John-in-KC

Your charter fees are determined by your youth and adult headcount when you recharter. For the boy who relocated, I'd contact him/his family, and invite to forward what records your Troop has, so he can pick up where he left off after making new friends. Encourage him to join a Troop; his fee for the rest of the year is $1 plus unit dues. BTW, if you charge $X per year per Scout, you should, when he comes up on the grid, remit him the balance of what he paid in... and if relocation causes him to miss camp or another event, to me honor says you remit those fees too. After all, Council will place no-show $$ in your Council account. As for the boy whose family has dropped off the face of the earth, I think a delegation of SM under two deep, PL and SPL need to pay a friendly call to his home. Invite him for a hot dog somewhere, and invite him to re-engage. There may be strained economy in his family; if that's the case, have some ideas in your back pocket about how a Scout can be Thrifty and pay his own Scouting way (and perhaps help his family). If, though, his family is gone, notify your UC that you will have a dropped boy (moved without a forwarding address), and that you'll be dropping him at recharter. If your unit is having boys with economic distress, that's a matter for Mr SM and Mr CC to have a friendly cup of coffee with Mr COR about. See what opportunities are out there for boys to pay their way (and perhaps help their families) while still Scouting.

There is one POR I'd definitely put in play: Get a kid out there to be a Den Chief. Never, ever count on "feeder" Packs. Parents have the right to take their child to whatever Troop they think is best. If your Pack has the better program, it will come to you. One way to give back as well as invest in that relationship with the Pack is to give it one or more Den Chiefs.

Your model of Scouting is wrong This is not a command hierarchy, by and large. That's all the more so at the unit level. Think of units like you would think of Kentucky Fried Chicken: Someone buys a franchise to operate. KFC Inc furnishes supplies and training. The owner makes it happen. That's the business model of Scouting at unit level. You are the fron-line of Scouting. You, your fellows, and your CM are the folks delivering the program, week-in, week-out. You're vital, without folks like you, Cub Scouting does not happen. Given what you've said, I'd ask for some more information before accepting the assignment. District Committees are not globs of people pooled ad hoc. They are folks who help provide Scoutings support to unit serving folks like yourself. Ask what the District Chairman or your DE wants you to do. If he does not have a clue, respectfully pass at the moment. From my experience, that's a foreshadowing of a dysfunctional group. You don't need to waste time in dysfunction. OTOH, if he has a good idea of what he wants you to do, go for it.

Our Chartered Partner asked for two 15 x 15 storage sheds to be designed and built as Eagle Leadership Service Projects. The IH allocated one to the CAP youth squadron the CP sponsors. It allocated the other to the Pack it sponsors. That's a better solution than a trailer, which does require insurance and licensing ...

GKlose got the 90% solution To amplify, the District Committee is a grouping of Operating Committees, which he described. They're the folks who help organize what Scouting does to support Packs, Troops, teams, and Crews in the greater community. Have you been asked serve on a specific element of the District Committee? We could focus better if we knew that. BTW, you're not a mere Den Leader. You're a front-line unit serving Scouter, working directly with the youth. All the rest of the adult system of Scouting serves to have your back. THANK YOU for being a DL. Your young men will appreciate it

B, I'm not Rick. I'm a product of WB21C, and enjoyed my course. That said, the only time I saw executive decisionmaking was at that public PLC on Day 1, where the SPL (in our course, PD and CD-apparent) was running the show, period). Having spent my professional lifetime studying leadership psych and decisionmaking, the model BSA uses is designed for the normal situation being a working collaboration. As we say so often here, BSA is not the Armed Forces. You want leadership psych and decsionmaking processes that are executive in nature, take the training the Army gives its commissioned officers, from second lieutenant up through colonel. I also agree the best way is to find what it takes to ease this guy out. Sadly, it sounds like he acted rashly in front of the chartered partners people. Having read Herbie's initial post and some of the follow-up, I sense this troop has a lot of strong personalities, and collaborative leadership among the adults is difficult at best.

