nolesrule

Beavah, just because I wrote about the goals a few posts up doesn't mean I think it's worth a hill of beans. I also agree with what Calico wrote, about how it could have a positive or negative affect. Percentages aside, for a commissioner, the advancement reports are just a tool in our box to help us keep an eye on unit health (lack of advancement can be a sign of a troubled unit), or to make sure they are remembering to turn in their advancement reports regularly. My units are the 3 closest to Council Service Center so they better not have issues turning them in. :-) But the advancement reports taken by themselves should not be used to diagnose anything.

"Note that Troop is dead last and more notably behind School. " Could just be alphabetical order. :-)(This message has been edited by nolesrule)

Our DC provides us UCs with the monthly District Advancement report. Sometimes a lack of advancement is just deferred Advancement reports. Other times it's a red flag that a unit might be having an issue. But an active UC should be able to know the difference in his/her units. As for the council or district goal, I'm pretty sure that setting an advancement goal of this nature is part of the Quality District/Council process. I know it is for Quality Unit. But it should be a reasonable goal. And it should take into account that advancement is not a method of Venturing.

One of the problems with the electronic system (or even the written advancement reports) is ensuring the correct completion date of merit badges. Often times, advancements for the entire troop are entered batch method, and unless there is careful adherence to dates, the date of the advancement report may be what is rtecorded in the official record. Whereas a merit badge application and completion record will have been individually dated upon completion.

From what I understand based on information provided at a recent MBC Orientation that I took, IN OUR COUNCIL, the Blue Cards are considered the official paperwork for merit badge completion. What that means is that for instances where the blue card is not completed (such as a summer camp with a unit-level printout), a blue card should be filled out with counselor information and out of council location where merit badge was earned in lieu of a MBC signature. The scout's record portion of the blue cards are turned in with the Eagle Application, and all dates and in-council counselors on the application are verified against the blue cards and the council database prior to an Eagle Board of Review being scheduled. Any discrepancies are dealt with during the paperwork review process. Dates on the blue card trump dates on advancement reports or in the council database.

"Mr. Irish - I hear what you are saying, but I think you would be doing the boys a real dis-service by seeking to limit them like that. Please do not let this short-term inconvenience (competing calendars on short notice) result in a long-term problem (artificial limits on OA eligibility and lack of participation in OA). May I suggest that, now that you'll have several OA members in the troop, you ask the boys to find out OA's calendar of events for the upcoming year and plan their troop calendar so that they don't have these kinds of conflicts again? " This. A Scout shouldn't need to have completed a term as PL or SPL to be worthy of receiving Scoutmaster approval for election into the Order of the Arrow. Scoutmaster approval should be based on a scout exemplifying the Oath and Law, and meeting the objective eligibility requirements (First Class, camping nights).

Yeah, you never know with cases like this. Here's something currently in the news just a few miles down the road. From the St. Pete Times: Before last week, 73-year-old Theresa Collier, grandmother of four, retired homemaker from New Hampshire, had no criminal record. But on Wednesday, after slapping her 18-year-old granddaughter for "cursing like a trucker" and calling her names unfit to print in this newspaper, Collier was arrested and spent more than 24 hours in jail on domestic violence charges. While Largo police call it a case of battery and stand by the arrest, dozens of residents have spoken out in defense of the grandmother and questioned the department's zero-tolerance policy. (And later in the article, it also mentions that the granddaughter even hit back.)

"So, I guess I'm not a man since I was not a Scout? " Inverse error.(This message has been edited by nolesrule)

I recommend as a UC to the troops I serve not to schedule camping trips on the 4 lodge weekends and the 2 section weekends. They are on the council calendar long before the units do their annual planning meetings, so it shouldn't be difficult. There's no reason a scout should have to choose between one or the other. An OA election shouldn't take up more than about 30 minutes, unless there are a ton of names on the ballot or they are also doing a make-shift call out ceremony. I know that when I was a scout, it wasn't much of a scheduling issue because the troop campout was always the 3rd weekend of the month and OA events were always a different weekend.

The hot dogs I buy come in packs of 7. I guess they assume that 1 in 8 buns won't stay intact.

Interesting article, but every single one of these I read on the subject fails to mention what the actual requirements are, and how it can be used as a teaching tool.

I don't have a problem with homework. It's necessary. I also don't have a problem with major assignments that are to be done at home (or library). What I have a problem with is a surprise major assignment (meaning it requires significantly more time than usual homework) given on a Friday where the teacher sets a short term due date and assumes you have enough time during the weekend to get it done.

Choosing scouting vs. school is not really what this is about. It's unnecessary interference with previous commitments. What this is about is that a teacher assigns something on Friday afternoon that cannot reasonably be done in the normal time allotted for homework over the weekend and assumes that the student can make up that difference because it is the weekend. School is not on-call. There shouldn't be last minute time-consuming surprises during your downtime. It doesn't matter what the student is doing. Could be a camping trip with scouts, could be traveling halfway across the country to go to your cousin's wedding. What the teacher is essentially saying is "Mom and Dad and little Johnny, I don't care what you had planned for the weekend. Little Johnny can't do it because I sprung this assignment on him last second. That means the two of you and little Johnny will have to cancel all your plans so he can get it done on time." That's just not a reasonable request. There were two ways this could have gone differently. 1) The teacher could have assigned the work earlier so that it could have been completed by the deadline regardless of weekend plans. This would have been fair for all students as well. 2) The student could have informed the teacher it would be impossible to complete on time due to previous commitments and request a change in the deadline. But who knows how the teacher would have handled that?(This message has been edited by nolesrule)

