awanatech
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Posts posted by awanatech
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On 12/16/2019 at 7:05 PM, Buggie said:
I know it will seem harsh, but YPT dictates a report to national. You took the training. You should be doing the same thing. I'd also report to SM, CC, and COR unless one of them was the one I was reporting. It might end my involvement in scouting because I reported someone that people in charge like, but I've read too many articles, some mentioned here in this forum, where the situation is pushed off because the scouter would never and they are good folk etc. Only to find out later that they aren't as good as everyone thinks. In a lot of those stories, they talk to the guy, it's explained off, national never knows, and the abuse might take a slight vacation, then start back up with care not to tip anyone off again.
Frankly, I'd rather save a kid from potential abuse than worry how it affects me or feel sorry because some scouter was stupid enough to forget YPT in a way that has to be reported. I've seen this before. I've had my own kid get targeted by the husband of a minister at church. (He got arrested by the FBI a year later for trying to hook up with teenagers nearby.) Post incidence and with this training, it is completely obvious what the guy was doing. This is not a "gee, don't do this again" situation when you're dealing with the life of a kid. Once I became aware, I swore I will never hesitate to report. Too many articles mention how "gee, don't do this again" results in the wrong thing.
I'd also hate to be that scouter who had the chance to stop something, but didn't. I'm vocal about this with my troop. I've been vocal about this on this forum. The danger is far too real and too devastating for it to be treated without the proper response.
And before anyone starts crying, "but it was just a slip up!" There are slip ups. When you have a scout follow you and put you in a 1-on-1 situation. When you turn around and realize you are alone with a scout. That's when you step away immediately. You can excuse yourself saying you have to go some place like the restroom or something. Haul your behind out of that situation. There isn't a slip up if you're taking a scout home with only the two of you in the car. You have to have good enough sense to think ahead. Your fellow scouters should have good enough sense to support you in looking ahead. If not, I'm reporting and let National sort it out.
It's too dangerous to leave the scout alone! Then get a good chunk of distance. I follow a scout from at a distance if we are in a 1 on 1. I make sure they are safe. If I need to, I'll grab an adult on the way. Amazing how other troop's and scouters will lend a hand when they know it's about YPT.
Heck, I've slipped up where at summer camp, I'm dropping scouts off returning from a field trip. I dropped too many off at once. Suddenly realized I was in a one on one. "Sorry scout, you're going to have to get off here." Been in the trailer, turned around, urchin at the elbow. "Let's get out of the trailer." And then thankful that the SM showed up at that moment because he saw the scout walk in and knew I was in there. I've provided the wingman support for other scouters. We do have situations like this all the time. Scouts don't think about this, even if we tell them about it. They trust us. They trust us to protect them. To keep them from harm. Don't be that scouter who lets them down.
I just want to make sure that I understand... in one post, you mentioned that you flex your YPT muscle and would not hesitate to report someone for violating YPT. But then admit that you have slipped up and violated YPT at least twice. How would it have played out if someone else had seen you and decided to flex their YPT muscle and report you for these violations? I'm not saying that abuse is not real, nor am I trying to minimize it. However, I know that the consequences for a false accusation can be very real & long lasting. And yes, I also understand that the effects of abuse are real and long lasting. I just don't want to be too quick to ruin someone's life and reputation for something that never happened.
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On 12/16/2019 at 8:29 PM, Eagledad said:
Im retired from scouts, so I haven’t had the training. What happens to the adult who is reported? Is there a chance to defend against the accusation?
Barry
Once that accusation has been made, the accused is generally considered to be guilty and will be treated as such. Whether there is any merit to the accusation or not. It may be determined that there is not enough evidence to warrant any criminal action, but the accused will always be branded as such. I have a close friend who was a high school teacher. A female student made a false accusation about him that cost him his career and almost his family. The student later acknowledged that she made up the whole story. There were no repercussions for her and his life was ruined. Many still feel like he must have done something to cause her to make up the story. Once that accusation has been made, or that report made, the accused is as good as guilty in many cases.
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1 hour ago, qwazse said:
@awanatech, conflating YP (which is a modification of aldult association) with advancement gets us nowhere. Better to just say local impositions that are neither important to National nor mandated by the state make it hard for volunteers to do their job well.
You're right, it doesn't. National already is making it hard enough to try and keep volunteers engaged. It is frustrating though to see that many Councils make it even harder for the unit volunteers to do the work of Scouting that they so enjoy. We are generally working a full time job & trying to fulfill regular family obligations along with trying to keep up with the ever changing requirements to keep volunteering. I'm also the one trying to keep other leaders up to date on their 2 year renewal for YPT, along with other training updates. Then to throw in running interference between National raising the fees after we've collected dues, it just really gets tiring trying to keep up and still enjoy Scouting. I can't imagine the grief I'd get from adults if I had to tell them that their YPT was only good for a year, even though their certificate says otherwise.
