fred johnson

"Lied to the committee" ... Sometimes it's a viewpoint issue and sometimes it's a shade of truth. Perhaps he meant he was about to do something and did not correct himself. Perhaps he thought he was correct but wanted to not emphasize something. Perhaps ... "Lied" is often thrown out too quickly and the situation needs to be understood better. Parent getting physical with troop leaders ... Yeah, this would be a stopping point for me. When that happens (or even close), trust is lost and safety is a concern. Perhaps time passing and tempers will cool. But if not, the family needs to go

I used BSA pre-made ones in three dens. Sometimes they worked. Sometimes not. It really depended on the dynamics of the den and our ability to stay organized. But generally, yes. I like them better than almost any other method. I also liked to have the cub check things off when we were able to do that. I like it when we used the books more and signed in the back and then kept the chart synchronized. I liked it mostly because it let the cubs see their own progress and where they were. I'm not sure now with it relative to ScoutBook, etc.

Personally, I'd make the decision based on what you think will make the best and most exciting, inspirational experience for your kids. If that's transforming your existing pack into a fresh, energetic, busy pack, then great. If it means joining another pack, that's fine too. A few notes Your kids are only young once and their time in scouts is short. Scouts is best with friends. Socializing and working together is a key part of scouting. It's not really scouting if your kid doesn't regularly interact with other scouts. You will spend a lot of energy fixi

Yeah ... Three responses ... #1 The term rose colored glasses exists for a reason. The past is rarely as good as we remember it. #2 The issue is not a BSA thing and much more larger trends. Helicopter parents. Grade inflation. Building the resume. Legalism. Plus, schools and youth programs are much better now at teaching the basics that scouts cover and now makes scouts look fairly light weight. Better schools. Better exercise. Chasing achievements. #3 When I look at my oldest, I see a man who was very much burnt out on scouting when he was 18. Extremely burnt

I think this is key to making a good scouting program. Scouting isn't school. It's not pretend military. It's groups of kids that WANT to GET TOGETHER to DO THINGS. WANT <-- their choice GET TOGETHER <-- They want to see their friends DO THINGS <-- They want to do things with their friends. I really fear missing any piece of that. If we kill their want or their being together or doing things, then we damage the program. Our scouts have some great memories and most of those memories are from doing things together.

I'm finding everyone in the troops I'm associated with are pretty accepting of the idea and that it's just not that controversial.

I fear boys reflect the adults. Negative adults will create negative youth.

Class B girl-oriented patches should be fine. I see no issue with that.

Sadly, this makes sense. Certain activities do have risk and need to be taken seriously by skilled people. PSU is paying for the insurance coverage. That coverage probably states that activities that can have risk will have skilled supervision. The only way PSU could satisfy that requirement is to have staff cover it. It's not any safer really, just a perception of safety.

Wow. Just wow.

The logs are a tool, not a requirement. Useful if the scout wants to use it. If they want to use it, great. If they can't remember, it's a great place to start listing what they've done. If not listed, then it's just a friendly conversation seeing if they have fulfilled the requirement. It's the camping and service that is required. Not the log. I like to think of it as keep the positive focus on the activities, not the paperwork.

I don't think it's unreasonable at all for a parent to pass a mild comment to the committee chair or the scoutmaster. On the flip side, don't insert yourself too much. They probably saw what happened and are trying to figure out themselves what should be done.

As said before, once sanctioned, it can be argued the university is at risk and potentially has liability. For example, the university would be listing the organization with contacts, etc. So what if someone gets hurt of victimized. It could be easily argued that by listing the organization (contacts, description implying a charter) and supporting the organization (meeting rooms, listing as a contact, etc) ... then, the university is implying the organization and it's leaders have been vetted and is following good policies and procedures. Sadly, I do agree. But then again, I'd argue

"Maybe we should find some other word than trustworthy, like honest or truthful, since nobody is considered to be worthy of trust anymore." I fear like all public discussion chains we've devolved.

I agree. It should be a simple thing reflecting "a scout is friendly". What happened is it was a time when the troop was into teaching lessons. Sometimes those lessons became forced. So I'm sure someone was explaining to the SPL how to make an example of someone. I remember when the SPL would not give it back. My son was looking at him like he was not a very honest or friendly person. It broke trust even then as he knew there was a reason it would not be coming back. The sad thing is before my son would go to the SPL's house a few times to socialize. He never went again after that.

One of my older sons left something on the table. It was part of what he was bringing home as a carry item. But the SPL got it first and would not give it back. Only later as they were assembled to go home did the SPL bring the item up and say that my son left it on the table. He asked my son to sing for it. Watching the physical reaction of my son was very sad. Worse though was I saw him try something like that on someone else at the next camp out so he could do it to them. Perhaps the lesson was intended to be to take responsibility for your stuff, but he already knew that lesson. It

The article doesn't have a new viewpoint or any deep perspective. It's just re-hashing a summary of very high level issues. In some ways, it reminds me of political coverage when newspapers follow who's in the lead instead of following issues.

Phone calls ... I'm surprised I did not consider the affect on phone calls. I try to have my wife in the same room, but sometimes I field calls while driving. I'm not sure how to work around this issue.

Band bosters too? This is different than my experience. It seems like the school district is taking on the audit and finance responsibility for each of the organizations. It really grows the scope and umbrella of the school district.

The rule now says ... The new registration requirement (announced in the fall of 2017) was: "Effective for the 2018 BSA summer camp season, any adult accompanying a Boy Scout troop to a residence camp or other Scouting activity lasting 72 hours or more must be registered as a leader, including completion of a CBC and YPT, even if they are the parent of a youth on the trip." So I don't think a MBC registration would count. I think it means a leader in that unit or a leader in some unit. I'm not sure though. This is all new.

I'm pleasantly surprised at the responses and very glad to hear this is not an obstacle or something people will circumvent. I was trying to decide my thoughts on the second one. The comments here help. Thank you.

Now, you will also need to register them and incur the $33 registration cost. I'm not sure the cost is the biggest issue as much as the paperwork issue. $33 a piece. Not a huge difference. Just a friendly clarification.

I've recently taken the updated YPT. It was very well done and I was impressed. I'm concerned though about two changes. One that we've tried to do as a troop and one that was a surprise. Scouts sharing a tent should not be more then two years apart unless they are siblings. We as a troop have always tried to do this. We viewed it as another imbalance of power situation. I don't think this affects my troop, but I'm wondering how troops that do mixed age patrols will succeed with this. Often you have scouts missing from the patrol. I don't think it would be unusual in a mixed age p

Interesting ... I know our PTO is it's own non-profit and they get to use the school facilities for free as their activities are to benefit the school and the school district. They don't need to pay to rent the space. Even then, rents are usually very reasonable such as $4 or $5 for an hour to rent a gym. In any event, that's your school district.

You hit it on the head. That is the issue. The PTO does have a non-profit ID, but they don't use it. The PTO should be using the school district non-profit ID. It does seem strange though. PTOs are usually fundraising organizations that raise money to spend on pet projects. Play sets. Teacher supplies. If the PTO does not control it's funds, then why raise funds. The raised funds would effectively supplement the district general fund. That's hardly an inspiring purpose. You may be stuck in a shoving match between the school district and the PTO. Smooth the waters if yo