Jeffrey H

Well, I guess we can say she is officially registered with the BSA. She looks quite natural in her scout uniform. I noticed that her shirt is khaki rather than blue.

In my district, years of experience directly working with scouts is what brings recognition and recommendations in your direction. Recognition also comes if you help out with some District events. Wood Badge is a fine training program, but some of the most respected scouters in my district do not have it. What they do have is 10+ years under their belt.

I've been doing this leader stuff for over 6 years, most of it with Cub Scouts - 4 years in Cubs as a ACM, DL, and WDL and 2 years in Boy Scouts as an ASM. Even with that amount of time, I'm still a newcomer compared to other scouters in my district. My youngest son has joined Cubs and I'm going through the Pack again as the newly appointed Cubmaster. Believe me, Cub leaders, even though we are just as busy or more busy than Boy Scout leaders, do not gain the same recognition in my district as Boy Scout leaders. That's just the way it is but I have no hard feelings because I'm in this program to work at the unit level and directly with the boys. Unit-level scouting is core to the program, not Jambo, and that's where the rubber meets the road.

All that said, there is no doubt you have gifts and talents to bring to the table and I'm happy to call you a fellow Scouter. Sign-up to be on staff and enjoy the experience. Jambo for me is just a dream due to $$$ and time. At least you have the time and resources to even consider it.

In our Pack, we encourage the cars to be built as a Parent/Son projects with an emphasis on the sons helping with their projects. We do not attempt to judge whether a car was primarily built by Dad because there is no way to be sure. Our only judging criterion is that each car passes the Derby rules e.g., only the block, wheels, and axles from the kit can be used and the car weighs no more than 5 ounces.

Regarding fairness: Everyone in our Pack has an equal opportunity to attend a Derby workshop to help build their cars and learn a few speed tips. Parents and sons that take the time to learn and want to learn will generally do better at the Derby.

"They even told us we are on our own to find our own leaders. The only support they give is the use of the rooms and gym. I will say, they have been very accommodating when it comes to the use of the facilities."

You are really in a good position and would take a pause before moving to another CO.  A CO asking the Pack leadership to find their own leaders is common simply because you and the other Pack leaders are in the best position to spot potential candidates. 

I'm a CM, a member of my CO (church) and meet with the IH and COR often.  Both of them are friends. That said, they still request that we find our own candidates for leadership positions because we're in the best position to do that.  The CO's job is to approve the leadership or remove them.  I will further say that being a active member of my church CO provides and advantage in regards to maintaining a familiar relationship with the CO.

Alot of good answers here, but especially that it's not a Den Activity and it is done apart from Den Meetings. It's an optional program that is encouraged by the BSA but not required. You will need more that 3 meetings. From my experience, it took about 6 one-hour classes for the God and Me Award. Have one of the church leaders teach the class or someone delegated by them. In my situation, we had a Bible teacher in our church that was approved by our Pastor to lead the class.

We had boys in our class that were not active in any church take part in the program. We had the parents preview the materials to ensure they were okay with it.

This is not a quick "get 'er done" process and it should not be. When they receive their award, they will know that they really earned it.

I recommend the OA spend time researching of the Native American Tribe the OA was trying to emulate when it was founded in 1915. The tribe or nation were the Delaware Indians.

Quote: "We did a bobcat ceremony years ago where the den leader put yellow and blue stripes on the boy's cheeks. The boys loved it. The OA played their drum."

Regarding the cub scout Bobcat rank, I'm not sure why anyone would use a Native American ceremony. The ranks used in Cub Scouts (Bobcat, Tiger, Wolf, and Bear) are based on characters from the Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling. The symbols and ranks used in Cub Scouts have nothing to do with Native American lore. Further, the symbols and ranks used in Boy Scouting have nothing to do with Native American Lore.

The question is then, when does the onus fall to BSA to make "prohibit" mean something?

The BSA can decide not to re-charter a unit if the unit is consistently involved in unsafe practices or exhibits conduct that is consistently unbecoming to the organization. 

While the G2SS may be guidelines, I would not ignore words that include "prohibit."

Does anyone actually prefer the Centennial?

At this time I prefer the Centennial because I like cotton rich materials including the poplin fabric.  My centennial shirt is holding up well and does not have any quality issues but I did not puchase mine until 2011 and some of the quality issues may have been corrected.  The only thing I don't like about the centennial shirts are the screen-printed letters for "Boy Scouts of America" rather than the embroidered patch.  My letters are still intact but I have seen these come off or become easily damaged. 

