Leaderboard

If one believes we are trying to fix the past, then I would agree that is impossible. But I don't think that's in the intent or execution of what is happening today; I believe we are taking the lessons of the past and trying to fix the present, which includes quite a bit of downstream impact (intentional and otherwise) of many decades (centuries, societally) of very bad policy and practice. And a valuable tool in identifying and eradicating (or mitigating) those ills is asking the people who suffer from them what they think.

I’m horribly rusty, but I played a land use attorney on TV in a former life and that would be my bet. With all the talk of asset sales, reversionary interests, and etc., I would've advised putting a stake in the ground and sounding out the situation before it happened to land on a client’s head. I wonder when it was granted, if for consideration (one time or ongoing) and if the grant of easement itself contains certain terms of termination.

I don't think it's enough to say that following the Scout Oath and Law will resolve these issues. I joined Scouting in 1975. The last segregated council was integrated in 1974. That means that for the first half of its existence, segregation was permissible in the BSA. That means either the Scout Oath and Law permit segregation and are inherently flawed, in my view, or they were ignored/misunderstood across the board by the entire organization for over 60 years. Having affinity groups that can point out such blind spots is a net gain, in my view. Integration doesn't mean homogenizati

Whenever one of the adults in our troop starts making noise about "fairness" because "What about kids who need a position to advance?" I make sure and remind them that other than for Eagle, they can substitute a SM approved project. I think even among those who know it's an option, it tends to get forgotten about. And when it comes to the Eagle requirement, well, there's nothing that says there can only be 1 Troop Instructor. I'm much more interested in allowing the SPL to put together a team that actually wants to do the job rather than picking scouts that the SM says "really need a po

After the troop matured a couple of years, we didn't see anymore of the SPLs who just wanted the cool experience because the scouts saw how demanding the job was. Only the most ambitious scouts ran for it. In fact, the troop paid for the SPL's summer camp fees because he worked so hard. The SPL is the first into camp to sign the troop in, and the last to leave to sign the troop out. He attends all the adult meetings and makes all the decisions that don't require an 18 or older person. I learned that the other SPLs in the camp recognize maturity because our SPLs were typically picked as the ca

There's an old saw that says before you would judge a man, one should walk a mile in their shoes . Same thing here. The DEI training is meant, however successfully (or not?) , to get us old fogies (and future fogies) to realize the Comptons and Tuksa and Trail of Tears and Rosa Parks and Red Lining and such that we (WE) need to study and realize and acknowledge and accept .... The history that was not taught , not shown. Even the problems that led to BSA's present troubles. However inelegantly, however unneatly. I went thru Diversity training at my work before I retired. Part of my

I am a lifer. Started as a Cub, earned Eagle and aged out. Was a Sea Scout for a bit while serving as an ASM. Not only did i not leave the movement, but I also worked for it. In my professional opinion, coming from both my training as an educator and experience working with youth for over 25 years the program had deteriorated. Instead of quality, folks want quantity. Youth want challenges. Youth need to make mistakes and learn the hard way, albeit in a safe environment. Youth need responsibilities. This is what makes them grow and allows them to make ethical decisions. How do we hel

There are logistics involved with learning how to function optimally in an organization when you are defined as being in a racial or gender category or trying to survive as a member of. I was involved with a Black student organization at university and they met to address everything from how to make sure students from families with no transportation could get home for winter break to dealing with overly attentive campus security. It's a problem when one kid heading to his dorm at night gets stopped six times while his friend heading the opposite way across campus doesn't get stopped at all. I

Yep. That's one of the reasons I dislike SPL changes every 6 months. Not that I don't think the elections should happen, I just like it when the SPL serves 2 or 3+ terms. 6 months is just about enough time to figure out what they are doing. Even the boys think the times (3 I think) over the last 7 years where an SPL lasted more than 6 months were significantly better, though I don't know if they've actually made that connection. They just talk about "Back when X was SPL". Of course, most of the rest of the time were SPLs who thought it would be cool to be SPL or they wanted it on their c

This is a long-stated position of mine. BSA needs to be careful about their messages to the adult volunteers. Adult volunteers too often hear that BSA is about leadership. Thus, their job is to teach leadership or to teach scout's how to lead / how to run things. What I often see is the worst possible message and lessons. IMHO, BSA should be telling adult volunteers to teach scouts how to setup a tent or cook a meal ... or better yet ... enable an experienced scout to teach a new scout how. Let the scouts naturally learn leadership / getting the job done by doing / being active.

The joint fee is only for youth.

Amen.

