fred8033

I flip back and forth on this. My experience is that scouting units (packs, troops) need relatively light policy and procedure documents. Document habits. When do you meet? How much are dues and when? How do you share fundraiser profits? ... A new parent guide ... Beyond that, I find little need to document policies and procedures. RECOMMENDATION: Resolve the situation first. Then, outside the situation, discuss whether a policy is needed. I've sat in too many committee meetings where hours are spent debating a well written policy that is driven by one or two situations. Then, after the incident is done, we never touch the policy again. It's never published. It's never communicated again. It really turns out it was a policy for this one incident. My conclusion: Don't create policy during problem situations. You will often end up with policy that you don't want to live with and that others won't follow. Queue a policy discussion for later, but don't create the new policy during the situation. Policies written during situations often become bad policy. Sometimes I wonder if discussing policy is the passive aggressive way to handle bad situations that are really best handled clean and upfront.

Parents are not required to accept responsibility for other people's kids. We are all volunteers. If you are not comfortable, then don't do it. It's also acceptable to not do it if it's hurting the experience of the other cubs. "IF" the parent has already said they would talk to the council, then I would suggest they do that. The council does have special need units. They probably do have a special needs pack that would accept the scout. I would require the parents to stay until the cub says he's okay with them leaving and you are comfortable with the cub staying without the parent. I'd also ask if the bridges are already burnt. If the parent is saying they'll take it to the council, I'd be tempted to say they already acknowledged the situation is bad. Maybe they should move on.

Ideas for agendas for annual planning, PLCs, etc The only other thing is don't go after a single answer. Provide ideas / resources, etc. As I've come to learn, there are many ways to do scouting. There is no single answer. I've found my reason to have my sons in scouting is often very different than the reasons of other people. The experience I want them to have is very different than what other's envision.

Lions. Now Kindergarten.

It's not that it's not needed. There is a hole. I don't see a youth targeted scouting web site that helps youth do scouting. Many sites exist, but NONE sites are youth oriented. I agree that a WikiHow or a Wikipedia site would be useful. I do NOT think it would be useful to create new content. But a well organized presentation of scouting topics targeting youth would be very helpful. Then, leverage links to outside youtube and other content. Site could have Ideas for: Meals, outings, games, objectives Resources for: Planning a camp out, working on merit badges, etc My only personal request ... don't make it a "here's a checklist for ..." type of site. We're trying to trigger ideas and make leaders; not award MBAs.

A few comments. I have no issue with people scanning records. If scanned, you need to assume it will exist for a long time ... longer than you planned and ... in more hands than you'd ever expect. It's unrealistic to expect volunteer parents to cleanly purge records. It's unrealistic to expect volunteer parents to cleanly follow paperwork procedures. At least with paper, it's a physical limitation. Where's the paper ? It takes space. It requires explicit hand off. They don't proliferate without action. I've found paper records from 20+ years ago. As I've found old paper records, I've also found old electronic records ... in weird spots. All it takes is a volunteer change. One volunteer has one procedure. The next has a different one. If your troop changes the volunteer lead for each campout, I'd expect electronic records to spread wide and fast. Our troop procedure Our SM / camping coordinator shared responsibility for the health forms. On many trips, there was a two gallon zip lock bag stored strategically in the scoutmasters backpack. Other times, it was in the troop trailer in a small locked cabinet. Other times, it was with the official medicine person if we had one. Usefulness Hospitals / emergencies ... I've found doctors don't really trust the form in emergencies. They glance at it, but then need to still do everything. ... And sadly, I've probably been involved in 5 to 10 ER trips. ... Thankfully, none in the last four years. Troop volunteers ... I've found the form most useful to the key adults in the troop to know how to dispense medicine or handle emergencies inside the troop. I find the whole medical form thing to be way more debated / stressed than it really needs to be. Get a paper copy. But it in a binder or a zip lock bag alphabetically. Then, move on.

I always thought it was because our events have more trees than power outlets.

Remember 12th code of Dinotopia: Find the fun.

Your key point: "council level in Scouting today is a lack of technical knowledge on how to effectively grow Scouting." Agree. As a 12+ year district volunteer, districts and councils chat all the time about how to drive membership. But there is little special they can do. The only success is helping units run their own membership drive. Flyers. Road signs. IMHO, districts are a bygone idea of the past. Councils are the new districts. Perhaps, states should be the new council. Individual border cities could align with a different state if it makes sense. BSA needs to rethink the structure because times have changed. Recruitment should be nationally driven. If units need flyers, put ten different fliers on the national site and I as a unit volunteer can get them printed. If they are even needed anymore as schools don't hand out paper fliers anymore.

I was thinking what I would like to see that might be possible. Many scouts can "google" to find the answers. Most scouts are very capable online. The only other thing I can think of is a site that lists the best online resources for specific badges. We used to have meritbadge.org that showed requirements, etc. And it was targeting adults. Maybe something similar that's quick and efficient and finds best-of-brand already existing content that could help a scout. Essentially the yellow pages book (which you probably have never used. ... of the best resources. ) Someone doing a computer merit badge, could be routed to the best existing resources that help teach those topics.

I remember being a parent newly introduced into scouting and slowly learning the turf issues and grudges between the scouting groups. The more I learned, the more I was astounded. As a parent, it shouldn't involve me or my kids. But the division almost pulls the parents in. It's not good for anyone. Each has significant problems. Each has huge traditions and very meaningful purposes. The divisive issue is each has resources and staff. Sadly, I fear the division reduces the effectiveness for scouting for all scouts. As a parent, I just don't understand why the organizations can't work together. The real problem is they should be one organization.

