Leaderboard

Well written. I fully agree. It's just not possible. Hindsight and changes in judgement, values and expectations causes past records to be more damaging than valuable. Also, isn't that the whole thing that opened BSA's legal nightmare? BSA kept incident records from 50+ years ago. ... It's legal negligence that BSA did not have these documents subject to a data retention policy. Yes, handle the incidents. Follow the law that exists at that time. Make the best decisions and take the right actions. Then, when done, the records should have been subject to a standard data re

Very profound. I’m wonder if the many want to be virtuous, but their genetics is incapable. The foundation of the Christian religion professes that all man fail. i used to say that virtue in a troop is defined by the least virtuous adult. But the truth is that for the scouts, virtue is defined by the scoutmaster. The only hope for those scouts is if the Scoutmaster is as humble as he is virtuous. Interesting thoughts. Thanks Barry

There are several issues like this that have not been addressed in the bankruptcy reorganization plan. To me, that renders it almost pointless because it's yet more BSA willful fiction. The chartered organization model has long been dysfunctional as a national strategy. The ability to rely on volunteer leadership is declining. The likely only way forward for scouting is more paid staff at a district or council level that can oversee consistent administration of the program and backfill volunteer attrition. Without reliable oversight, nothing in the program can be held to account and that inclu

You make several interesting points: Traditionally, we know from observation that the majority of chartered organizations have acted more in the role of a benevolent landlord rather than treating their Scouting organization as a true ministry or part of their organization. A meeting place, equipment storage and perhaps a Scout Sunday program or chili supper fundraiser have been the extent of their involvement. This has been common practice for decades. You are correct that court interpretations of the charter agreements have shocked some chartered organizations into realizing the

Just ask. I fixed the not now typo

I think this is the wrong way to look at the problem and is the source of a lot of angst here. Rather than ask for a specific failure rate that is acceptable, after which everyone can say there is no longer a problem, it would be better to use methods that continually drive down failure rates. Look at air travel. Back in the 70's there were enough crashes that all the parties involved (manufacturers, airlines, regulators) got together and decided that air travel was both important and dangerous. They started measuring death rates in deaths per billion passenger miles traveled. I think it start

An important issue. It is considered part of the human reaction to trauma. Think of it as part of the "fight or flight mechanism." Something so awfully traumatic is buried so that the mind doesn't have to deal with it again and the resulting impacts. Another way to look at it is not the lack of emotional strength but the absolute strength to keep it inside where the victim has some degree of perceived control over it. What we see then, over time, are the coming together of many factors that "allow" the abuse to be shared. For many that's just plain losing the desire or ability to hold it

I use my experiences in the military to teach these exact principles to Scouts. It is a beautiful thing to see when a Patrol Leader understands his Mission/Task/Purpose and just gets it done. Scouts tend to struggle with this at first, because they are so used to parents/teachers always telling them exactly what and how to do something, then constantly looking over their shoulders to see that it is done the way the adults would do it. (Russian style of leadership.) Thanks for the video link! The US has been working with Ukraine over many years to teach exactly this Patrol Method

I hate being thrown back into the Cold War and catching up on reports like Dad scoured the paper every evening. However, I found this young veteran to be refreshing and educational. Here he devotes the first half of his blog explaining the patrol method US NCO corps. File: why we do what we do.

You raise excellent points. I think that the frustration for the chartered organizations that have been named in lawsuits for incidents that occurred thirty, forty or more years ago, is that there is no corporate memory that remains of that time period. Key organizational persons have died. Any records, if they even existed, were purged years if not decades ago. First of all, the vast majority of the chartered organizations simply did not have the understanding or expectation that they could be held legally accountable for actions which occurred in a Scout unit. Most believed they w

Just Yes. Precisely! Has anyone got a copy of the Churchill Report?

We never sent any Troop fundraising money to council. We do camp cards & popcorn & they get their share of that. We also allow a FOS rep to come & give his presentation to the parents at COH or Blue & Gold. Whether they give is up to them. I do let the parents know ahead of time that a FOS rep will be there on that night and they can give, or not, as they feel led. If I had offered the council FOS a gift from our Troop fundraiser and got that kind of response, I would have rescinded the gift if possible. If I couldn't rescind it, I would make sure they knew that we wouldn'

Having met with many thousands of folks, many situations being stressful, I have come to the conclusion that most folks "just want to get through the day unscathed and a bit better off for their effort." Most folks care not a whit for "sides." It seems to be the dynamic of human interactions that everyone gets pressured to take a side. "Tom and Mary are getting divorced...which side are you on?" And those that don't are considered traitors by BOTH sides. In truth, just about every situation is incredibly complicated, and no answer is clear or likely ever to be clear. All when the most

Ouch… I would also be too embarrassed to link to that partisan source (Jonathan Turley of The Hill). Integrity and ethics are very, very important but some hide behind the veneer of the institution. How does a victim of abuse in the BSA think when they hear trustworthy, loyal… ? I know it makes my stomach turn even as I try to follow the same principles in my life. We need to track ethics and integrity by actions not words. SCOTUS has ideals of non-partisanship but politicians fight for the appointments… so the ideal is laughable. Same for BSA in my mind, better to prove it than s

It really makes me sad that they thought suicide was the way to go .Then I think about their parents who will never know why their son killed his self.As bad as I was abused rape whatever you want to call im nowhere near the victim the ones that committed suicide are.They are the real victims. And their blood is on the hands of each and everyone that took part in covering this up.It makes me want to go and knock the hell out every single one of them in the ivory tower. Sorry for venting.✌️🙏

I hate finding typos in what I write. Replace "not" with "now". ... And, I really wish I could come back 12 hours later to remove half the words.

