jhankins

Great ideas here.

I don't see it happening though until the LDS church backs out of the BSA. Many church members don't see that too far away, maybe 5 years at the most!

As a former camp manager, I find this deplorable behavior on the part of the council. Special requests for food that require the boy to cook his own or be separated from the group because of his needs I frankly call professional hazing.

Gluten and dairy free is not hard to do in a camp kitchen. During my last summer, we had at least two kids per week and we both worked with our food service provider *and* accommodated special trips to Trader Joe's to make sure the boys and parents had what they needed.

What did, help, though, was a special call to the kitchen staff by the moms (gotta love over protective moms sometimes!), who made sure the cook was aware (she was), and I even called the parents to assure them their needs would be met.

I'm sorry this happened for these boys. They are paying for camp, to have food provided, and shouldn't be penalized for their needs.

My council puts out a "golden arrow" flap for those that pay ahead for fall fellowship, all the ordeals and dues all in one hit. The two people I saw wearing them certainly werent' about service and were quick to point out their embroidered golden arrow on their flap and brag about it like it was a status symbol.

Treat your volunteers well, and they'll take care of you. Bending over backwards to make their lives a little easier makes a difference.

Well, there are a few volunteers here and there that liked to be cactii

Most of my volunteers I would have called snapdragons, pretty and feisty!

Flying woulda been cool! From council office to my farthest unit it was 240 miles. From my door to most of my 7am breakfast meetings it was 45 miles one way...

What does it matter if a man is elected as a youth or adult? Does that make him any less of a servant? I was elected this past April, one of four women from my district. Should I be branded any differently than I am now being an Arrowman with girly parts? What's the significance, and how does it better the Order to do so?

Cheerful service is cheerful service, it doesn't matter how you have come into it. I recently met a 69 year old lady who when approached by a lodge leader, she says "How may I serve you?" and she means it. Just because she was elected 10 years ago -- does that mean she's any less of a powerful servant of the Order?

I was surprised, too. The registrar said she was expecting a flood of updates from the online training, but many people are having issues logging in, others are afraid of computers, and other just lazy, among other things.

We're hosting a few computer labs at local schools on weekends for YP training. We'll have 4 open hours with facilitators to help people log in and set up accounts and get things going. So far the response to that is favorable, but we'll see on the days.

Ah yes, it's the fault of Wood Badge that a boy forgets how to tie a knot if he doesn't use it all the time.

I grow weary of such implausible arguments.

Remember that teaching reinforces all knowledge. The more we teach, the different ways we apply our training to a problem, the more we rely on our buddies for new ways to teach the better we are at accomplishing our goals.

Knots are a visual animals. For those that aren't visual learners they can be difficult to grasp and hold onto the knowledge. Sometimes adding steps to the knots in a different order, or trying a different way of approaching the knot can help someone remember better. I have one boy that couldn't see how to tie a Bowline to save his life, but when we showed him how to tie it one-handed, bam --he's got it! Instead of beating him and his leader over the head for not being able to tie it since he went to 21st century Wood Badge, we took another approach that worked for the boy.

We've done knot relay races, knot boards as a service project to packs and for new boys, tarp camping, bringing pioneer poles to patrol meetings on request (or campouts), monkey bridge construction for Day Camp, and my favorite-- a scout-planned activity involving real-life obstacles presented by each patrol leader. It was an amazing experience to see the boys work out the plans for a camping round-robin event all directed towards skills through first class.

The registrar told me last night that she has one of her staff run a monthly training report and ScoutNet spits out a bunch of pages with the details of who has taken what online.

For the whole month of June, our council with 10,000 volunteers -- yay! A total of 50 people took online training...

Just to be clear:

The National Executive Board recently approved a resolution to change the eligibility requirements for Venturing to ensure consistency among Venturing, high-adventure bases, and other core programs.

The current age and grade eligibility requirement for participation in the Venturing program is 14 years of age and completion of the eighth grade.

Effective May 1, 2010, the minimum age requirement will be changed to 14 years of age, or 13 years of age and completion of the eighth grade. The maximum age for participation remains under 21 years of age.

I use that video after I give a schpeal and service clubs. It provides a nice program for a President hunting for someone to come talk

We've also shown it at council dinners and DCDs.

I threw out an idea to my council committee on training, and they seemed to like it.

All first time leaders for any training will take it in person. this will get them the networking experience, get their questions answered in person, and to provide one on one support. After that, for position changes and refreshers, we'll encourage online training.

That being said, we can't make them take it in person, but we'll certainly suggest it.

I had a long talk tonight with our registrar. She's of the opinion approving all the new requirements and paperwork is a nightmare, and for now, they only want to see a copy of the YP card (there's no room in the file cabinets for more paper), and for the required training -- well, they have no clue on what to do.

Hi Abel.

I'm glad the audit team did come through, and I'm sorry you had to see how the book cooking happens as a result

I can't answer for your executive board, but mine here has lost more than a few good people as a result of my former SE leaving and how he took thousands of dollars and property with him when he left. We've lost over 20,000 boys (yes, that's right) as a result of the membership audit when he left as well. The people still involved covering for these mistakes are both covering for their reputation and that of their "friends" in the profession.

