EagleInKY

Hey neighbor. Welcome to the forum. I live in Oldham Co and work in Louisville. Hmmm, sounds like me about eight years ago. Since them I've had one year as Tiger Leader, four years as Cubmaster, and now going on four years as Scoutmaster for a new troop. You never know where this road might take you. (Oh, and thanks Semper-dude, I hope you were talking about me) (This message has been edited by EagleInKY)

Uh, I guess I'm over simplifying it (or maybe just boring), but I've bought plain-old cornbread mix from the store and made it just fine.

Barry, Great story, thanks for sharing. It inspires us to try and be more to these boys than "that guy that runs the troop". I can only hope that someday a scout will tell me that I made that difference in his life. And thanks for making us all love this scouting stuff. -John

I don't know of anything formal in writing, but here's the basics. Your mileage spent in volunteering for the program can be deducted at the charitable rate (I think it's around .14 per mile). Note, this is only miles where you were actually serving in some way. Driving your son and dropping him off at a troop meeting doesn't count. But if you are a leader and are there to help with the program, it does. The same goes for campouts and other mileage (driving to the scout office, roundtables, etc.). As for personal expenses, you can deduct costs of expenses you would not have if you we

Thanks, I guess you can figure what out what I do on the side.

I got it too and was wondering the same. Glad I'm not alone.

http://www.troop153bsa.org/Content/Info-Parents.asp I'm not totally satisfied with this, and will hopefully rewrite it with the committee this year. I do like the fact that it doesn't read like a "policy manual" but instead, more like a guide book.

The BOR absolutely dropped the ball and need to be trained. The SM needs to get on top of the advancement in his troop and make sure this doesn't happen again. The SM should be the person to give the okay to the BOR. I follow the process as described in the handbook and help arrange it. But the boy has to ask me to. As SM, I would sit down and have a SM Conference with the lad. I'd explain to him that he broke the rules. If the missing requirement had been something tangible, like a required MB or time in rank, we'd have no option but to bump him back to Star until he comple

I'm torn on this. Right now, it sounds like just hearsay. I'd talk to him about it and get his take on it. As they say, there are two sides to every story. If you can't resolve it, I'd say present him with the plaque. You're basing it on what he did as a SM. The he-said-she-said stuff is hearsay at this time. If he says, "yeah, I cheated, so what?".... then I'd probably say thanks and drop the recognition altogether. If you present the plaque, you've received some good advice on how to handle it.

You've gotten lots of good suggestions. Is the person trying to change the committee new as well? It sounds like you may have given some people some power before they were ready and able to understand. There needs to be a "come to Jesus" meeting (pardon the phrase if it offends you). But you need to be very clear and frank. I had a committee member try to do this a few years ago. We had to have a very frank discussion. We didn't get anywhere with him. We eventually had to demonstrate to him that his actions would not be allowed. As for the new parents, KC John gave you a good

Committee members and ASM/SMs are very different roles. Check out the SM Handbook and the Troop Committee Guidebook. The Troop Committee is responsible for the ways and means of the troop. They provide the resources (money, equipment, leaders) to make sure the program can be successful. They provide a level of oversight, mostly through managing the budget and the very important role of conducting Boards of Review. The SMs are responsible for the program. They work directly with the scouts to make the program happen. Now, with that said, that doesn't mean that the Commitee Memb

We have issues with boring meetings as well. Our challenge has been that the boys selected as SPL have tended to be the more mature, quiet, reserved types. They don't plan meetings around the average boy, but to their personality. I continue to challenge them on this, but they have to "want" to make it fun. And, the other boys in the troop have to step up and help pull it off.

I'm with Emb on this. This sounds more like local traditions than official WB. We didn't have nametags, so that would be the only difference between my answers and his. Our gift to our Troop Guide cost about $35 bucks, and sense we ran under budget on our food, I think it only cost about $4 a piece.

Google it. There are a bunch of plans online. I've never done it, but it looks like fun.

