John-in-KC

BD, In the District I serve, our Professionals have a place where they are accessible to all, but they don't get public words unless there's something humongously important, that a Professional must say. They get their chances to say things at Commish and District Committee meetings.

(RANT) So, I'm out at scouting.org, blasting through Cub Scout Leader Specific Training for the Pack Committee. Why? Well, last night at the Pack Committee, I promised an answer to the unit I serve as UC about the current training matrix for a Scouter serving as a Cub Pack Committee member. I'm about halfway through it, and I encounter (drum roll, please): TOUR PERMITS!. Grrr. We migrated from tour permits to tour plans well over a year ago. Hey, National: You pushed one of my buttons. It's called keeping your content current on your website. How about fixing the bad information you're giving out?!? (/RANT) We now return you to your regularly scheduled discussions...

Others here have said it far more eloquently than I. So for now, know my thoughts and prayers are with you and your son.

Since I saw someone say Wood Badge and Scouts Canada in the same sentence, I searched on it. Found this little gem. Scouts Canada publishes the matrix of leader tasks/behaviors (not courses, tasks) they expect of their volunteer Scouters. http://www2.scouts.ca/dnn/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=NrmxGBig7J8%3d&tabid=293 Worth the look

The coming change to the privacy agreement with google concerns me. I know more than a few people outside Scouting who are planning to close their various google accounts. Appropriate privacy should be an important matter to Scouters with responsibility for minors. I'm not saying bail out of google, I'm saying make your own decision in the light of day.

I scored 40%. Sigh. There's a new band out there: Flipflop and the CloneClowns. I think you can connect those dots. My Walter Mitty wishful thinking is for a Rice/Powell or Powell/Rice ticket. Yeah, I know, keep dreaming...

Fastest, sanest way to refuse service that I know of: "When is your ceremony?" answer "I'm sorry, I already have a booking that weekend."

A year ago, Tico Perez came to our Commish College. He said it bluntly: Mandatory training of Scouter volunteers as a condition of membership is coming. My Council has been one of the testbeds. We went 100% trained this recharter. Using the College Scouter Reserve is a way to keep your college students on the rolls with minimum training for the position.

I'm with Lisa, with one addition. Prepare this young man for an episode of "Life Is Not Fair." The worst scenario really isn't all that bad ... that he ends up a former youth member of Boy Scouting, having aged out. Hopefully, National will not only read and grant the appeal, but have some strong words back to the SE and the Professional managing Advancement. Hope, though, isn't a method.

$40 is $40, to use BD's numbers. It needs to be budgeted for and accounted for. It also matters how big the project is, and how many folks are working. 40 kids at 3 slices of Little Ceasars is 15 pizzas, at $6 a pop (yes, in my neck of the woods they've raised the price as of Jan 1) is $90. It also needs to happen. Absolute altruism is a bit rare even for the most generous adults. We're talking about kids, whose minds full of mush are still developing/setting. Feed the workers.

Just as a quick note, The 2011 Guide to Advancement is online at the National website: http://scouting.org/filestore/pdf/33088.pdf I just went through the section about ELSPs. Not one word about food. I think the consensus here is spot on: Food on major workday is a supply of the project, and to be budgeted for.

Bumped from the depths. Just in case you don't think the day is coming when the Chief Scout Executive and the National Committee of the Order of the Arrow will have to confront the issue of youth member women in the Order, I invite your attention to this: http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2012/01/16/hispanic-cub-scout-pack-comes-columbia/ http://media.columbiamissourian.com/multimedia/2012/01/15/media/011512_hispanicscouts025A_t_w600_h1200.jpg It's Cubbing, but units, Chartered Partners and Councils are confonting the issue Yes, she's also a member of LFL, not improperly registered as a Cub Scout.

I don't endorse it, I just report it. I'm going to cross-post in OA too. Bobby is 9 and in his Bear year. Susie is 7, and is a member of LFL. Susie's attending with the Tiger Den. Gender integration: A unit, a Chartered Partner and a Council have cracked the code. http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2012/01/16/hispanic-cub-scout-pack-comes-columbia/ http://media.columbiamissourian.com/multimedia/2012/01/15/media/011512_hispanicscouts025A_t_w600_h1200.jpg

What ScoutNut said. There are other supplemental good ideas here as well, but start with what ScoutNut said.

Just like the conundrum over the definition of "Active"... BE CAREFUL OF WHAT YOU ASK FOR. YOU JUST MIGHT GET IT. BSA's business model has been to franchise or license the program. A very small cadre of sales and service folks, and a larger cadre of volunteers, provide the wraparound for the franchisees. You could have a centralized business model, such as GSUSA, where there's no discretion whatsoever in implementing the program. If you have a better business model for managing Scouting in the United States, how about you put it on the table. Understand something: I don't care what the business model is: Even the Roman Catholic Church in the US has management/publicity/integrity problems, and changing the business model won't solve those.

KC9DDI: What business model would you have BSA use? - Franchise (aka chartering) - Outright ownership - ???

What shortridge said. Get the adults away from the youth. Let the youth cook.