It is not the Oath and Law that are flawed, but the individuals that choose to not adhere as most of us, "today", interpret it. We come back to the idea that somehow we in this time in history are responsible for the misguided peceptions and attitudes of another era. And, even then, there were many groups that were able to welcome the Black youth in some manner, often having to buck local attitudes and so on. It is never going to be "fixed" in the past, and human nature will never allow it to be totally "fixed" today. That is on the individuals, not the organization. As is so

Looks like there is a deal being finalized now. Insurance came through late and the US Olympic committee added $34M. https://www.wsj.com/articles/nassar-victims-reach-380-million-settlement-with-usa-gymnastics-and-u-s-olympic-and-paralympic-committee-11639406377 Note that these increases came in after 95% approved the deal ... so even with that large approval, these updates were seen as necessary for confirmation of the plan. Also note that the Dept. Of Justice was objecting to the release of the USOPC ... which helped force the updated deal. Unfortunately for the BSA

Though I want to avoid the baiting ... I do fully agree with you. I daily think scouts has lost it's path. At the tail end of twenty years ago where my wife told me to bring my first son to a cub joining event, I really question whether I'd do it the same again. I kept my son in it for the activities, the outings and the friendships. We tolerated much of the rest as part of paying the price to be in scouts. BUT, the price was a too much too many times. I wanted my sons to camp, canoe, ski and get outside. I did not bring my sons to be preached at repeatedly.

A fantasy world is achieved when reverse segregation is implemented in an effort to change biases and segregation. That doesn't even sound right, "let's have a gathering of all red headed men with beards so they will have a voice and be recognized". Having these separate gatherings clearly sends a message that its just fine for certain groups to practice this and its not just fine for others. In reality these pore minority groups are more biased and self serving then the majority. I am braced for the flashback......

Sounds like an organization that my mother, sisters, wife and daughter belonged to once upon a time. Squirrel Gouts? Something like that anyway.

I wasn't aware the co-ed troops existed. I thought that a troop had to be one 9r the other. Has this recently changed?

I do not disagree.

This in no way incourages or builds inclusion. It shouldn't be an issue of "if you wanted to attend, you could". The simple fact that a person is a Scout is enough. A Scout is a Scout regardless of race, creed, .......it's just that simple and to have separate venues for certain people builds further exclusion. If this kind of thing is appropriate for one segment of Scouting it should be acceptable for all.

I don't think the relationship has been at all transactional for most COs. Most of them have sponsored units for various altruistic reasons -- they want to support scouts or youth or the community. Most of the small church COs around here are sponsoring units where hardly anyone in the unit even goes to that church so its been for the greater good. I think it's presumptous for anyone to think that a struggling CO will risk bankruptcy itself for the privilege of continuing to sponsor a unit for BSA. BSA is treating the CO relationship as a business relationship and not a fellowship because at i

Isn't that partially why on the backend most units have 4 digits even as we only use at most 3 digits? ie troop 123 and troop 123, unless very close geographically, can become troop 1123 and troop 2123 for paperwork purposes, but no one notices otherwise.

My point is that there is no real upside for a CO to be involved in scouting. The upside is all on the BSA end.

Not sure i can call most church troops a a youth ministry under the current plan (RC and Methodist) (The one thing that Trail life does well) no direct involvement by the youth ministers, no invitations to services or letter of welcome. no Christian teaching or prayer, no talk of any God and country awards. In some settings the leadership not even of that church's faith They only provided was a meeting place (new plan) and a mostly unknown level of risk for the troop. (reason why some are not rechartering)

There is a lot of failure here and many to blame. Harvard Law Review will have a very expensive case study. The more I look at this, it is hard not to ultimately blame the judge. She has the overall power of this case. She could have demanded details on why only 2 of 3 mediators were signing reports. She could have prevented this from being a mass tort trolling exercise. She could have made rulings early on in terms of fee structures. She let this go on too long with a hope that mediation would get the two sides there. If this plan is voted down, she cannot simply say return

Honestly, having the ASPLs be elected is probably the worst positions to do so with. The ASPL is supposed to be the SPL's right hand person and stand-in and that only works well if they get along and can work closely together. As an appointee, you know the ASPL is going to be someone the SPL likes and probably has influence over (to encourage attendance and that prep work actually get done). As an elected position, you can easily end up with a pairing that can't stand each other or where they butt heads over getting things done. My experience has been that when you have the SPL working

I'm afraid that after the reorganization the Boy Scouts will be far removed from what it was in the past and even what we see now. It will be a culturally aware, sexually diverse, universally integrated group where every youth member earns Eagle and every merit badge, in two years. The merit badges are all earned on line, and preprogrammed automated board of reviews are the standard. IOLS and Sea Badge are currently virtual, and soon Woodbadge and NYLT will follow suit. Leadership is demonstrated by online evaluations, and in the name of safeguarding the children, there will be no physica