andysmom

When we have a scout ready for a BOR I (AC) send an email to the entire committee. In the past we just haven't had committee members come to the meetings so it was usually just 3 of us doing all Boards (myself, treasurer and cc)as the 3 of us were generally at all the meetings. We have had some new parents join with our recent group of crossovers so I hope that will change now and we will have more MC available for boards as it isn't always convenient for the treasurer especially to sit on them. In a pinch we have asked parents of some older scouts to help with them even if they weren't on

Scouts and leaders circle up, SPL gives general reminders, announcements, recognizes scouts who have completed BOR that evening, that sort of thing. Scoutmaster minute. Join hands (right over left or left over right, I honestly forget) and a scout selected by the SPL starts the Scoutmaster Benediction and everyone else joins in (we say "may the Great Scoutmaster of all Scouts be with us until we meet again" ) and everyone says "Good night Scouts".

Not a district thing, its a council thing.

Our council implemented a $22 per registration (youth and adult) "activity" fee instead of collecting for FOS. $33.00 national + $12 boys life + $22 activity fee = $67 per scout just to register :-(

In case anyone is interested..... http://www.scouting.org/nsc.aspx

Sleeping in a cabin during the winter does not count towards advancement or nights for the camping merit badge, yet we have plenty of boys advance in rank and get the merit badge. All I said is that if a scout is not prepared we do not allow him to sleep outside during the coldest months. The cabins have wood stoves, bunks and electricity but they are far from the Holiday Inn. The scouts spend their days outside and have the appropriate clothing for that. All of our leaders and many of our older scouts have the equipment and "training" to stay safe in those overnight temperatures and some

My husband is my son's Scoutmaster. I think most of the time if an outsider showed up to a scouting event they would have no idea that they are related. My husband does not sign off on advancement for our son and all SMC have been held with ASM in our troop. They do share a tent sometimes on camping trips because my son has complex medical needs and requires my husband's assistance on occasion. This summer our son will not be attending summer camp (for the first time) but my husband will be there for the week, as usual. I do think he is sad about it though.

One of the things that i am noticing is that people are using "camping" and "tent camping" interchangeably. We live in the northeast and while many of our scouts have over 100 nights camping, they are not all TENT camping. While it is allowed, most of our scouts do not have the proper equipment to camp in a tent in the coldest winter months of Dec. Jan. Feb. and March when we have snow on the ground and overnight temperatures often dip down to below 0 and we will not allow scouts to camp in conditions for which they are not prepared. Our troop rents a cabin during those months. Depending

Could the committee want someone there to see how the scout is demonstrating leadership? This would not be a reason to delay the project, however. There is nothing that says a committee member must be present for an Eagle Scout Service Project. Although I don't believe we have had scouts complete projects where no unit adults were present, I believe it could happen. If there is a question about how the scout demonstrated leadership in this case the committee could talk to any of the adults present. As a committee member, I do not always work on the service project but I almost always s

My council has a form that we need to print out that list the scout's name the merit badge he is receiving, the date of completion and the counselors name. They must be turned in with the advancement reports so council can be sure the MBC is on the list. I usually don't have trouble getting awards but some overzealous Scout Shop employees want to check the paperwork. MBC lists are put together by our districts. Every year they confirm YPT and ask if the counselor wants to stay on the list or be dropped. At least that is how our old district did it, we had a district reorganization take e

In our council references are checked by the unit, in our case, me, the advancement coordinator and I fill out a form stating that I checked the references and not anything negative. That form gets submitted to the council with the Eagle Package. I send requests via email and prefer to get an email response. If I can't get a response via email I call the reference and take notes on our conversation. At the Eagle Board of Review I provide the letters and/or my notes to the board to review. The letters are not given to the scout per the GTA.

