NeilLup

There is, to my knowledge, no explicit BSA policy. I know of cases where adult leaders have been removed from their Scouting jobs because of extramarital relationships. For an individual unit, this can be done by the COR or by the IH. To be removed from all Scouting, the action would be taken by the local council Scout Executive. For the latter, the situation needs to be quite egregious. I also know of cases where marriages have come apart because of relationships which started through Scouting. It happens. Just because two adults put on Scout leader uniforms does not m

As I see the problem, and ASM59, please correct me if I misunderstand, it is that ASM59 sees "helping the District" as different from helping youth or serving as a leader in a unit. It is an "us versus them" point of view that I certainly have seen before. The feeling that the District is "them" and not "us" and that we are not all on the same team together and that District and Council personnel and activities are somehow qualititatively different from and in some ways opposed to unit level activities. I have seen this attitude expressed elsewhere as "the only place that real Scou

You raise a very good point, Tokala. The 8 patrols (Beaver, Bob White, Eagle, Fox, Owl, Bear, Buffalo Antelope) are US only. Each country that has Wood Badge has its own patrols, some of them are much less "picky" about patrol names than we are and some really don't use patrols that much. We had a staff member who is Norwegian and he took Wood Badge in Norway where he was a woodpecker. He would sing "I used to be a pecker." We had another man who took it on Guam and was a Goony Bird. When there was Exploring Wood Badge, the crew names were things like Kit Carson, Jim

"It would be helpful if the BSA guidelines werent so ambiguous" With respect, don't bemoan this ambiguousness, rather cherish it! It enables and empowers you and your unit do take actions and establish policies that are uniquely right for you and best meet the needs of your boys and leaders. There are over 50,000 Boy Scout Troops. Any effort to establish rigid rules would require so many waivers and exceptions and clarifications that it would be incredible. Rather, you and your other Troop leaders are the people on the spot and you make the decisions for your unit. Does

Gold Winger raises a great point. When I arrange for scholarships, typically, I recommend a partial scholarship with the person kicking in some funds of their own for just that reason. One of our communities has a fund from the days when they were a council. It supports, among other things, Wood Badge and gives full scholarships. However, the deal is that the participant pays the full cost of the training, then is fully reimbursed when they get their beads I totally concur that if something is free, its value is often perceived as equal to that which is paid for it.

It used to be in some parts of the country when a course got particularly large there would be a 9th patrol which would be Ravens. I particularly know this happened in Southern California. It used to be that there was not an ironclad limit on the upper size of a Troop. So when some courses got up around 50 participants, the course director would target 9 patrols of 6 participants (54 participants) and add a Raven patrol. If the course got still larger, there would sometimes be a Wolf patrol added as a 10th patrol. The other alternative was to make the patrols larger. I wa

"Many seem to miss my point in my original post. I am not talking about position specific training. I am talking about training that directly benefits the District & Council. The District & Council should pay. The view that not paying the fee means someone doesnt have enough commitment, just goes to prove my point that even though the fee is called a donation, it is really expected. It also means that most other people would never say that they could not afford it or that they dont agree with paying the fee. If this is the prevailing view, that I dont have enough commitment

Hello Ed, "How is requiring a Scout to bring his handbook to a BOR improving citizenship, character & fitness?" Scout Motto - Be Prepared Scout Oath - mentally awake Scout Law - Trustworthy It falls under fitness. It the Scout clearly knows that it is an expectation (which this Scout apparently did) and doesn't meet the expectation, then in this case, his mental fitness was less than it might have been. So he gets the opportunity to correct the situation and learn from it. Personally, I believe that if I had been on the board, I would have given him a "co

Good comments by many other posters. It is standard procedure now to charge for training events. Some councils are endowed sufficiently well that they don't need to charge for training. Most are not. There's another factor. When making fund raising presentations to United Way, foundations, etc. One of the questions they ask is how much the users and participants are paying to support the organization. This is a BIG factor in their decisions and one in which Scouts can suffer relative to other organizations since money raised and spent by units doesn't cross the books o

Fast Forward about 5 years Scenario 1 Proctor: Welcome to the SAT tests. Please give me your admission ticket. Your son: Gosh, I forgot it. Can I take the test anyway. Proctor: I'm sorry but without the ticket you can't. Your son: But that's unfair. My Star Scout Board of Review passed me even though I forgot my notebook. Proctor: I am sorry, but you can't take the SAT without your ticket. Your son: AAAGGGGGH!!! Scenario 2: Proctor: Welcome to the SAT tests. Please give me your admission ticket. Your son:: I have it right here. Ever since I got

"t's true, that most parents and many Scouters do not understand the relationship that is supposed to exist from the IH down to the SM." And as serious a problem, if not more so, is that there can be a huge difference between what things are "supposed to be" and what they actually are. Most chartered organizations I know are minimally involved and CORs are minimally involved. Expecting them, in many cases, to resolve difficult disputes is not what they expected to do, want to do or will do. Those of us who work at the district and council level have to try to help work resol

" No reason given for stay around. Some think it is because she wants her son to make Eagle, although I'm sure he has the same thing in mind. Some think for her to act as a insider for several people who left the troop, so they can keep track of whats going on." If one of these is the reason, all the more reason to get the DE involved and soon. There are ways to accomplish this woman's objectives and get the unit back active again.