@KC9DDI: Maybe Basementdweller needs to decide to give someone else the duty of direct contact with the youth, and instead fight the battles as an IH/COR.

http://www.expertlaw.com/library/personal_injury/defamation.html Be careful of what you say on the interwebs, always. I wish Beavah were on this thread... As for me... As a unit serving Scouter, I worry about my unit. If a Scout pays the unit fees (and let's be honest, unit fees are far more than BSA's membership/Boy's Life fee), then he/she is on my books, and I will report him as such at charter time. As a District serving Scouter, when I visit a unit, I count noses. I put that number on UVTS. It's a spot report. The day I find my Professionals being other than hard straight arrows on membership and finance is the day I will no longer be a Scouter. I choose to be an adult in Scouting, vice Kiwanis, Rotary, Masonic, and so on. I want to be with men and women of integrity.

Lots of good advice already. I assume you have the equipment to support 100 Scouts. I've had equipment to bed down, feed, and support 100 Soldiers. You need more than one quartermaster. If it were me, I'd be mentoring the SPL to: Chief Quartermaster: He's someone 16-17, and to make sure as much as possible the logistics can be executed by the youth. - Assistant QM, fabric: He keeps an eye on the tents and the dining flys. When he's out on a campout, he looks at canvas/nylon and if needed tags it for attention (repairs/cleaning) back home. He teaches PLs how to maintain a troops fabric gear. - Assistant QM, fuels: He keeps an eye on the stoves, lanterns, gas tanks, hoses, ad infinitum. He teaches PLs how to maintain things that burn fuels. - Assistant QM, grubmaster: He keeps an eye on chuck boxes and cooking gear. Each of the QMs also serves as a primary Troop QM for 3 patrols. The technical duties rotate among the assistants every four months. The service to Patrols is for the year of a Warrant Office. In fact, at 100 youth, each Troop POR can be doubled or even tripled. Each person then becomes the primary support to several patrols. At 100 boys, I might consider a dedicated ASPL to the Den Chiefs. I'd add to his tasks liaison with the various CMs where the Troops has sent DCs. Why use an ASM is there's a mature and ready ASPL?

It's all about program. If Troop 123 has superb program, and they care about their relationship with Pack 123, then most likely the boys of Pack 123 will move right up. If Troop 123 doesn't care about the relationship, or if Troop 123 has bad program, the families most likely will find Boy Scouting in Troop 456. If someone tells me it's Troop 123 or the highway, well, thank you very much, our time in Scouting is done.

Oh, Dear Lord. Let's keep this real simple. Adult A discovers Scout B has a picture of Scout C taking a leak on the last campout, and C is named. Scout B published it on his facebook page. It's time for Mr SM/ASM to have a quick, quiet, Scoutmaster Conference with Scout B: "Would you want yours to be seen? What say you take that down, and we all go on about our business?" Amazing what can be handled with a quiet, friendly word from the right person...

As someone who was an early poster in this thread... The original issue is well over a year old... Gutterbird, any feedback for us? (It's a gift ;-) )

With apologies to Sherman Adams... I have come to the conclusion that ... ONE useless man is called a DISGRACE! TWO are called a LAW FIRM! and FIVE HUNDRED THIRTY SIX are AMERICA'S ELECTED LEADERSHIP IN 2012!! To quote my HS physics teacher: When in doubt, vote the incumbent out. Two of my three national representatives will receive that message this November.

I had the (then) Los Angeles Rams and have the Kansas City We Hope to Get Back on Track Chiefs. Nothing to see here, folks, move along... So... Dad went to UCLA after he retired from the Army in 1961. I grew up on UCLA football and basketball... We are Sons of Westwood And we hail to Blue and Gold True to thee our hearts will be Our love will not grow old, FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! Bruins roam the hills of Westwood By the blue Pacific shores And if we chance to see A man from USC Every Bruin starts to roar. U...C...L...A... UCLA, fight, fight, fight! (repeat verse) I made a huge athletic mistake: I went to UC Santa Barbara. WHAT intercollegiate athletic program? Now, my son attends the University of Missouri. He's there at a golden time, both basketball and football look like they have the legs of long term programs: Every true son, so happy hearted, Skies above us are blue, There's a spirit so deep within us, Old Missouri here's to you (rah rah!); When the band plays the Tiger war song, And when the fray is through, We will tramp, tramp, tramp, around the Columns, With a cheer, for Old Mizzou! HIT IT! HOORAY, HOORAH! MIZZOU! MIZZOU! HOORAY, HOORAH! MIZZOU! MIZZOU! HOORAY, HOORAH! A BULLY FOR OLD MIZZOU! RAH, RAH, RAH, RAH! MIZZOU-RAH! MIZZOU-RAH! MIZZOU-RAH! TIGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fight, Tigers, fight for Old Mizzou, Right behind you, everyone is with you, Break the line and follow down the field, And you'll be, on the top, upon the top; Fight, Tigers, you will always win, Proudly keep the colors flying skyward, In the end we'll win the victory, So Tigers, fight for Old Mizzou! T-I-G-E-R-S! TIGERS GO! Fight, Tigers, fight for Old Mizzou, Right behind you, everyone is with you, Break the line and follow down the field, And you'll be, on the top, upon the top; Fight, Tigers, you will always win, Proudly keep the colors flying skyward, In the end we'll win the victory, So Tigers, fight for Old Mizzou!