IMO what would be unfair is making scouts who finished the requirements and had their SMC at the last troop meeting of the year do the new requirements because we couldn't get a BOR together the last 2 weeks of the year (for various reasons) As far as the original poster goes, it begs the question of why a BOR has not been completed before now and exactly when did he complete the requirements. Just because you are involved in other activities does not preclude you from the rules everyone must follow. Was there an attempt by the committee to be more flexible about their boards to accommod

I guess I am missing something. On the Eagle application they look at date of first class rank and above. Internet advancement does not know what requirements a boy used, in fact, the original poster's scout could have been using the new requirements for second class since Jan. 1, 2016. How is anyone (except the unit) to know what requirements he used? Our troop viewed the deadline for boards of review the same way that national looks at the board of review requirements for the eagle rank. If a scout had finished all the requirements up to and including the SMC, the board of review cou

We are going through this now. We have recently been redistricted and the our new DAC has her own way of doing things. I took a Life to Eagle class from her at University of Scouting a couple years ago and it was very clear she did not understand the process as outlined by national. She recently told our Scoutmaster that if a boy wanted Eagle they had to go through her and do it her way. She requires a Life to Eagle class, we tell our boys about it but if they don't go she is threatening to hold them up, I see that as adding to the requirements. She has her own ideas about what an Eagle P

Our youngest Eagle in recent memory was 15. He is the troop guide for the new scout patrol. He likes the title and the new crossovers (and their parents) LOVE that red, white and blue necker! I have spent time just this past week talking to parents who's Cub Scout "will make Eagle, come hell or high water" and a parent who's son wont make it who is complaining about "all this time, wasted". They don't get that the program is about so much more than just a patch on a shirt. So sad, really.

In our council, if a Scout does not belong to a religious organization, a Scout's parents can act as the religious reference stating how their son demonstrates a duty to God. As stated above, the ONLY reference that can be left blank is the employer reference if a scout is not employed. We are required to have a religious, an educational and 2 personal references.

Our Scouts knew of the changes since last year. We told them that it might be in their best interest to reach 1st class by Dec 2016 and at T-1 Boards of Review the Scouts decided which requirements they wanted to use going forward. Many finished First Class in time, some didn't. It is what it is.

Scouts pay $175 dues, $10 OA dues, summer camp fees, and $5 per campout for food. They also must buy a class B shirt and troop cap. Troop covers equipment, camp out fees, registration, Boy's Life, council imposed activity fee, remaining cost of food for camp outs, SPL fees at NYLT, fees for camporees, books, neckers and slides for crossovers, all ranks, badges and awards, Eagle kit, cake and engraving on our plaque for Eagle Scouts.

In our troop the SM will let the advancement chair know that a scout is ready for his BOR. The advancement chair emails the committee that a BOR is required and the next time we have 3 committee members at a troop meeting we have the BOR. If it is close to the date for a COH or some other deadline (like getting Scouts to first class before Jan 1 and the requirement change) we will pull an experienced parent into the board of we only have the 2 MC who are regularly at troop meetings. Because we have some ridiculous committee members we never do BOR on the same night of the SMC and require at

I think your nephew is going to be just fine. You should be proud of the opportunity you are giving him.

It is made clear to anyone who donates that the troop purchases popcorn for the overseas troops with any donation that we receive, it is told to anyone who says they just want to donate and we have a sign posted as well. We have a military presence in our town and many of our scouts have friends and/or family who are service members. Everyone seems happy to support both organizations and doing it with $5 is a better option for most than paying the $30 to $50 option for the military donation. We have never had anyone, to my knowledge, request their donation back upon realizing what we do wit

I used Packmaster when I did advancement for the pack and use Troopmaster now for the troop. We use it for communication, advancement and award tracking. I find it very easy to use and I am not computer savvy. The desktop version is on my computer only and everyone else has access to the web version. I am a bit worried about database safety when everyone has access to change it etc. Right now I am the only one who can add or archive scouts but I suspect they will have different settings for various users. troopmaster has served us well and I honestly am not in a rush to move to Scoutbook

Thank you!! When we do show and sells we get more donations than sales...... all donations go into a fund that purchases popcorn to send to the military.

It seems to me that if a scout is going to "pay his own way" he is going to be thrifty, thrifty with the resource of money. Our committee has suggested that the scouts plan and run their own fundraisers but when are they supposed to do that? At troop meetings? Our troop meetings are used for trainings, team building, planning for skits, campouts and the like. When are they suppose to plan a fundraiser? By all means the scouts should participate in fundraisers somehow, but planning them should be left to the adults IMO. We have some adults who ask for donations form business to help ru

In addition to registration, our council collects a $26 per person, mandatory "activity fee" that replaces the FOS program.