From a technical perspective... 4 is too small if you're not an LDS unit. BSA will not let the unit recharter. 6 is cutting the edge razor-thin. In the current economic stability, you're a breath away from failing to recharter. Aside from that, a single Patrol? Depends on where you are. There are lots of parts of rural America where a Troop of 1 patrol is what's do-able with the youth in hand. As far as the comment about adult patrol leader, I think that was a little over the top. A wise SM adapts the Methods. Instead of a PLC, you have a Patrol Council. Set aside some time to learn to make decisions as a body politic. If you have a good program, there will be growth

From my study, if the situation is egregious enough (and what the SM did at "Thorns and Roses") comes awfully close, the IH and COR can act in the best interests of their Chartered relationship, thank the person for his service, and inform him (not the general public) that he's done. It's a balancing act ... is the action or behavior such that it is a detriment to the growth and development of our young charges? It's also a gut call. Some places will be higher than others. It's also the last resort, one step short of the IH calling the Council Office and asking the SE to remove the person from the Boy Scouts of America. Beavah... WB/NYLT teach well inside the 70% curve of usual situations. The leadership skills are what's used normally, usually, and generally. Whether this is in or out of the curve depends on the folks setting the standards and the tone. WB/NYLT do not teach the kind of socialization and leadership needed for the current economic debacle, nor do they teach executive-directive leadership, where it falls to one man to make the big gut call.

PM me, I will put you in touch with one of my Council's ACCs who is charged with Venturing support, as well as my District Venturing RT commish (I know, I know, that ain't the PC term, deal with it). Where is your commish college site and when? Family matters had me 1500 miles away from mine this spring.

First, congratulations. Second, in your case it's not a PLC. It's a Patrol Council. The PL chairs it. It's a meeting of the Patrol to do their planning. I'd put the question of frequency and day of the week for meeting to them. Let them figure out if they want a change. The one thing I will tell you... with many, many Troops meeting on Mondays, any alternate day of the week provides an opportunity other units cannot/will not fill BTW, before you do that: Check in with your Chartered Partner. There may be a historic reason, associated with them, which drives your schedule. Sit down with the PL. The Patrol PORs in this case are Troop PORs for S-L-E. Small size does not mean diminished responsibility Like Lisa said, growing a little bit (maybe closer to 10 than to 5) gives you some wiggle room at recharter. 10 is a little larger than the ideal Patrol, so you might shoot for 2 Patrols of 5, with an SPL and a Troop QM. Above all, you and whoever ASM's with you ... enjoy the opportunity for 1/1 time with the youth. You really can focus on their growth and development, both in life and in Scouting skills

Lord willing, your Scout Camp has a Chaplain. While I hope your church has a youth pastor or youth leader (or the Pastor fills that role), I also hope you have time to sit down with the Camp Chaplain. Much has been laid upon you in life experience at an early age. A good Chaplain will help you work through some of that, and still have fun. Above all, allow yourself to have some fun during your week at camp. It'll give you strength for the coming weeks and months

Any updates, Herbie, on this?

You may well be right, Lisa. My mind is addled from spending this week memorizing test banks of questions and answers. It makes memory work for Confirmation look tame. I'm going to go do something Scouting somewhere this weekend, or I'm gonna be nutso.

What Miss Lisabob said. Your Scoutmaster has better access to the resources of your area than any of us (except by sheer accident you are near one of us geographically). I do commend you for wanting to find ways to get from here to there. Hopefully some of the more common things you can do (mow yards, wash peoples cars on your block) are available to you. Let us know what your Scoutmaster tells you Ask your PL for a Scoutmaster Conference; and tell him it's about a personal matter.

I'm also a member of Heart of America Council, and have spent a few summers at H Roe Bartle Wanna know something? 10 day break has been a huge charge on my batteries through the years. My problem is other priorities are keeping me from attending camp, period. I also object to parents pulling their kids on Friday night. Sounds to me like a Adult-Run Troop Method troop. The youth should set up camp as a group, and break down camp as a group. My thoughts.

WE ADULTS ARE NOT THE TARGET AUDIENCE OF SCOUT CAMP Our youth members are the target audience. I hope I've made my point.

Rick and all... Many of us here in the lower 48 (or Alaska or Hawaii) tend to forget that the Far East Area Council has to have District level programs, otherwise its 1000s of miles of airline trip to get to another site. Korea and Japan are the closest two geographic nations in the Council. Rick, can you share with us how a FE District pulled the resources together that normally are accounted for by a Council in the US?

