Leaderboard

Coed camping already occurs with venturing and Packs. So, we are really only talking about adding coed camping for 11, 12 and 13 yo. In addition, coed camping exists in those ages as linked Troops share camping sites all the time, including at BSA events. Clarification... When I say coed, I mean boys and girls camping at same site. Now, if you mean in the same tent, I agree that won't happen for a long time.

I think the best approach would be to give the CO's options, and let them decide how they wish to structure their Scouting program... Just like they already do with selection of adults, religious and character requirements, and whether they have a girl Troop under their umbrella. There are many that would wish to stay with the single-gender approach. There are many that would integrate.

The issue is unique to our society and legal system. Most of the world recognizes that bad people are part of the larger society and precautions are warranted to take note. They are not paranoid that somehow it is being platted by every person around the corner or that does not fit the accepted stereotypes. In a way it too many people seeing shadows and believing the worst.

It depends on how you define “tent”. At times my venturers slept under the stars. I didn’t bother to measure the distance between bedding to make sure they were the equivalent of two tent walls apart. (Although truth be told the sexes segregated on their own on most occasions.) It’s a big country, and National simply has no way to enforce a common culture on this.

I wish they would. In fact, I bet I'm not the only old WOSM scout in the BSA who's scouted in another NSO where everyone scouts together and has for many decades. Totally doable.

Local option ...step by step.

As an ACM (and just this month an ASM, too - crossover...) I obviously don't see much of any conversations between the CM/SM and higher ups, but we do see our UC pretty regularly, and our DE is involved - came to the Troop's Spaghetti Dinner, came to the Pack's B&G, responds pretty quickly to emails, and she is friendly and personable. The districts seem to be struggling a little with taking over BALOO/IOLS/things like that from Council-controlled, but they are being communicative about it, which is great. Just be nice if the Council could be more up-to-date with information on their websi

Are you suggesting common sense enter into the game? 🤣

I think the choice for single-gender troops and patrols is the right approach. Barry

Thanks for this, @RememberSchiffinteresting to watch, and hopefully there will be some more guidance coming out soon for this. Sent a link to my CM to watch, too.

In my view, this is just not controversial anymore. The world changed a long time ago. BSA also changed; just some pretend it hasn't. We've had female scoutmasters, female summer camp staff and female professional scouters for decades. Now, we pretend to have separate boys and girls troops, but most interact regularly. They definitely interact at district / council functions. ... We are way past BSA is a boys only club. If boys-only troop wants to exist, more power to them. Go for it. If boys only patrols want to exist, fine. ... I fear a hard single-gender patrols a rule w

… doable, as long as BSA is willing to take another membership hit over the next few decades … We’re not scouts UK, and litigation waits in the wings for any reports of sexual assault in any American organization that promotes both sexes camping together as a matter of course. I personally believe that a coed troop could be a healthy option for many communities. But the specter of abuse lawsuits will linger for quite some time.

I wonder if they've talked to the other countries within WoSM that have been co-ed for years/decades (1988 for Cubs and Scouts in Australia, 1992 for Cubs and Scouts in UK, 1989 for New Zealand, etc) for their input?

A Scout is Obedient ..."He obeys the laws of his community and country. If he thinks those rules and laws are unfair, he seeks to have them changed in an orderly way." Is that who you are?

3rd Circuit Court of Appeals has taken case/oral arguments off calendar pending SCOTUS decision on Purdue Pharma:

It is difficult to talk about, until you do. A lot of us are exactly like you. We might be in different stages of dealing with our trauma, but we are all alike. Talking about what happened will help erase any shame you might have and help you realize that there was nothing you could have done. You are a survivor. What you survived was not only physical but mental trauma and just like seeing a doctor for physical trauma a mental health professional can help you with your mental trauma. DM me if you wish,

Perhaps it is just my highschool, but as a parent of a teenager I have to say expectations of what teens must do far exceed what was expected of teens 20, 30, 50 years ago. First, they are expected to take college level courses in high school. When I was a kid, I took 2 AP courses, now ... If you want any chance to get selected by a highly selected university you need at least 8. Plus you need to have nearly perfect grades and an ACT/SAT that is very high. Then look at sports. When I was a kid you can simply walk on to most teams and the sport lasts the season. Now, the best t

Well, considering that the youth of today have been terrible since the days of Aristotle, I'll say it could have gotten much worse 😂 Are you familiar with the book Factfulness by Hans Rosling? He's got a few TED talks that are lowkey inspiring in terms of building a better world. We in high-income countries don't feel it day to day, but the world is actually a much better place now than in the past. Even here, things are better in a lot of ways. It's good to remind oneself sometimes.