My centennial pants (cotton blend) are holding up well after more than 2 1/2 years of use.  I only wear them once a week for a few hours so my results will be different from someone else.

The microfiber shirts overall design looks nice but I question their ability to resist tears and damage.  I noticed these shirts are using the embroidered "Boy Scouts of America" patch.  When they come out with a cotton-blend fabric, I'll consider getting one.

We schedule our "parent and leader meetings" monthly and keep them to 30 minutes (yes, 30 minutes) just prior to our den meetings. Our CC will have an agenda to discuss only the most immediate upcoming events and announcements. All parents are encouraged to attend but voting is limited to committee members. Fortunately, voting is rare because we always come to a consensus.

Our biggest meeting is the annual planning meeting in the summer which can last easily last two to three hours.

The CC and I (CM) communicate frequently, we are friends, and keep each other informed. Frenquent informal communications with all leaders reduces the need for long scheduled meetings.

One of the advantages I've seen with "leaders who were never Scouts" is they tend to bring a fresh perspective to the program. The finest scout leader I know was never a boy scout.

If a leader who was never a Scout has enthusiasm, enjoys working with youth, believes in the values of the boy scout program, and gets basic training, his unit will grow and thrive. Enthusiasm is contagious and inspires other adults to step up and volunteer.

"...Of the units who "do" OA, are the OA Troop Representatives involved in the process? I never understood the attitude that "we don't do OA". That's like saying "we don't do Advancement" or "we don't do merit badges". It's part of the program, and to me, should not be optional if there are scouts willing to be members..."

The OA is not a required program of the Boy Scouts and not required for Advancement.  Advancement is a method of the Boy Scout program, the OA is not. 

I'm a Brotherhood member of the OA but I do know that some people do not understand the OA's purpose and question the need for the program as part of the Troop program.

Unfortunately, it seems that playing with children is a skill that takes a fair amount of understanding and some training to "get." And then some work and imagination to make it pay off.

As adults, we sometimes forget what kids consider fun.  For one hour of your den meeting, be a kid again.  Keep it simple.  If all possible, don't make the entire den meeting a "lecture hall."  They already deal with that in school and don't need it in Cub Scouts.  There are times to be serious but make sure those teachable moments are mixed with enjoyable times with their den buddies.  Take your meetings outside; go on an outing; take a hike; get away from routine.  It's not necessary to spend the entire den meeting working on "achievements" since alot of those can be done at home.  I'm now a Cubmaster, but spent many years as a Den Leader.  I can tell you that mixing up the routine and changing the pace was a great prescription to prevent burn-out.  

We send out a notice to parents by e-mail about a month before the re-charter is due. We will send additional reminders during that month if needed. Our Pack does not pay for anyone who does not pay their annual registration since it is not built into our Pack Dues. We remind them of the importance of paying on time so they can remain registered members of the BSA.

We always have people that are late and it's always the same ones. We will make exceptions for scouts that are active and know their families will make good on the registration fee.

"Hispanic family of 8 both parents work. Grandma lives with them disabled....They do not drive new cars or have smartphones. Mom works at the corner hispanic market, dad does some sort of day labor. They claim an income of $24k. They have three cub age boys, they participated in popcorn sales at the storefront and sold door to door. Do you help them out??????"

Yes.  Gladly Yes.  The fact that they are active and showing interest would make it an easy "Yes" for me. 

"You can not purchase the trained patch at the Scout Shop."

You can in my Scout Shop. I purchased several a few weeks ago so I could recognize our newly trained Cub leaders.

Regarding the unit numbers, the understanding in my Council is this:

Cub Scout Leaders: Red Unit Numbers, red trained strip. ODL shirt or Centennial shirt.

Boy Scout Leaders: Green Unit Numbers, green loops, green trained strip. ODL or Centennial shirt. If you are still wearing the red loops and red numbers on the ODL shirt, that's fine. Older official uniforms are always official.

Some Cub Scout leaders wear the green numbers and green trained strip. I'm sure this is because of the confusing communications early on. That said, no one cares and it does not really matter. Their uniforms still look good.

My daughter has no interest in girl scouts because she said they don't do any fun outdoor and camping events like the Boy Scouts. It depends on the Girl Scouts Troop - Some camp and some don't. In my area, the girl scout troops are not that visible and I see little to no promotion of their program.

When I recruited at an elementary school for my Pack, the table next to me for girl scouts had no one present. The only thing on the table were information flyers but no leader/volunteer to talk to and connect with.

At my local level, it seems to be a dying program.