The SE was close friends with the council presidents in the last six years. He would take them on vacations, buy them expensive gifts, and where did that money come from?! To this day the retired SE is still wining and dining the former council presidents in order to keep their "friendship." If it ever got out how close they are with him, how much property and money they let him walk away with, several of them would be out of jobs.

We were told tonight at our Council Coordinated Meeting for Training that August/September is the time frame for online specific training.

1) I left northern Massachusetts in 2004 to get away from shoveling ice

2) All my family is on the west coast, and coast to coast flights aren't scheduled and priced like they used to be.

There's a lot more than weather to consider when looking at councils for employment! What status the charter is in, who's the SE and the DFS/ASE, membership numbers, LFL numbers, Total Available Youth, etc...

Soccer and Scouting did okay, but the problem is it was mostly funded by grants and donations from the hispanic community (in the three councils I've had ties with). All 3 of them haven't filled the position or job title in the past two years, and the programs have mostly died.

Just FYI, the numbers came out recently to local councils of who has the most available kids to reach -- this is huge!

NYC - 754,005

Houston - 577,667

Washington DC - 544,025

Phoenix - 506,436

LA - 498,169

Riverside/SB Counties, CA - 474,496

Now take into consideration how many of those kids probably aren't from double income families, english speaking homes, etc... and you can see why there are African-American and hispanic outreach programs.

I saw some on our new camp staffers. It's like that light tan/sandy colored Class B activity shirt with the ventilation in the back. It even has the back velcro for ventalation (which makes no sense). The pocket flaps are there, but they are flush with the shirt.

I'm still no impressed.

I spent a year as a DE. I was laid off from my council under a reduction in force scenario in July of 2008. I won't go into the details here, as it was well, practically criminal on behalf of the DFS and SE in terms of how they used the council's money. They got to retire with 30+ years in, completely with 56% pensions on their $120k+ a year salaries...

My name is still on a rehire list, and I'd go back under the right circumstances. So far, though, the councils I've interviewed for are in more serious trouble than my last one. Even if I could make all my goals, there's still the possibility of lay off again, and I won't move my family on that gamble.

The hours are long. The district I served covered 15,000 square miles. I put 3,000 miles a month on my car just for work alone. I used an average of 1500 minutes on my cell phone just for work. Counting windshield time, time answering emails, phone calls, fundraising stops, round tables, troop meetings, appearances at trainings and time to put out fires so I could get to the real work, I spent 50-80 hours a week. As a first year DE, that works out to less than minimum wage.

But if you can hang in there and make a career of it and hang on to your grasp of the scout oath and law while you're doing it, it can be a lucrative and worthwhile job.

For what's it worth, I never head anything negative at my pro training about volunteers. In fact, they really drove home the first paragraph of the Scout Executive's Code which deals with serving your volunteers first, and they'll serve you.

Traveler's Checks have been been on the decline since 2004. They're way too easy to forge.

92, Your DFS probably wanted you to start a lot of cub packs, and figured the more you knew the better they'd stick around

PD-L1 through PDL-3 (3 years, 3 courses)

Complete 5 other trainings (Wood Badge, Powderhorn, National Camp School, People Management, Program Management...etc)

Meet all your SMART Goals (how a pro is judged for performance) for 2 out of 3 years.

The Felowship Honor (just adding the BSA device to the knot) is a little different. You have to complete all 8 courses, meet your SMART goals for all 3 years of the time period, AND write a thesis on a scouting topic that's approved by the Center for Professional Development (and stored in the library there).

I was told by my patrol advisor at PD-L1 that my time at Wood Badge and NCS would count, but that he would prefer (if he was my SE), that I served on staff for those to get a refresher on the material from volunteer to professional.

Becoming a pro boy scout is a distinct change from being a volunteer. It's somewhat of a culture shock in a lot of ways. Keep an open mind and remember, that you're transitioning from volunteerism to the business side of things and sometimes it's difficult to grasp. More than half my class of pros dropped out of the profession in the first year. Three years later and all but 3 had left.

Oh ya, shadowing is always a good idea. I spent a week shadowing the DEs I was going to work with, and that was quite an eye opener. You do whatever it takes to get the job done. One of my friends from before I was a pro taught me: "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, if the volunteer can't (or won't), the professional must!"

I'd have to dig into storage to find my file and PDL1 packet, but I believe just the fast starts and youth protection were required. I had done everything but Scoutmaster Specific by that time as a volunteer, and had just been to Wood Badge -- so I felt comfortable with the basics of the programs.

The Patrol Method isn't gone, and it never will be as long as dedicated leaders keep it alive and well. As a District Training Chair, it's within my prerogative (according to national) to shape trainings according to the needs of the learners. Great! During the Patrol Method presentation, we turned it into a real live troop election situation and had each patrol appoint each troop position by vote. It was a great period of storming with a new group of people, but the team development that occurred carried over into the rest of the three days of training and the teams came together really well!

It's exciting what happens when you blend the old with the new.