fl_mom_of_2

yes that is us. We made a few of the newscasts.

I sent the link to this post to our leaders so they can see everyone's suggestions. Thank you so much for the great ideas.

My son had his Eagle Scout Court of Honor tonight and after the ceremony when the troop went to put something in the troop trailer, they noticed it was stolen!! All of the troops gear was in the trailer!

Any suggestions on how to secure a trailer. Our troop will now need to repurchase everything including buying another trailer. It is so sad that someone would steal from the boyscouts. I hope they catch whoever did this.

Our SM has been through woodbadge. Alot of our committee members have taken the committee challenge online. We only have 2 ASMs and they have been through SM training.

Our pack does not hold pack meetings over the summer but does have outings such as a parade, picnic, and usually bowling. My son asked our SM if he could continue his job as den chief over the summer but he said no. That is why he had to get another job until the pack started again.

This will be the second year my son has served as den chief for the same den. He wants to stay with the den until they receive their arrow of light early next year. He will soon be able to earn his den chief award and really likes being a den chief. Last weekend he was finally able to attend the den chief training put on by one of the districts in our area.

We are a small troop and relatively new (since Oct of last year). We are all still learning how everything works. I still think its unfair for our SM to add to the requirements. If BSA policy states one or more PORs, then we should be following the rules.

And I am no longer advancement chair! I had to resign from the committee. Yes there are alot of problems with our troop but my son is happy so we're staying put.

This will be the second year my son has served as den chief for the same den. He wants to stay with the den until they receive their arrow of light early next year. He will soon be able to earn his den chief award and really likes being a den chief. Last weekend he was finally able to attend the den chief training put on by one of the districts in our area.

We are a small troop and relatively new (since Oct of last year). We are all still learning how everything works. I still think its unfair for our SM to add to the requirements. If BSA policy states one or more PORs, then we should be following the rules.

And I am no longer advancement chair! I had to resign from the committee. Yes there are alot of problems with our troop but my son is happy so we're staying put.

My son asked his SM for a scoutmaster conference (for LIFE rank) and was told by the SM that he could not have it because he held two different position of responsibilities for the 6 month term. My son became a STAR scout on 4-22-08. He was den chief until 5-31-08 but had to stop after that date because the pack does not meet over the summer. He then became Troop Instructor from 6-1-08 - 9-7-08 and then switched back to den chief on 9-8-08 once the pack started meeting again. If I understand it correctly, boyscout regulations state "hold one or more positions of responsibility". Shouldnt the time my son was troop instructor count towards his 6 month requirement. If my son speaks to his SM and he still refuses to give him a SM conference what should we do?

Thank you so much for all your comments. I do appreciate it.

We did allow scouts to have a tenderfoot and second class at the same time. We meet on Tuesdays from 7-8:30 and were giving the conferences at the start of the mtg or sometimes in the middle. The plan now is to have them on a weekend.

thanks for everyone's help. I am actually on the committee. I am Advancement Chair and my husband is CC. I havnt been at the last 2 committee mtgs because I have been too frustrated with the way things have been run in our troop and I needed a break. This decision to do the BORs every 3 months was made at the last mtg that I wasnt at, what a surprise. I have never missed a mtg except for the last two. I have been extremely active in this troop and have worked hard to get things organized. We are new and have been around for 1 year so we're still learning.

I have set up many BORs for this troop and have tried to get them scheduled as soon as I could. Most of the time we did them the following week or shortly after. My husband even left work early to help do one because we only had two people and needed a third. There are certain people on the committee who always volunteer to help with the BORs and there are alot on the committee who just dont.

I have been lurking in this forum for quite a long time now and have learned a great deal from everyone. I really appreciate all the info you guys make available. I learned alot and it was due to everyone here.

Late this afternoon, I sent an email out to my committee informing them that I will be resigning after the next COH. This email from the secretary who happens to be the SM's wife, was just the last straw.

I will however rpt if any changes get made.

our troop committee has decided that we will only be giving Board of Reviews 2 weeks before our Court of Honor (our COHs are held every 3 months). I feel this is too long of a period to wait especially for those scouts who already have attained first class and are trying to advance to the next rank. Since these ranks require either 4 or 6 months in a POR, this will hold them up from advancing. Am I wrong in suggesting this is too long to wait?

When I emailed the committee and expressed my concern for this decision I received an email from one committee member which said "Racing through the ranks for the sake of getting them is not what the Boy Scout program is about and furthermore, the anxiety created in that race is a detriment to the troop as a whole".

I just noticed that Assistant Patrol Leader is not listed as a Position of Responsibility. Does anyone know why this is the case? How can bugler be listed but not assistant patrol leader? These are the jobs listed from the scout handbook: Patrol leader, assistant senior patrol leder, senior patrol leader, troop guide, Order of the Arrow troop rep, den chief, scribe, librarian, historian, quartermaster, bugler, junior assistant SM, chaplain aide, or instructor.

Thank everyone for your comments. I really do appreciate them!

Our committee is very small. We only have 6 people on it. Most of the time only 2 committee members are present at all the troop meetings. We have one committee member who cant even make the meetings until soccer season is finished. My question is how should we handle scheduling board of reviews for the scouts. I know we need a minimum of 3 people to hold a bor. It is becoming difficult to get 3 committee members to show up to the meetings to do the review. I dont think its fair to make the scout wait a long time before giving him the review. If we require the committee to do the bor within 2 troop meetings after the scout requests one is this unfair to the committee members? I had a committee member complain that we shouldnt do BOR's at troop outings. What do you think about that? I think its fine to do them at campouts or at troop outings. Any thoughts? How do you handle your BORs?

I was looking for suggestions on how to store our troop library. I was thinking of getting a plastic bin from Staples that holds file folders and making a separate file folder for each merit badge pamphlet we have. I thought this would make it easy to find a specific book. The troop used to store the pamphlets in a wooden box someone made. I just opened it this morning and found the books just thrown in there and there were bugs and spiders in it.

Any better suggestions?

thanks everyone for the clarification. I'm new to the forum and actually this was my second post! I appreciate all the feedback. I've learned quite a bit. Thanks again.

Tenderfoot Requirment 11. Identify local poisonous plants and tell how to treat for exposure: Our SM wants the boys to find the poisonous plants in the woods during our next campout before he will sign off on this. Is this adding to the requirements? Is it enough for the scout to just describe the plants? I can see all our scouts spending hours in the woods looking for poison ivy, sumac, and oak not finding them and not getting signed off.

Our SM told this to the boys after he gave a long presentation on what all the plants were. He brought them all in for the boys to see. I know this info should've been presented by our SPL but he hardly comes to any of our meetings. This is also another problem we are having. The SM teaches alot of things to the boys instead of the older boys teaching the younger scouts.

When does everyone give out their MB patches? Do you wait until your court of honor or does the SM give them out at the troop meetings? Thank you.