"It appears that everything at The Summit will be designed for high adventure and a high degree of physical fitness. The public will be able to access only a special area of the jamboree and with some difficulty. Staff housing is pretty primitive, leaving staffing to the younger guys..."

Compared to other Jamborees at Ft. AP Hill for the past 30 years, what you describe sounds like an improvement.  I'm sure those that attend will have a grand time.  I suppose the down side will be a downturn of attendance for the curious "day visitors",  but some will see that as a plus.

Don't reject the youthful ASM candidates. Too many troop programs have too many old guys like me that are in it because our sons are in it. A fresh perspective from a youthful candidate and the extra physical energy he brings could be just what our Troops need. Heck, some units can't seem to seperate themselves from "drive up to the camp" car-camping because adult leaders are too old, too out-of-shape, and therefore unwilling to take the boys on more adventurous outings that require more physical extertion. There is no reason for these youthful candidates to have to wait until they are married, have kids and wait another 11 years for their son to be old enough to get back into Scouting.

Check his references and if all clear, put him to work.

It's a good change. There are currently too many knots to clutter the uniform. I have nothing against anyone wearing them if they earned them, but it can start looking a little silly. Our uniforming guide encourages an uncluttered look and the proposed award policy lines up with that philosophy.

I concur with other posts as it appears that we are simply going back to the way it used to be. I have an old Cubmaster Packbook from the 70's that describes some the awards available to Cub Leaders at that time and it looks much like what they are proposing today.

When I see old pictures of Scouters decades ago, I notice very few knots and a cleaner uniform look.

You can have too many ASM's and don't blame the ones that don't show up if the SM has given them nothing to do. You can't wait for them to step up...give them an assignment.

I was an ASM for about a year and six months before I went back to my Pack as the new Cubmaster. During my ASM time, my committed role was to support the Troop when we went on campouts and outings. In other words, the SM could always depend on me to provide transportation and adult support on these events. I guess you could say I was the "campout ASM" and that fit me just fine. I got trained by taking SM/ASM Fundamentals Course and IOLS. I do believe that if someone signs up as an ASM, then they commit themselves to serve alongside their SM and be involved in the outdoor program of their Troop. Sometimes an SM can't make a campout and he needs camping support from his ASM's. If the ASM's are not committed to camp, then your Troop will continue to cancel campouts.

We always have familes that are late. Set an early Pack deadline with plenty of cushion to meet the council's deadline for turning in money.

We do not purchase awards for scouts that are delinquent on their popcorn money. Our Pack pays for the cost of awards and these awards are primarily covered through our fundraisers. In our Pack, Families have two choices to help the Pack go: 1) Avoid participating in a fundraiser and simply pay the annual Pack Dues. 2) Participate in a fundraiser to cover the cost of annual Dues.

If a family chooses #2, then they need to show us the money. If they refuse, then we have theft. We had his happen to us last year, but that's another discussion on how you handle that.

We don't have consequences for not wearing the uniform. We reward for those that do a good job with it. Most boys wear their uniform and will feel out-of-place if they don't have it on.

As a CM, I'm talking with a mom who has 3 boys (tiger, wolf, and bear) that have shown interest in our Pack. They stopped coming to den meetings because the mom told me that she cannot afford the uniforms for 3 boys at once. I told her I certainly understood and the Pack would try to help her. In the meantime, I told her that they did not need to be in uniform to come to den meetings and be a part of the Pack. The mom did not see it my way because she sees the uniform as part of the scout identity and feels embarassed that her boys do not have one. You see, it's not just us leaders that place importance on the wearing of the uniform. I told the mom the boys will need to start coming back to den meetings, show some commitment, pay a much-reduced registration fee, and we would gladly help her get uniforms for her boys. The last sentence is important because we have helped families get uniforms only to have them drop out of the program within a few months.

"Priority resets are a good thing." Good for you.  Have a good time.  Put more of those personal and family appointments on your calendar and don't double-check if it conflicts with a Scout event.  Appoint your ACM more often, that is what they are there for.

We have Pack Meeting and Den Meetings on Sunday evening at 6:30. The biggest reason is Sunday evenings do not conflict with sports practices or other actvities.

You can't have an active Pack without money and safeguarding it. A lecture on good financial controls over the Pack's bank account is needed. Also, how to set up a bank account for your Pack if you do not already have one.

Since you are focusing on Administration, I would not spend time on ideas on how to plan a PW Derby, Blue and Gold, or Campout. Rather, explain the different committee positions and their various roles in supporting the Pack program.