Your video reminded me of why I like river canoeing. On a river you can rest and still make progress.

COR sharing with SM seems appropriate. SM's job is to protect scouts. The SM is the guy around the scouts. He needs to know and maybe know rough general reasons. As for committee member, it depends on committee member's role. ... I'm not hearing any obvious issue. Things seem reasonable ... without knowing anymore. There will be grumbling. People won't be happy.

Be careful !!!! ... When issues like this happen, everyone is tainted. ... BSA is not rich enough to afford legal battles when volunteers argue. The end result is often both get banned / removed. "Back then ... " ... organizations always change with the volunteers. For 15 years, I had a set of volunteers, I clicked with naturally and it was great. Now, there area few volunteers that I don't click with as much. So, I've moved to volunteer in a more limited targeted way. Maybe in the future, I'll volunteer differently again. I enjoy scouting both ways, but I'm not going to fight a losing battle. "Back then" is usually a magical mix of volunteers that worked well together or was perceived as having worked well together. I fear your situation has already gone far, far astray. I pray it smooths out for you and yours. REMEMBER !!! Don't take this as a personal criticism of yourself. Learn from it, but don't get overly down on it. Ultimately, this is temporary. There will be other ways to spend your time. There are fulfilling, meaningful opportunities everywhere. Maybe there is another way in scouting to volunteer and spend your time. If so, great. If not, move on. It's not worth damaging yourself. And to be honest, you will also damage others by fighting without a smooth way to succeed. It's just not worth it. My recommendation ... Quietly let this de-escalate. I had originally written "do everything to deescalate", but there is probably not much you can actively do. Sometimes the best remedy is time. Maybe a few kind consolidator words.

My experience is "part 2" is often the view of the side that is frustrated. Could be done better. Should be done different. Etc. ... If it is truly a YPT, you have responsibility report and escalate. Period. District training violations are often a "suggested" ideal way of doing things, but can drift. Common sense is amazingly not as common as you'd think. Scout oath and law are between you and your conscience. . My experience is "part 1" is the real issue. Volunteers always want to be confirmed as valuable and useful. Volunteers always fear fly-in, hit-and-run volunteers. ... You can do a lot of good, but you always need to invest in relationships even if you just want to help out. Always.

Kudos

From my past readings, buying outright is not usually done for non-profits. Assets often outweigh income making a purchase impossible. Rather, a court could transfer assets that are core to a beneficial public good to another similar non-profit. Piece parts or everything could be liquefied to create cash to pay debt / damages. Outright "buys" won't happen. The land and intellectual property of BSA is too valuable for someone to outright buy as a single purchase and the income is too small. Perhaps another non-profit could toss in enough cash to absorb BSA and have the cash used for the lawsuit damages. But it's not really a "buy".

Sounds like time for drastic change or to be pulled into another council that has a functional structure.

I own seven versions, but I've only actively used four versions. I prefer the 11th edition, but then again it might be the case of liking the version when scouting was fresh to me. I don't necessarily see the 12th, 13th and 14th versions as improvements ... but the look shiny.

Are registrars paid by national or council? I thought they were like scout shop staff.

A few random tidbits ... ... I've always said that scouting is good for all youth (used to say boys), but not all youth are good for scouting. I'm not sure if you are in that situation. ... OR do you just need to re-think expectations. Do you really need the youth to show up with book and uniform ? That's the ideal, but you can still have a big positive impact. How about just making sure there's a fire pit, marshmallows, a Frisbee, a football and some good fellowship. Maybe each night you could share a really meaningful SM story with them. ... It's not your job to go down with the ship. It's not your job to fight the good fight to make the troop work. It's not a reflection on you if the scout reach troop doesn't work. ... It IS okay to pick and choose where you invest your time. It is okay to walk away. It is okay to acknowledge that this is not a good match at the current time. .... We have a local SM who I think of as a sort of hero. He's got a unique and challenging troop. Each troop meeting includes a meal as it's probably the only good meal those kids get that day. Parents have as many issues (or more) as the kids. Issue after issue. BUT, he's having a big impact. ... Several miles away is another SM who has a troop where each scout irons their neckerchief. It's a spit and polish troop out of a Normal Rockwell painting. I am impressed with both scoutmasters and I like them both as people too. Now, I'm not sure which troop I'd want my son in, but I definitely know who I'd want as my son's scoutmaster. ... It is also okay to spend a few years away from scouting to find who you are and develop skills outside scouting. When you return to the fold, you will be all the more valuable and enjoy the program even more.

Scouting will continue as long as youth grow from working together in new and challenging situations.

I fully agree. People don't realize how far society has changed in the last 20 years and how different since 1970. Mandatory reporting laws were very minimal until very recently. Everyone hesitated to raise accusations against respected leaders. 1980s was still the era of stranger danger. The nature of abuse was not understood. ... No part of society was setup to handle it. ... Heck, it was 2006/2007 that a local music school realized it was a good idea to put glass windows in music instruction rooms. It took multiple incidents of abuse to drive change.

Some of the best camp outs our troop had were focused around one core activity for the day. The rest of the day was meals and free time.

I'd argue the same can be said of doctors, police, school principals, teachers, coaches, protestant pastors, etc.