I'm wondering if I could get some opinions on an issue that has been troubling my troop for the past few years and now appears to have been substantiated as facts rather than simple gossip or miscommunications.
The cub scout pack in my town has had not the best relationship with our troop in the past few years because they don't approve of the level of boy-lead program we have. We're around a 7 or 8 on the boy led scale, everything is effectively run by the boys and the adults facilitate actual booking of trip locations, etc. We recently even switched to the boys proposing a budget and presenting to the committee. The people in charge of the cub scout pack are looking for something that is more structured around the adult decisions it seems. Their son was in our troop for about a year and decided to take him to another troop because it wasn't working out with the mom hovering over everything.
Ever since then, the relations with the pack took a nosedive. They actively refused to have their kids participate in activities that we invited them to and conveniently "forgot" to hand out flyers we gave them. When we were able to actually make a quick presentation to the Webelos parents, they were not even aware there was a boy scout troop in our town- even though we meet in the same building on the same night!
Long story short, recently someone on our committee bumped into an adult leader of the pack at a supermarket where they witnessed that person talking to a friend and their son about scouting. They were told straight out that there was no boy scout troop in town and that is why they sent their kids to a troop in a different town. Our committee member interrupted at that point and clarified that the troop had been in continuous operation for over 70 years which left everyone speechless apparently.
Anyway- what can we do about this? I know that people have a right to their opinion, but outright lies are going a little too far. If the behavior was them telling people they didn't approve of our troop's management, that would be something valid. Is there something that can be done? I'm preparing to write an official letter to our council representatives to ask for advice or action on this situation, but what can they really do?
How to deal with another Unit trying to subvert yours?
in Issues & Politics
Posted
Hello,
I'm wondering if I could get some opinions on an issue that has been troubling my troop for the past few years and now appears to have been substantiated as facts rather than simple gossip or miscommunications.
The cub scout pack in my town has had not the best relationship with our troop in the past few years because they don't approve of the level of boy-lead program we have. We're around a 7 or 8 on the boy led scale, everything is effectively run by the boys and the adults facilitate actual booking of trip locations, etc. We recently even switched to the boys proposing a budget and presenting to the committee. The people in charge of the cub scout pack are looking for something that is more structured around the adult decisions it seems. Their son was in our troop for about a year and decided to take him to another troop because it wasn't working out with the mom hovering over everything.
Ever since then, the relations with the pack took a nosedive. They actively refused to have their kids participate in activities that we invited them to and conveniently "forgot" to hand out flyers we gave them. When we were able to actually make a quick presentation to the Webelos parents, they were not even aware there was a boy scout troop in our town- even though we meet in the same building on the same night!
Long story short, recently someone on our committee bumped into an adult leader of the pack at a supermarket where they witnessed that person talking to a friend and their son about scouting. They were told straight out that there was no boy scout troop in town and that is why they sent their kids to a troop in a different town. Our committee member interrupted at that point and clarified that the troop had been in continuous operation for over 70 years which left everyone speechless apparently.
Anyway- what can we do about this? I know that people have a right to their opinion, but outright lies are going a little too far. If the behavior was them telling people they didn't approve of our troop's management, that would be something valid. Is there something that can be done? I'm preparing to write an official letter to our council representatives to ask for advice or action on this situation, but what can they really do?
Thanks
A Scoutmaster