Leaderboard

Would you explain what you mean by this, please? How was the agreement a promo tool, given that it was an agreement? I'm not poking, just asking to understand how it was perceived by all the parties. Yeah. To your point, if if the words on the page say something different than what you're being told or what someone "expects," better opt not to sign or modify the language. Famous last words: "It's not that important. Just sign it. We all know what we mean. No one cares about these anyway. They just go in drawer somewhere..."

Like most of the youth programs, OA is the vision of the adults in the moment. I have seen OA programs cross the spectrum of what the handbook says they are. Sadly, many adults see their part in the program as the key to the image and they take out the honor of the OA. As scoutmaster, I supported the elections, but stayed away from the program because I didn't care for the adult side of the program. That being said, the scouts in my troop were in leadership roles for about 10 years. Since our troop wasn't involved with OA other than holding elections, I attribute the success of our scouts

My problem with OA today is that the program drivers (adult sponsors) don't plan a program where the activities practice growth toward the honor of serving others and camping. As a scout in the 70's, young scouts learned quickly that Arrowmen where experts in the outdoors and they could ask any question for help. And, since serving was their other character traits, they were usually easy to approach and lacked the arrogance many of the older scouts had. Frankly, the election process back then filtered out immature scouts and scouts who only wanted the Arrowmen status. Those are the main m

Ha. Looks like a did a fair amount of "realizing" this morning. Must of been the new brand of coffee. I'll drink a few additional cups tomorrow and see if I can ascend to epiphanies.

Yes, of course. Barry

I realize this is not in the universe of the data set, but I'm curious if "we" will ever know how the claims break out all the way down to the Unit level. Note: I realize the BSA has proposed a multiplier be applied to claims where an abuser perpetrated against more than one Scout. That will at least signal some sense of a number to those of us who don't know how many he violated in our Unit. I know there have to be at least 6 in mine.

I agree wholeheartedly with @InquisitiveScouter's SLICC assessment. While I used Native American ceremonies and dance to help restart several chapters, it was not the primary focus. the chapter did community service. The chapter did fun activities. We worked hard, and played harder. But @Eagledadis also right. The pre-1990s election process with ratio charts showing how many eligible to how many on the ballot, did weed out a lot of Scouts who only thought of themselves. OA was truly the "special forces of Scouting." Somewhere along the way, it turned into numbers game. When the adults on

In terms of promotion, charter certificates were often framed and placed on an institution's wall. It was (and for many organizations, continues to be) an honor to host a scout unit. Many people found out about scouting because they saw scouts doing good works in their building. Where I grew up, the scout's meeting times were in the church bulletin. Chartering a scout unit was (and continues to be) one way of showing you are doing good in your community. When it comes to actually pursuing CO's, it seems that there will be no one-size-fits-all. A CO could be a group of parents who coalesce

This, times literally several billion. COs that were told, or felt, they were just signing something annually for giggles are in for a very rude awakening. But there are levels to this: 1) LDS. They operated BSA units directly and operationally as subunits of their church. Responsibility goes all the way to the top, which is why lawsuits against scout abuse in LDS units include "Corporation Of The President Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints" as well as "Corporation Of The Presiding Bishop Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints" in their suits. 2) Smaller

This does not seem common from my experience; however, it did happen to my Troop as a youth shortly after I aged out. A new COR for our Troop decided to take our Troop funds and put it in their general fund. Any money we would need would then need to be approved by the Church. Any fundraiser would go to the commingled fund. Many of us had scout accounts and it was the only way many afforded to go to camp or BWCA. Those were taken. Our Troop disbanded within a year. Here is a FAQ for BSA’s fiscal policy. https://www.scouting.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Fiscal_Policies_and

Starting in the SM role under Covid was challenging for him and the troop activity almost ground to a halt in the Summer/Fall of 2020. I thank God that the troop was able to start meeting outside again in Spring 2021. I personally think that it was very good for kids to have activity again. Virtual meetings were very hard but the kids were getting pretty darn good with working in Zoom meetings and patrol breakout rooms. We are now back in person outside while the weather is nice, and having meetings outside at a park shelter is extremely nice (when the weather is good). Anyway, I thi

I totally agree. Over the last 2.5 years we canceled a Polar Bear where their would have been 2 adults and 2 Scouts. We decided the turnout was too low to justify the effort (4 days before). The other time we canceled due to not having the second registered adult. The old SM should shut their mouth on any such decisions. Their time has passed. They may also no longer be privy to the whole story. How rude of them to weigh in at all!