As an engineer who works in industrial production, this is exactly how we view safety. Our plant alone spends millions a year on safety, but it will never stop. Never. We report, we investigate root causes, we fix, engineer, implement, and repeat. Forever.

Makes sense. Dioceses are independent businesses with their own lawyers AND their own state oversight requirements. For example, my diocese has legal reporting requirements to the state AG as part of a settlement. Other dioceses don't necessarily have those expectations. BSA needs to drop the term "charter". Like most churches, Catholic dioceses "conceptually" strongly support BSA and scouting. The issue is the contractual and legal obligations. Long gone is the 1950s honorary view of a charter. Courts are now enforcing it as a legal document with millions of dollars of liability

I'm on an ecumenical board with about a dozen area churches, some of whom sponsor scout units. Three quarters of them are about two warm bodies and an unexpected bill away from closure. There is no way they want to continue charters.

Our council covers multiple states. It is interesting that the Catholic dioceses in some states have ceased to charter Scouting units but not in other states. It is also clear that at the national level the UMC is seeking to continue a relationship with the BSA. Assuming that the proposed settlement is approved, it appears that there may be a variety of options open to local congregations that wish to continue some level of involvement with the BSA. It may be a traditional chartering model or more of a "landlord" relationship that limits CO liability. Our own UMC sponsored units are in a wa

Rather than give any money to the council I'd suggest going to one of the camps, ask them what they need that's worth about $250 and go buy it for them. They will be thankful. Do not give them the money and do not give it to the council saying it's for the camp as the camp will never see it. This is my experience. In the meantime, tell the guy that told you the 40% fable that the deal is off the table because they lied to you. Nobody pays 40%, not even for popcorn - that has a built in 33% that goes to the council. <end of rant>

When we stopped doing popcorn as unit fundraisers simply because sales were declining, we pursued other fundraisers and then still gave council/FOS a modest lump sum from each unit. It was generally around $250 per. We heard similar noises because our new fundraising options were more successful, but it was about the same as what they had been getting with popcorn and we had asked them come up with some other fundraiser options, which they had refused to do. A thank you would have been much nicer. This is an inherent problem in the BSA structure which manifests itself when it comes to f

Our chartering organization (a Catholic Church) has notified us that they will no longer be our CO at the end of 2022. They got a pile of letters from lawyers stating that they are next in being forced to contribute to the victim fund. I am actively moving my scouts to another troop in the city, so scouts in my troop can continue to benefit from the program. My council has offered to charter us, but I no longer have the energy to keep my troop going after two tough years keeping the troop afloat through the covid panic and the constant advertisements on radio and tv looking for boy scout

I really WANT to like Scoutbook, since it would simplify things to have only one system, but there's still no comparison between the kind of reports I can run on Troopmaster and what Scoutbook offers. The 'Scouts Having/Needing' report is great, the 'Target First Class' advancement reports are sent to our ASPL of Advancement weekly, I can generate service hours reports for both scouts and unit with a couple quick clicks (we give bronze, gold, and silver service coins for 50 hours of service and up)... a multitude of things.

Yet another potential tangent. For revisiting purpose, Let's de-escalate leadership. It's the natural outcome we can brag about. We should invest on fellowship. Youth spending time with youth. Youth working with youth. Leadership will be a natural outcome. Too often the program is damaged by badly teaching leadership. Reviewing this thead. Clearly reflects I need to get back to work.

While I am not 100% on board with everything Mike Rowe says, I think he has a lot of valid points. We need someone, like a Mike Rowe, who sees the gaps that exist in kids today and how scouting can fill them. I would be perfectly happy with less emphasis on advancement/uniforms and more emphasis on exploring skills and getting outdoors, adventure and patrols/youth leadership. I bring this up as any group that is facing crisis must ask ... why are we here? I wonder ... what if we eliminate all ranks in Scouts BSA except Eagle. I'm not saying we do that, but personally, I could

Sadly, I think there is a slow death happening. Cubs has taken a drastic membership decline. Competing programs like GS or TL are getting more participation for the simple pricetag. The latest selling of camps for restitution, increased membership fees, and decades of fundraising emphasis like FOS/popcorn just kills our reputation. As a lifelong scout/scouter, I miss the days where any youth could join with just a few bucks from grass cutting. Gear and uniforms were passed to new scouts, and almost every family could afford to send a scout to summer camp. Emphasis was on camp skills

So, when I lift my eyes from the scouting bubble, I find this: There is a tremendous amount of trust in BSA. For each soul who can claim dreadful harm from it, there are 99 who’ve benefited. For many of those, their scoutmaster was/is someone to come home to and catch up with … just like you would a coach or favorite teacher. Scouting itself will happen with or without BSA. BSA simply offers a structure to make it happen without reinventing too many wheels. The bean counters see the organization as a complicated network of properties. Most of us see it as the phone numbers of

Not much. I see very little difference in selling grossly overpriced items (like popcorn) and soliciting for donations. It's really the same thing.