100% agree. It is inappropriate to remove the US Flag to add the flag of another county. How does he reconcile that with the citizenship aspect of scouting?

A lot of Scouters need to think long and hard about how they are modeling the Scout Oath and Scout Law for their Scouts. That Scouter should reflect on what he is teaching his Scouts about Duty to Country. Others need to take "I will keep myself physically strong" a little (ok, a LOT) more seriously.

The reasons for a radio station would include music for people cooking, working on merit badges, and especially the Radio merit badge. The best part is that because it's a radio station, it obviously isn't related to the Internet or other online devices.

Found this Webinar BSA Renewal System Overview. Q&A starts at 33:00

Definitely a violation of the Uniform Code, and in my view, a poor decision. It seems obvious it is a personal thing, and it does not belong as a part of the program directly. Is it worth arguing about? Probably not.

Brought back some camp memories... "WHYY’s (PBS) arts and culture reporter Peter Crimmins first became interested in radio in the fourth grade, when he smuggled a contraband crystal-diode radio into the Boy Scout summer camp. Subsequent radio projects were more successful." https://whyy.org/person/peter-crimmins/page/175/

I think what @Mrjeffmay be hinting at is that if you disagree with some elements of a DE&I initiative and voice your concerns in a tactful manner, you still risk being labeled the "worst type of person imaginable." There is no room for discourse in some public spaces and I find that scary. As a moderate conservative myself, I share some of his concerns (and wouldn't mind engaging in productive discussion around the others). Ultimately, it probably behooves us all to be 10% kinder and 10% more understanding (and maybe to love one another ... where have I heard that before? 😉) Even

The Chartering Organizations are embedded in their local community. They agree to use the Scouting program as part of their outreach in their community. They also agree to provide support for the Troop, and be voting members of the council. They are supposed to be the ones vetting leaders for the Scouting units they own. Many did not, and many do not, take these responsibilities seriously. https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/04-113.pdf

I agree with previous leader who's name I can't copy because of special characters. #1 Email - My thought is it enables the term limits. Scouts and families get used to emailing scoutmaster@mycharter.net. When scoutmaster changes, the communication change is invisible to them. It's a good idea. #2 Banking - Lots of extra work for CO treasurer. "Account" can be interpreted many ways, but the CO agreement does strongly strongly infer a separate bank account. IMHO, if the funds can be cleanly tracked separately, then perhaps it's okay. I'd still strongly prefer a separate troo

Zero is the answer from my unit, and I've never heard of a unit giving any. I've been doing this for a long time, and have had several council board members who are also adult leaders in our unit. We do allow/invite a council rep to do an FOS ask at our spring COH, and our troop families give. We support popcorn sales, but we don't push hard for it as it's not a primary fundraiser for us. Broadly we're very supportive of our council and have good relations with them, so I'm not saying this as someone with an antagonistic relationship with council. A couple additional thoughts and ques

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

Welcome @MattySchnides! Zero percent!!!!!!!! And the DE response is laughable.🤣 Units do not exist to provide a cash cow for the council. Give them zero and ignore any other correspondence on the matter.

Was at our District PWD yesterday. Saw an adult leader who had a Ukrainian flag in place of the US flag on his uniform. I've seen all sorts of oddities on uniforms, but I've never seen someone replace our flag with that of another nation.

It is extremely difficult to talk about any of it. If any of the other victims are like me in any way, it is something of which I am still ashamed. Even now, I wonder if I might have done something different to avoid becoming a target. But mostly, I try not to let my memory do any more damage than has already been done. Sometimes, I can go days without any thought of any of it. You may call it "denial", I call it "survival".

For you, maybe. Some survivors (including myself) do find on balance that it is healing. It got me back to therapy and there will be some sort of finality. How many people actually post in this thread regularly, 20? Are even half of those stating they were abused in BSA? It's just such a small representation of the number of victims. I'm glad to see @Bzzyadding a voice and it's crushing to know this is not the case for everyone. That was me for a good portion of the bankruptcy process (mad at the underfunding, inequity of distribution, the lousy lawyers, the amount of time, etc.

@InquisitiveScouter ... Trademark is only if we are confusing consumers to our sales advantage. We are not selling. It's like buying a Volkswagen for your own use and putting a Jaguar emblem on it. It's my car and my choice. Probably tacky to put a Jaguar emblem on VW bug, but not a trademark infringement. Definitely not aN ethical issue. ... BUT ... If we work as a middle man and then sell the shirts to others, then it is a trademark issue. Also, it does not have to be an exact match. Different font? Slightly different wording? Does it even really need the BSA emblem there?