We've actually gone away from event permission slips. We now do a combination Class 1 Medical / Parent's permission once a year. We carry that with us everywhere. I know that they say that event specific permission slips provide you more protection, but they've grown into too much of a hassle. We hand out information sheets and also send them out via e-mail. Both the old way (permission slips) and new way (info sheets), we hand it out to the boy if present. We also send out an e-mail and post a copy in the members area of our website.

It sounds like your troop has some local customs that are different from most. In most troops, I believe the planning is in the hands of the family. The troop may have some things they typically bring to the show (decorations, banners, etc.) and should participate (color guard, ushers, roles on the agenda). It should be up to the Eagle Scout and his family to design the ceremony to their liking.

Districts around here occasionally offer it. But I believe it is MUCH MORE effective to organize it for your own troop committee. You get into some really good dialogue around who should be doing what. You can apply what you learn to real-life situations in the troop.

Troop Committee Challenge is part of the Troop Committee training curriculum. It's an excellent training resource for your committee members. I encourage SMs to also participate. It helps everyone (even parents who aren't committee members) understand their place. I just looked on Scoutstuff and it doesn't look like they carry it any more??? Anyone know anything about that? I guess I'll keep a close handle on my copy.

Soap in a DO!!! Now that is reason to yell at a scout. But I digress. We've all had this guy in our troop. In fact, some of our ASMs are this guy next week, and a regular "Green Bar Bill" the next. Some get the program, some deal with the program, some resist the program. It sounds like your guy is somewhere between the latter two. He might eventually get it, but usually not for a while. Eighteen months is really not that long. I'm the SM and I think it took me nearly 3 years.... and I'm still learning.

Here's what I think is going on. The troop's leaders don't have the training, resources and/or ability to deal with an autistic child. Maybe they have 30 scouts and only two active leaders, we don't know. Maybe the boy turns violent or can't be led by the boy leaders. Whatever the reason, the scout needs an adult to supervise him. The troop has asked the parents to do that. The parent's, for whatever reason, are refusing. So, what do they do? Sue the volunteers (probably parents of other scouts in the troop), who are willing to spend their time working with their children. Geez, how r

Hey guys, I made the same mistake the first time I read it. I thought it said "12 year old scout", but it actually says "12 year scout". I believe they mean he's been a scout for 12 years (5 years as Cub, 7 years as a Boy Scout). While the reporter is probably "rounding up", I believe that is what he is trying to say.

I understand your POV. It can be frustrating to lose several scouts right out of the gate. It casts a negative feeling over the rest of the group. I don't do much "selective recruiting", but I do make sure they understand the program and the commitment that we expect. If there's someone who doesn't appear to be a fit, I make sure they know there is no hard feelings if they decide to pick a troop down the road. We also are in the practice of giving new scouts a "trial run" to let them see if they like it. No obligations. They come to a few meetings, go on a campout. If they want to go f

One other comment. I'd been struggling with this issue for some time and was getting very frustrated/burned out. I realized that I was the only one suffering the burden. Even my assistants weren't feeling it, in fact they were often part of the frustration. Even though I was trying to use the Scribe, SPL and PLC; I was the one having to deal with it. At the first of the year, we implemented a new procedure where we rotated the coordination amongst the scoutmasters. Once the other guys started feeling the pain, we started making progress on coming up with a better process.

Ah, the old getting them to commit problem. I've posted my own frustrations about this as well. We're putting a new process in place, and we'll see how it goes. Two weeks before an activity (11 days typically, since we meet on Mondays) is the final signup for an activity. you miss this date, you don't go. In some cases (when reservations/tickets are required, etc.), the date may be moved up sooner. One week before (four days) is the last day to back out and not have to pay, unless reservations/tickets were required. Sometimes the money doesn't come in until the day of,

I disagree, missions and visions are much more than fluff. Now, while the actual text of the statement isn't that important, the fact that scout leaders need to be driving toward that mission/vision is essential for the success of the program. In fact, I think a lot of the times when we see problems in units, it's because the leader has taken his eye off of the mission and focused on an issue at hand. I've done a lot of thinking about this recently. I know this is very "academic", but I think it helps it make sense to me. Think of it like a pyramid (or ladder, if you prefer). At the