Each of our Scout Reservations has a full-season Reservation Chaplain. He or she is on site whenever the Reservation has staff or campers on property. Each of our CAMPS within the Reservations has session Chaplains. The first duty of the Chaplaincy is to minister to the staff. The second duty of the Chaplaincy is to minister to the campers. The third duty of the Chaplaincy is to lead worship. As I've stated before, my Council is able to do major faith-group specific (LDS, COC, RC, Christian-Protestant and Jewish). Some Chaplains will travel the 2-3 hour drive, when it's not their session in camp, to cover a faith-specific worship service. The fourth duty of the Chaplaincy is to promote religous emblems. If your Council does not have an active Chaplaincy during the camp season, IMO your Council Relationships Committee has its head where the sun does not shine. I pray you never have a camper killed, or a staff member die, or a staff member lose a parent/grandparent. I promise you, the reaction of any of these events ripples through the staff and the camper population.

Considering the things which have happened in the past decade in my Council: - Suicide of a staff member - Staff member receiving a "Dear John" letter - Death of a staff member parent - Death of a camper - Extreme change in financial circumstances of a staff members family To me, it is utterly scandalous that any Boy Scout Council in the United States does not have a Chaplain on close recall to minister to the spiritual needs of the Staff.

Live the Scout Oath and Law in our everyday lives. That's 24/7/168. I'd like to understand where/how/why this Scout has stopped doing this. Ask the CC to hand-select this board. You want your most experienced, wisest, empathetic folks on this BOR. Sit down with it over a friendly, yet serious cup of coffee. Explain what you see and why. Set the BOR somewhere other than a meeting room at the Troop site. A picnic shelter at the local park comes to mind. Take advantage of the environment to create a low threat/low risk situation, where open-ended questions might allow this young man to open up. Changes like this in attitude happen for a reason. Divorce, best friend moving away, Mom losing job, big sis going to college ... something caused something to happen. When the why is out in the open, the "What fixes the problem?" gets a lot clearer.

Frankly, I'm more concerned about the spiritual care of the Staff than I am about whether Bobby, Billy, or EagleSon make a specific worship service. I'd far rather see a staff Chaplain, equipped to provide faith based studies (for the protestant Christian in high school or early college it's God and Life, but there are peer packages for most other faith groups which have a religous emblem accepted by BSA), than I would worry about EagleSon worshipping with me. It's part of cutting my own apron strings to him. I'm more concerned about the spiritual care of the Staff. EagleSon recently lost his Grandma. The Reservation Chaplain, the Director, and the business manager (all good people of God) surrounded him in love, as did his peers on staff. To me, it's scandalous that a Council does not have a Reservation Chaplain whose ministry is to provide spiritual care for the Staff. It's that simple. That a Chaplain thinks his/her job is done with a weekly vesper service indicates a level of cluelessness in a Council.

Shortridge, Thank you, Sir

Here's my opinion... The Scoutmaster, as the Program Officer of a Troop, is the keeper of the Advancement Method for the Troop. The standards he sets and enforces determine how well or how poorly Advancement happens in the unit. If Mr/Ms Scoutmaster allows the youth to "shop" for an easy Counselor, he/she deserves what the Scouts return back as completed MB apps. If Mr/Ms Scoutmaster does not look in on programs at Scout Camp, he/she deserves the information the Camp gives back to him as MBs completed. If Mr/Ms Scoutmaster allows the youth to attend a MB Mill program, be it a MB "University" or a commercial program, without checking it out first, he/she deserves the completed MB apps received at the end of the day. If you know the people, know the programs, and know what's right for the youth, they'll learn better than if you defer to "their judgment."

The issue of the support a Staff Chaplain gives is IIRC a National Camp Standard (can someone check me on that?). One way to push for a resident Chaplain (or at least available to the Staff for their spiritual issues) is to have your Chartered Organization Representative ask, by way of formal correspondence, the Chairs of the Council Relationships Committee and the Council Camping Committee "What's going on? Why aren't my youth members on Staff being given appropriate spiritual care?" ETA: I would defer the joining ceremony (at least his) to after the season. Things like this can cause your son not to be rehired for the 2010 camping season. If you must, and I hope his Troop is chartered by your new church, then I would ask your IH/COR to send formal correspondence to the SE/Camp Director, requesting the presence of your son, and citing the 12th point.(This message has been edited by John-in-KC)

Eagle 69, To your last comment, you had best not get a blank look from your DE. One of the Professionals in your Council is the Staff Adviser to the Council Advancement Committee. That is the group of folks obligated by ACP*P #33088 to develop and maintain a roster of MB Counselors for the Council (in larger Councils the list is delegated to the distrcts rather often though). I have to admit though, having just gone to the Quawpaw Council website, you don't have your MB Counselor roster online. Our Council does.