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How is it that BSA can emphasize that neither local Councils, units, leaders nor anyone else can add requirements, take away requirements, nor in any other way modify the requirements that the youth are to meet in order to advance, yet all of these Councils are able to require YPT annually when BSA has established it to be valid for 2 years? Isn't that changing the requirements for our adult leaders beyond what BSA has put in place?
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7 minutes ago, Jackdaws said:
My son has I believe 2 pairs of these. My only complaint is that the belt loops are really tight for a BSA belt. But we got them since its hot here in Florida and they are a good fit for summer camp as they dry pretty quickly.
We've bought these for our sons also. They hold up really well and it is nice that they are convertible like the BSA pants.
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As Comm. Chair for a Pack & Troop for 11 years, I always did the recharter myself. I have a new CC now who will be doing it this year.
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3 minutes ago, ParkMan said:
Perhaps. I suspect there is a rethinking of how Scouting is funded coming. I think we all noticed the comment about council program fees being capped at the national fee. I can certainly see in a few years:
- $60 to national
- $60 to council
- $60 to the unit
I wouldn't be surprised to see $15 a month in fixed Scouting costs in a few years.
Don't forget the $60 Unit Recharter fee to national also. But I can definitely see this coming soon.
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3 minutes ago, ParkMan said:
HBO did convince me to pay $10 a month so I could watch Game of Thrones - so I'm guilty too. My daughter wanted Netflix for Stranger Things too. Don't even get me started on my monthly cable or phone bills. Both of which are way more each month than we'd pay all year to national.
I'm with @Liz. Scouting is a core part of our families life. $60 a year to national is still a bargain to me.
While $60 a year is not a deal breaker for me, and I'm glad that they at least kept the adult fees where they did, I feel like if they hear too much feedback that this increase is such a bargain, they'll figure they haven't reached the max dollar amount that they can charge. Then I'd worry more for what next year's increase will be.
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With all of the District, Council & National emails that I get, I have not gotten one about this. I'm not on FB, or any other traditional social media, so if that's where it's advertised, I won't see it. We had our Troop meeting tonight and nothing was mentioned at all about it.
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1 hour ago, JasonG172 said:
Has anyone else received the National OA Survey ?
I have not received it, at least not yet.
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6 hours ago, scoutldr said:
Now that my annual registration fee has moved above $50 per year ("council program fee") in order to volunteer my precious time and talents, this Scouting stuff is quickly moving into the "just too hard" category. How many other volunteers will just decide, "screw it, I don't need this any more." Especially those of us whose sons aged out 20 years ago.
I am just about at that point now. I'm not sure about rechartering myself for next year.
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On 9/13/2019 at 9:22 AM, Kryten said:
so. after reviewing the new updates. in particular
sarcasm in effect.
Prohibited Activities (Effective 10-1-2019)
14 .Activities where participants shoot or throw objects at each other, such as rock-throwing, paintball, laser or archery tag, sock fights, or dodgeball.
I must now also prohibit ultimate Frisbee,baseball and other similar activity's.
oh and no more water polo or volley ballHold on a minute. I have to tell my son that his friend (who is a scout) needs to leave because I am the only adult(registered leader) in my house, and I do not have 2 deep leadership outside of scouting.
OK. potential lawsuit avoided.
In #14, it mentions activities where participants shoot/ throw objects AT each other. In frisbee, baseball, etc, you're not throwing the object AT another player. You are throwing the object TO them. The goal is not to hit them with the object, but rather for them to catch the object. There is a difference in throwing something AT someone instead of TO someone.
And yes, according to GTSS & YPT, if you are a registered leader, you'd have to cancel the sleep over if a 2nd registered leader is not present. Then consider the implications if your 8th grade son is in a Troop. Your 3rd grade daughter is in a Pack. Your son wants to have a Scout over for the night, but not as a Scout event. Your wife is not a registered leader. Since your daughter is also in Cub Scouts, you need to have a registered adult female present to spend the night also. Try running that one by your wife so that your son can have a friend over.
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On September 3, 2019 at 4:57 PM, jsychk said:
awanatech,
Both troops are great troops! I believe the differences are the involvement of the parent as well as the relationship with the troop leaders. I don't think my husband had a good relationship with a few of the previous troop leaders due to his lack of communication skills.
As I am more involved with the current troop, I have to become the ASM (8 hours of training) and I am also expected to get the wood badge training soon. Right now, the troop leader knows that I am the committee member in cub scout for my other two boys so he seems to give me a break.
I think after all my boys crossing over to Boy Scouts, I will be fully expected to assist more.
