Leaderboard

12 scouts is still a good number to build off of though. After covid, I was down to 6 scouts but built it up to 51 over the next couple years. Took a lot of work, but with the help of some volunteers who showed up at the right time, we were able to thrive. If they are not being "active", you might be in for more work than you bargained for.

OA has always been an "optional" Scouting program and is an individual decision. You don't want to do OA, then DON'T. If you take the obligation that goes with the honor, then do it with good intentions and fulfill it to the best of your ability. If you don't want to participate after the Ordeal, then remove the lodge flap and carry on. And don't show up at your EBOR sporting the flap and sash, because I WILL ask you questions about your OA experience.

Before I get sanctioned for my conservative viewpoint and ramblings, I will say farewell to Scouter Foram. I am a caucasion, Christian conservative who does not agree with the direction, including Scouting, is headed. Somehow someone came up with the idea that having segregated celebrations at NOAC and the National Jamboree will benefit Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. This is bulderdash in my opinion. If this demonstrates Equity then please explain why was there no segregated event for caucasion heterosexual ? Simply because that would cause so much negativity and claims of racism and

Fewer scouts today so councils merge for well you know the script. Seems mostly okay, then a NEW council headquarters building is needed. MUCH LARGER than the two HQ's it is replacing which served more scouts back when. I mean if we need MORE ROOM to serve fewer scouts, can't we just use the scOUTing DOORS? MORE MODERN - Internet? Indoor plumbing? Is Scouting now about Modern? MORE EXPENSIVE. I don't want to spend a dime on a new Council HQ while a camp is in need of maintenance or program upgrades. How many $million dream HQs were built and then sold (Maine comes to mind)

Lots of good ideas here. Who is leading this charge? Should be DE, but you never know their experience. You could be that person, but if you do, delegate, delegate delegate. Running a pack is hard enough without trying to help another. It's OK to have the ideas and let others run with it. But, I would ask for a meeting with the pack adults and ask them how they feel about these ideas and learn their temperament of the situation. You are not there to take advantage of them, you only want to lend a hand. Let them know that. I have worked with some splits and mergers, so I will help anywhere

2004: "Boy Scouts, Banknorth officials, Cianbro and other members of the business community broke ground Monday (July 19) on the new 21,000-square-foot Scout Center, the cornerstone of the Pine Tree Council’s $4 million capital campaign. ... When completed in 2005 the facility will include: a library, a tribute room, a visitor's center, a training room, a scout shop, an audio visual center, resources areas for each of the 10 districts of the Pine Tree Council as well as a lookout so that scouts can watch planes take off and land. (Modern I guess ~RS) The Pine Tree Council serves mor

Sounds reasonable to co-operate, at least for a time, and that may allow folks to not get overly worked up about "the change"- if they understand it is potentially short-term, there could be less of a feeling of dread. I've been through a Lodge merger when councils merged, and the first year was a miserable experience of (mainly adults) negativity. I wish I had bought a few dozen copies of Who Moved My Cheese? and handed them out at the beginning. You mentioned trying to make equal use of both schools. I would just do everything you can to make a calendar about what nights you are at wh

Why do they want to merge? Barry

Congrats! Here's how to work this "within" the system. 1. Make sure your CO's are good with this. Check with your CORs. If the CO's are willing to support a merge, you will be able to make it happen in spite of whatever resistance you meet. However, if a CO does not wish to "give up" their program, things may develop some tension. Especially since all gear and money technically belongs to the CO's. 2. THEN, get COR approval (recommend an email) to conduct cross-unit activities, including camping.... 3. THEN, contact your Unit Commissioner and tell them of this develo

@Mrjeff, if you leave, then they win "the battle of the narrative." I support your being here, and voicing your concerns about the direction we are heading as a movement, and as a country. Stick around...

We once had a Commissioner show up at a B/G to present the Pack Charter. I am not exaggerating, he looked like a North Korean General. He was a long time Scout/Scouter and was wearing EVERY possible award that had ever been presented to him, from the Bobcat pin to his youth MB sash, OA sash, medals, neck ribbons, etc.

I agree with Civics for Life that civil discourse is constructive to have for its own sake. "Civil discourse is not simply polite conversation, though courtesy and respect are crucial to it. Civil discourse goes beyond politeness. It is conversation with purpose—that is, constructive dialogue. Though they may disagree, participants in civil discourse are committed to hearing each other’s fact-based opinions and dispassionately evaluating those opinions against their own. Participants enter into civil discourse with a shared goal: to leave it with greater clarity or even, potentially, havi

I agree, the OA is another part of Scouting and should be presented that way.

Does there have to be a productive aim if the discussion is civil and managed within the Scout Law? Sometimes the best reaction to a discussion one doesn’t enjoy participating is to choose not to participate. Barry

TBH the rule that you need a female leader around girls all the time sounds a little accusatory of men's character in general to me, despite the statistics. If the idea is that only a woman would protect girls from sexual abuse, what does that imply about all the other male leaders?

I too would rather 10 serious Arrowman, than 100 going through the motions. I remember upsetting a SM when I stated that those who are not interested in the OA could leave their names off the ballots, and several of his Scouts volunteered NOT to be on the ballot. This is the Same SM who had a bunch of Arrowman in the troop, but none active I knew this would happen when they changed the election process in the 1990s. I just didn't know how long it would take. Combined with some other decisions by national OA, specifically the new new AOL and Cross Over Policies, I do not see anything

Only the last NOAC? Or also the last US national jamboree? Were these the first such events, or were there previously held events? Are such events held more widely? If BSA is pushing DEI so hard, how come I haven't heard a DEI peep despite being an active scouter? Please provide the wider data basis for your subjective description of DEI in the BSA. You've previously called them "sanctioned" by BSA, what does that mean exactly? Organized by? Allowed to occur organized by some group of scouts and/or scouters but not the BSA itself? What was the stated purpose of the "meetings/gatherin

For further clarification I would like for your attention to focus on Harvard College, Florida State College, Budweiser Beer and Nike Athletic Shoes. The public reaction indicates that the majority of regular sensible people are fed up and sick of the foolishness that has overshadowed our country. I'll probably get more warnings and maybe even kicked out but what I said needs saying!