Not all assignments. Just those above and beyond what would be considered regular homework and especially if these long assignments are expected to be done over the weekend. There really aren't a whole lot of them over the course of a class. In all classes I took, at the beginning of the class the expectations were set out. Daily homework expectations, major assignments and when they would be due, the number of tests and when they would be. This should hold true for both school and employment. There should be no place for a teacher or employer to infringe on your personal time at the last minute, unless it constitutes some sort of emergency. (In IT, that would be when the server goes down and it brings the company to a halt) It shouldn't matter whether it's a scouting event, family trip to Disney World, or any number of other reasons (such as traveling to a friend or family baptism, bar mitzvah, wedding, etc.) Edit to add: The other option, when it comes to last minute major school assignments, is asking for a time extension at the time assignment is given and explaining that it would be impossible to get it done by the due date because he will be out of town all weekend.(This message has been edited by nolesrule)

As far as I'm concerned, any home-based assignments that go beyond normal homework need to be on the course syllabus at the beginning of the course (I don't care if it's middle school, high school or college) complete with dates for both when the assignment details will be formally given to the student and the turn-in date. There needs to be adequate time to set planning and priorities for both school work and personal life. And that includes the need to be considerate to the student's family as well.(This message has been edited by nolesrule)

School is important. So are commitments. They only conflict when things like this occur. You make a commitment to a minimum of 6-8 people that you will participate in an event (in this case a week ahead of time). But only a few hours before you are about to leave, you are given an assignment that is expected to be done during the same timeframe as this previous commitment. So the dilemma is, which takes priority? Is it your duty to self (education)? Is it your duty to others? It's a difficult decision. Certainly, there are some no-brainers when it comes to choosing one over the other. But it's not always black and white. I can tell you what my decision would have been back in school. It would have been to go to the scouting event, and it wouldn't have been based on a decision between duty to self or duty to others. It would have been a big "screw you" to the teacher who dared assume that my time outside of school completely belonged to him or her. On weekends, I always left Sunday afternoons open to complete all my homework. Last minute major homework assignments that would cause me to cancel pre-existing plans were just not acceptable to me. Not only did I have my scouting weekends, but I was also an officer in my synagogue youth group, and attended those activities, as well as weekend conventions for those (and even was chair some activities).

But even the Good Manners requirements are more than just about having good manners. The requirements for the loops/pins are just as diverse as those for merit badges, but on a smaller scale for Cub Scouts. It's more than just doing the activity on the name of the award. It gets into hows, whys, gets family involved and integrates life skills on a miniature scale. And really, with the exception of a couple of these that are parts of requirements for the Cub Scout ranks, the loops and pins are supplemental, entirely optional and in theory purely for the Cub Scout's interest (parental bling issues aside). Not really any different than earning more than 21 merit badges or 8 Webelos Activity badges.

They don't have an annual calendar and associated planning meeting?

I spent a good hour reading all the comments to the CNN blog post. The article doesn't mention what the belt loop is really about, with no link to the requirements. It's difficult to form an informed opinion on something based solely on the name of a belt loop.

It is not the youths' responsibility to recruit adult leaders. If there is not a scouter within the unit willing to serve in the scouter role on a youth planned outing just because no scouter wants to go to the planned destination, then there probably needs to be some discussion about recruiting additional scouters.

You can meet the rank requirements by serving in multiple positions. Happens all the time when positions change due to end of terms mid-rank. I'd be more inclined to count the time toward POR for rank if this temporary venture PL if he takes on the responsibilities of a patrol leader throughout both planning and execution phases. If he's being a PL only on the trip itself, then it's no different than the scout who fills in for an absent patrol leader on a camping trip. Even so, not sure if I'd count it at all. A patrol leader has responsibilities to the SPL and troop through the PLC, but a temporary patrol may fall outside the usual patrol/troop structure.(This message has been edited by nolesrule)

That's certainly a much better solution when it comes to cars. I know an auto mechanic who does a monthly 2 hour hands-on car care clinic aimed at women and teenagers. It's 1/2 classroom, 1/2 hands on. I'm working with her to become a MBC for Automotive Maintenance (the current MB name). My idea would be that we can invite scouting units to attend her course as an introduction to the MB, and those who wish to earn the merit badge will then be able to make arrangements with her on an individual basis (i.e. no "merit badge class").

What you remember were venture patrols within a troop. The newer Venturing unit you have discovered, which is something else entirely, is called a crew and it is an entire program on its own (the same way Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Varsity Scouts are separate programs), with its own unit structure and recognitions. Boy scouts who meet the joining requirements for a Venturing Crew can be registered in both a crew and a troop simultaneously. There are many on the boards who are much more involved in Venturing who can give a more thorough explanation.

"I was under the impression that the submission of the Eagle application was how the council would know that all requirements had been satisfactorily completed, thus the need for the "unavoidable paperwork." Otherwise, how would the council know that all had been completed prior to the Scout turning 18?" Take a look at the 2nd side (or page of the application. CERTIFICATION BY APPLICANT. On my honor as a Scout/Venturer, all statements on this application are true and correct. All requirements were completed prior to my 18th birthday. Then there's a line for the Scout to sign and date the application immediately beneath that statement. The application has individual date fields for each of the requirements. It would redundant for the Scout to certify he had all the requirements were done before his 18th birthday on the application if the application itself had to be turned in before his 18th birthday. All requirement dates on the application will be verified prior to scheduling a Board of Review anyway.

I know this doesn't really answer your question, but councils all have sorts of "policies" regarding Eagle Application turn-in. However the only things that must be done prior to the 18th birthday are completing the requirements for rank (except the Eagle Board of Review). The Eagle Application is NOT one of the requirements for rank, just some unavoidable paperwork.(This message has been edited by nolesrule)