That's good to hear. I was Committee Chair for the Pack for several years. My oldest son crossed over four years before my youngest. I stayed as Pack CC until he crossed over. It took the Troop leaders to realize that I was serious about staying primarily with my youngest until he crossed over. Our meeting nights were the same, so I would go on outings and knew the Scouts pretty well. But many of the parents didn't know me until I finally crossed over.
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Thank you for that update. That's great news that it sounds like you and him have found a Troop home that works for him. I have told many families over the years that each Troop has a distinct personality and many times a particular Troop may not be a good fit for some Scouts. I'm glad you didn't give up on Scouting, but rather found a Troop that he fits into.
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12 hours ago, Liz said:
Is there any alternative to Scoutbook for doing this? I'm facing the likelihood of becoming the Advancement Coordinator for our new Troop, but Scoutbook is so badly broken it's unusable. I've gone back to the usscout spreadsheet for my Webelos Scouts because I can't enter any data at all in Scoutbook, either the website or the mobile app. I can't find a similar downloadable spreadsheet for Scouts BSA. Is there one?
We continue to use Troopmaster for this. We've tried Scoutbook since it became available for free to all units. However, we just couldn't get past the learning curve to make it work for us. We couldn't even get the Scout's data to open in the system properly. After talking to others who have used it for a while, we realized that it wasn't just us, and it wasn't just a learning curve. Many Scouters around here wish they could go back to Troopmaster, but the new price of Scoutbook (free) has locked it in for many units over the competitors.
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10 hours ago, John-in-KC said:
Mark my words, the day is coming when the local Council will review projects for safety before clearing to start.
That wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.
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Knowing how much work can go into an Eagle project, I'm sure that this was very discouraging. However, we must keep in mind that the project belongs to the beneficiary. While we always hope that it will provide a long lasting legacy to the Scout who completed it, the needs of the beneficiaries change over time. I have a relative who has a really hard time with this concept as well. This relative will give a gift, but will get quite upset if the recipient does not keep and use the gift. Once that gift is given, it belongs to the recipient/ beneficiary to keep, regift, or otherwise dispose of as they desire. It would have been great if the state had reached out to the Scout first and maybe they could have helped to resolve the issue without destroying it though.
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12 hours ago, karunamom3 said:
It is similar to an archway (entryway) which welcomes people into your campsite. It was listed in our camp's leaders guide as something to have & was brought up at the leaders meeting run by camp too. Pinterest it. Some are really fantastic!
Every once in a while we may see a Troop or 2 who will build a gateway, but around here it is not the norm. I have seen some pretty cool ones, but they are usually built by the Scoutmasters while the Scouts are in MB sessions. It's not as cool when you realize that they were built by the SM and the Scouts may not have had much input into them. It is much better when the Scouts take it upon themselves to do it.
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I give the Scouts a copy of their MB schedule, that they had picked out & signed up for. We also post the MB schedule, Camp Daily Schedule & a camp map on our Troop bulletin board. I do recommend that they look at their schedule to make sure they know where their MBs are, and if they don't know, that they should ask (SPL) so show them before the classes begin. Other than their MB schedule, we don't directly give them any kind of packet or map.
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Congratulations Brian!!
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Our District had a lady who used to do a lot of embroidery and sewing. She made the ones around here that I knew of, but she isn't doing much sewing anymore. I think she would take old shirt material and make it into a name patch. That way it matched the thread & font of the BSA fabric/ stitching.
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Congrats on getting trained and getting involved. Many units are having a hard time getting new parents to step up and get involved at any level, let alone get trained and have a uniform, too.
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The uniform looks great and ready to go. Over the years, I have only seen a small handful with sewn name patches, but they looked sharp. Most around here don't even have a name badge, but the ones that do are pretty much all magnetic backed bars.
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4 hours ago, ParkMan said:
Laws are irrelevant here. We are all volunteers in the BSA. They can revoke our membership if we violate the rules of conduct for adult leaders. If the rules saw "No guns" and you bring a gun, the BSA can terminate your status as a volunteer.
It's fine that you want to debate this - but the rules are quite clear here. No guns allowed.
BSA also has policies in place about the mixing of males & females in Dens, Packs & Troops, but many here have no problem talking about how they work around those policies, often with an under the table "wink, wink" from the DE, SE or other BSA representatives. So BSA policies have become like employee handbooks. Basically, these are the rules. But some of them we let you break, some of them we don't. You won't know which ones are ok to break until we want to enforce them, even if another Council is ok not to enforce them. Then, we may terminate you (revoke your membership), or we may tell you that your doing great by getting more Scouts signed up.
When BSA gets lax on enforcing some policies, they lose credibility at enforcing other policies, too.
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Events being cancelled? Or modified?
in Open Discussion - Program
Posted
Even if the Council or National want to cancel their activities, they do not control unit activities. That would fall more to the CO. If they did control the units in that way, I bet it wouldn't matter if it were just the adults delivering mulch. It would still be a unit activity.