10. Mosby. Exactly. Where is our Captain? What leader does not communicate with his/her troops? Like... at all?
    1 point
  11. I don't know what an acceptable salary would be but I do know that what I would expect of a fairly paid executive corps would be an organization that is not in bankruptcy after a history of missteps. One could argue that organizational mismanagement abetted the child abuse scandal as well as other controversies that have damaged scouting. Let's look at this differently: if scouting were thriving, or at least better positioned to manage this crisis, I don't think anyone would be taking note of executive salaries.
    1 point
  12. Quick answer to CynicalScouter: I think a reasonable funding window could be 1-2 years. That is plenty of time to marshal assets and submit a trust contribution. Just my speculation though.
    1 point
  13. Yes, and this is the key. Is "reasonable" going to be "BSA doesn't get its discharge order until the fund is fully paid"? Or 1-5 years? Or 25 years (Tobacco Master Settlement)?
    1 point
  14. It means the potential end (or massive diminished capacity) of Boy Scout of America Scouting. If all you want is to get an Outdoor Youth Committee of your local church, Kiwanis, or whatever, have at it. Go do what Baden-Powell Association did and create your own (or Trail Life, although I'm not sure that's a good parallel) "scouting". But recognize you will never, ever be able to use anything Boy Scouts of America created or trademarked. No Eagle Scouts, in particular. So Troop 123 will either a) no longer exist or b) be required to disband and reform as the Outdoor Youth Commit
    1 point
  15. What were your recharter fees this year, compared to last? Wanna place bets now on whether those fees will increase with a future-payments-victim-compensation-fund? You can bet your sweet campfire they will. You and I and our future Scouts will be the ones paying into this. That's the connection...
    1 point
  16. I still don't see the connection between law suits, trusts, bankruptcy, victims compensation and all the legal deagle verbiage and kids participating in Scouting. This does not have to impact how Troop 123 delivers the program to it's members. If we want Scouting to survive it will. There may not be grand high adventure bases, national committees or even a national office. But this debacle can't keep kids from camping, hiking, building fires and having fun unless we loose focus on the real purpose of Scouting. A lot of people like to quote Baden Powell but few acknowledge his statement wa
    1 point
  17. I think this what my Key-3 were talking about: that if the plaintiffs and their lawyer don't back off and force a liquidation, they get whatever scraps are left after Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation.
    1 point
  18. There is a Chesapeake Bay Sailing Adventure offered thru Rodney Scout Reservation in Del-Mar-Va council. https://www.delmarvacouncil.org/high-adventure-opportunities/high-adventure-sailing-on-the-chesapeake/9297 Cost is less than Sea Base. You can cut costs even more if you plan for and procure your own meals, which, according to my sources, is really all the Rodney provides for you....so, camp food. You can charter with the Captain directly, provide your own meals, at substantially lower cost, and still get a High Adventure program, including merit badges. DM me if yo
    1 point
  19. Clarification on Pension Plan Debt All council and national entities participate in the same “pension plan”. If the national bankruptcy “reorganization plan” fails and national liquidates, the pension plan covering council and national employees will immediately terminate by function of law. All available national and local council assets can then be attached by the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation to satisfy the pension plan indebtedness. The Guarantee Corporation has first priority, including before victim claimants (and their lawyers). National and every council are “jointly a
    1 point
  20. Just FYI, approximately 10,000 Proofs of Claim have been found to be either fraudulent or duplicates.
    1 point
  21. To test it, I mentioned it to my son tonight. And he said that is interesting but I am not going to go back and count up all my nights. I said we could do it together and he said no thanks. I asked him how many nights he thinks he has camped with cubs, troops, ship, crew. He said "a lot".... 🙂
    1 point
  22. Just checked, this continues to be the advancement policy book on the national website.
    1 point
  23. Talk to your troop. Ask them if he is still on the roster. If so great. If not ask them to re-register him. And make arrangements to make your payment. Should not be a problem.
    1 point
  24. Reading through this article makes it obvious the journalist knows precious little about our religion; however, regardless of the writer's ignorance the simple fact is that the increasing ubiquity of these cases means nothing but trouble for the BSA. I have no doubt but that the church will weather these accusations as well as ever (we've endured far more calamitous calumny than this before), but BSA national? They have had their backs to the wall for too long already, and these cases will do far more damage to Scouting than they will to the church. My heart goes out to the innumerable vi
    1 point
  25. You are a bit ignorant here, brother...O-4's with two years of service are pretty scarce...usually only medical career fields, who are people with their professional degrees already. Doctors, lawyers, etc. The average person is promoted to O-4 at around the 11 year point. So the comparison is an O-4 at 10-12 years service, as you point out. And, sorry for the vague pronoun antecedent, but I meant doubling the E pay for the council level. Hire the O's for Regional/National level...99% of the retired officers I know have more integrity in their pinkie than any council execs I h
    0 points
  26. Except that the execs will still be getting their six or seven figure salaries and retirement compensations, no matter which way it goes.
    -1 points
  27. Don't know. But if you pay me 5 million dollars, I'll be glad to come up with a pay structure that provides adequate compensation for the tasks, while attracting the needed skill sets to meet those tasks. I would trust our local grocery store manager to better manage our council than it currently is. Most separated or retired military officers at or above the rank of O-4, and most separated or retired enlisted at or above E-6 would be great candidates as well. Give them double what they were making on active duty, and you'd have a good start.
    -1 points
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