(This message has been edited by NeilLup)

(This message has been edited by NeilLup)

Eamonn has come up with some great suggestions. I might only add that you suggest that he update his knowledge and also share his knowledge with others by staffing a Tiger Cub training.

Eamonn has come up with some great suggestions. I might only add that you suggest that he update his knowledge and also share his knowledge with others by staffing a Tiger Cub training.

Eamonn has come up with some great suggestions. I might only add that you suggest that he update his knowledge and also share his knowledge with others by staffing a Tiger Cub training.

Some of the questions I would ask are: 1) What do you consider to be a "good" Troop? What are the characteristics of a good troop? 2) How will you judge if you are doing a good job as Scoutmaster? How should the Committee judge if you are doing a good job as Scoutmaster? Can we lay out a list of checkpoints so we can measure progress? 3) What will your priorities be in taking over as Scoutmaster? What activities will you do first? 4) Do you enjoy camping? Do you go camping on your own? Where? What kind of camping do you enjoy? 5) Are you comfortable training 1

Sorry that you feel you must resign. One factor I haven't seen in the posts relates to the rank that the boy is going for. I would suggest that for Tenderfoot, Second Class and maybe First Class, the Board of Review should occur just as soon as the boy completes the requirement. You want to motivate him and not discourage him. Get him started and recognized quickly. On the other hand, Star can be a bit more structured and Life and Eagle can be a lot more structured. Those kids know the ropes, are a bit older and should be able to be a bit more patient. But I would say

" Well, I will be a life scout for the rest of my life." If you are still reading the forum. There are worse thing in the world. As I have posted previously, at one time a few years ago, I was having dinner with 3 eminent Scouters. I was far and away the least significant. One man is a member of the National Advisory Council, Silver Buffalo Holder and immediate past chairman of the National Court of Honor Another man is a member of the National Executive Board, Silver Antelope Holder, distinguished consultant and in charge of Learning for Life The third is now a re

"If the SM wants to veto an elected scout he does not fill out the citation for that scout - the SM does not get to substitute the next highest vote getter. " Hello belayer, This is another interesting sentence and suggests that St. Louis is REALLY working with old procedures. For the last 10-15 years, the procedure has been that there is no "next highest vote getter." Each Scout competes against himself. If he gets 50+ of votes or more, he is elected. If not, he is not elected. It is possible to have all of the eligible Scouts in a Troop elected, or none, or anythin

belayer, As with many things in Scouting, ultimately the National Council and the National OA committee have only the authority that the Council and District have with an errant unit. They can refuse to recharter them. But short of that, they have only "jawbone" authority. And for a big, powerful, strong council like St. Louis, there's no way that the National OA committee would dream of denying a recharter. Now I do have another thought which a cowardly SM might exercise. Could a SM tell a lodge election team, properly in advance, "I refuse to certify Scout X as eligib

Hello liperazs, You haven't said why you want to be an Eagle Scout. That can be important to understand particularly for you yourself. If you believe that you can hide your situation from the Eagle Board of Review, very likely you are sadly mistaken. The odds are extremely high that they will find out just as some of the forum members found out. If so, my friend, you very likely are toast. If I were on that Board, I would do everything that I could to make the rejection permanent. If you tell them of the situation, you may be failed by the BOR but they will respect

"In many respects, the hierarchical structure of girls leading other girls may not be the best (at least at the 8-9 year old level) since the girls really seem to want everything to be at a level playing field at this age." There really is no hierarchical structure of boys leading other boys in Boy Scouting at 8-9 year old level either. Those are Wolf and Bear Cub Scouts and real boy leadership doesn't start until Boy Scouting when the Boy Scout is 10 or 11. So I would suggest it is apples and oranges to compare what boys are doing at 10,11,12, etc. with girls at 8 or 9. Our daug

For heaven's sake, people, let's wake up, smell the coffee and lose the conspiracy theories I believe that we all believe that having a competent leader in Scouting who knows his or her job is a good idea. OK so far? I believe that almost all of us -- some exceptions -- believe that training helps the leader to learn their job and understand better what and how to do that good job. Still OK? I believe that almost all of us believe that our child in Scouting should have a good leader who is competent and knows how to do a good job and is trained. Still OK? I believe