I would also add that a SM should not feel any guilt about (and it was unfair of the old SM to criticize) the need to cancel activities when there is insufficient scout interest. We are a small troop and have found ourselves on the cusp of making the decision to cancel an event because we can’t get confirmed participation (or frankly get scouts… or even their parents… to respond to scheduling emails yay or nay.). We’ve been close to having to cancel things because of leader coverage, both just coverage overall and (since we are a female troop) female leader coverage. We haven’t had to cance

Yep. Even if there was some value from the old SMs comments, it lost any integrity by the way it was delivered. Changing scoutmasters is tricky because the new scoutmaster has to find their footing without the heavy shadow of previous SM hanging in the air. Yet, the old SM can be a great resource. But, it’s tricky. At the request of my replacement, I took six months off from the program. And when I did give advice, it was in person or through the CC. Actually, the CC was the person who sought out most of my advice with some of the challenges the new SM found himself in. I th

Rules to live by: 1) The work is done by whoever shows up. Show up. 2) Train'em, trust'em, turn'em loose. 3) Ye canst not please everyone all the time. You will have three possible "bosses". Please these three and you will be doing good: a) Your God, however you perceive him/her /it. b) .Someone, somewhere, sometime, will ALWAYS be telling you what to do. A teacher, your spouse, a traffic cop.... At what peril do you NOT please THEM ? c) The fellow who pays you for doing what you do to get paid. Ethical? Legal? Satisfying? Fu

" Do what is right by the scouts, don't worry about the rest" Advice given me by a truly old time Scouter when I because a DL back in '94.

Yep. Hope it helps. It's been a lousy year. One thing I learned as a new SM is that there are lots more people complaining than helping. As a retired SM I learned that nobody really cared about my opinion so much as whether I helped. As for your old SM swearing at the new SM, that's just an angry old guy that can't find a way to help. Don't let him bother you. Oh, and give yourself a raise of, say, 45%? Does that sound fair? 😀

Back June 11, 2008 - we lost scouts Josh, Sam, Ben, and Aaron. 48 others were injured as an EF-3 tornado hit the Little Sioux Boy Scout Camp Remembrance story with photos. https://www.kpvi.com/news/national_news/back-in-the-day-june-11-2008-4-killed-48-injured-as-tornado-hits-little/article_5c26943e-f9f5-56f6-ae54-4aa1610d1099.html#4

Let me preface my comments by saying that as a youth, I was a Brotherhood member of the OA, and in my senior year was simultaneously SPL of my troop and editor of the Lodge newsletter, so I know from experience that it is possible to do both. And yet.... I confess that as a Scoutmaster I have never held an OA election. The primary reason, frankly, is utter and complete lack of youth interest. I tried promoting the OA in my early years, and often mentioned OA representative as a possibility to older youth seeking a POR. Even had the OA reps come and do a video presentation. Cricket

I just wish that the people at the national BSA level would be truthful, direct, and transparent to every volunteer that attended a Scout meeting. I don't mean pages and pages of documents, just plain fact and truth. If the money is needed to help cover insurance, let us know! If the new training requirements are based on new insurance issues, let us know! At this point even loyal and dedicated volunteers are walking away, this could be prevented if we just knew what was going on!

I hear this same thing about Sea Scouts and Venturing. IMHO, if you are worried that another program is "stealing" your scouts then it is obvious the program in the troop needs to change. These are all complimentary programs and can provide many great opportunities to youth that want to be activie in scouting.