Oak Tree

Every SM I have talked to says he strongly favors boy-led. And they all have very different versions of what that means. How much failure will he tolerate? How does he favor doing an annual plan? What tasks does he want to give to the ASMs? How does he go about coaching the SPL and other youth? What kind of camping does he favor? How does he view risk-management? How will he handle parents? What is his philosophy on advancement? Who all will he allow to sign off on stuff? The idea that you just need someone who will let the boys lead is an idea that will lead to terrible choices for

It's been several years since we reviewed the canonical list of reasons to follow the rules vs. reasons to use your judgment. So for any new people to the forum, here is a summary of the arguments for and against rules. Reasons to follow the rules: R1. Obeying rules set by legitimate authorities is a moral imperative in itself. R2. Rules are set by persons with greater knowledge and experience and thus should be followed. R3. It's important to show respect for rules in order to set a good example for others. R4. Breaking small rules will lead to less respect for more important

In contrast, the Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana said they are more inclusive as a secular organization and do not have a sexual orientation policy like the Boy Scouts, which is based on Christian values.So the Girl Scouts made the statement that the BSA is based on Christian values, and the reporter let it stand. Interesting, because it is exactly the opposite of the stated BSA policy, The Boy Scouts of America, therefore, recognizes the religious element in the training of the member, but it is absolutely nonsectarian in its attitude toward that religious training. So why do they think the B

it is unlikely that IBM had anything to do with the decision as far as sponsorship. It may be that the $$ weren't the issue, but the negative publicity of the whole thing wasn't helpful. I can imagine the leaders getting together and saying "Do we want this to be the story every year?" and also "Do we really want to exclude the CEO of our biggest sponsor?" Just too much negative publicity, and not a lot of reason to stick with the policy. Same thing that will eventually get the BSA to change. I think this is a fine on-topic post from Merlyn.

We do a separate meeting in October that chooses the activities for the next calendar year. We've varied which Scouts get invited - I think at the moment we are going with those in positions of responsibility. Scoutmaster and a few ASMs are there. We do it at someone's house, there are snacks. It usually takes a few hours. According to the BSA process, the committee should be presented the list and could veto items. We usually just do an informal thing where I email the proposed calendar to the CC and he says "fine."

If you aren't feeling welcome, maybe you should just ask. Why do they want to run a Scouting program? If they don't really want to run it, then find someone who does. Keeping a Scoutmaster can be contentious, but firing one can be even more contentious. I would definitely recommend talking to the Pastor outside of the committee meeting. Does the entire committee agree the Scoutmaster should leave? Do all of the parents feel that way too? Is there a good candidate for a replacement? If so, someone might need to have a conversation with the Scoutmaster about whether or not he can really do

In our council, you can just buy the archery and BB belt loops. What I did with a similar situation was to ask the parent - "Do you believe your Scout has completed this requirement?" I wouldn't cave. I'd just politely say "We pretty much try to award things to Scouts only when they complete the requirements." (Is that polite, or a little bit snarky? I do try to inject some humor even in tense situations.) I'd also offer up "I don't make the requirements. You can read them yourself. I'm sure they have this rule because they don't want to encourage Cub Scouts to go work on this o

When is a "rule" a commandement and when is it merely guidance for a leader to consider? Rules are almost always just guidance. Some rules have a lot of weight behind them and you'd need a really good reason to break the rule. There are some rules that are so important that the BSA won't let you break them, but these are pretty few. The vast, vast majority of rules are guidelines that serve as the default approach to a situation, but that people will use their judgment to decide when they apply. Disagreement often comes over where to draw the line, but some rules can become so ridiculous

Our troop has not had anyone who was primarily a Spanish speaker. We have had Scouts whose primary languages were various Indian languages and one Israeli who primarily spoke Hebrew. The form is really, really cluttered. I can deal with any health form, so it's not a major issue, but I would rate this change as "awful". This is just surprisingly, astonishingly bad. How many Hispanic Scouts do we have where the parents and/or doctors don't speak enough English to fill out the basic form? This is some corporate philosophy run amok.

the rest of the employees fall into line, and for the ones who don't fall into line, they leave. It is the reality of working in a corporate environment. Bwa-ha-ha-ha. Oh, yes, every employee follows every company policy exactly as written, never improvises, never recognizes times when the rule doesn't make sense. No employee ever installs an unauthorized software program on their company computer. Our company used to have a sign up saying "any cameras brought onto the premises need to be registered." It made no allowance for cell phone cameras. It was really out of date. Employees ignor

If the concern has to do with what the building supply business thinks, just ask them. Do they care what is done with the materials that they provided the discount on? My guess is that they'll say that they don't care, and he can then with free conscience donate the materials to Habitat or to whomever. He certainly would be entirely entitled to keep any materials consistent with the amount of money that he put in. If he put in more money than the supplies are worth, then he can do anything he wants with them.

Oh yuck. No, they shouldn't do both. No, they can't be unbiased. Yes, there would be a conflict of interest. They should definitely recuse themselves - or, if they don't, then the person bringing the issue should take the issue to someone else.

Yeah, what everyone else said. The CO owns the unit, and to varying degrees a CO will actually use this control. The majority exercise very little, or no control. Some COs, like the LDS, typically exercise a lot more. The CO can do anything as long as it's within BSA guidelines, and those guidelines are pretty broad. Most of the program is described in recommendations, not requirements. There are all kinds of ways the CO could ask the committee to operate. In practice, if you are getting into a conflict over who has the right to do what, then you are not likely to be headed for

We don't directly specify it anywhere in our troop materials, but the BSA clearly lists the process and the Scout does the calling. http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/GuideforMeritBadgeCounselors/IntroToMeritBadges.aspx

In a way, I think it would be ok if the BSA had to pay property taxes on the stadium. I would guess the rent would more than cover the taxes. I would think that most venues like this do in fact pay property taxes.

http://www.marshall.edu/cber/research/NonProfitSurveyResults.pdf This review of what non-profit property is taxable provides what I would consider a bizarre result. They asked all of the county assessors about nine different scenarios and whether the building would be taxable. In no case did all of the assessors agree, and they were frequently very split on the topics. For example, a church rents spaces in its parking lot during the week to workers at nearby jobs. On Sunday it's used for worship. Is the parking lot tax-exempt? 55% Yes, 45% No.

You can freely choose whom to do business with, except for a few specific instances. You are not allowed to discriminate on certain criteria, race being the primary example. If you are turning your facility into a 'public accommodation' then you have to abide by your state's rules on that. If you were in NJ, that would include not discriminating based on sexual preference. Here's a quote on the tax-exempt thing...the State Supreme Court has ruled that nonprofit organizations can forfeit their tax-exempt status for property taxes if they lease out their facilities to noncharitable organiza

What type of program changes would you like to see? You're right, a year is enough time that you should see something, but really, the biggest thing I want out of my SE is not to screw up my unit program. I'm not even really sure what a council program should consist of.

Non-profits rent things all the time. This is regularly presumed in the IRS publications. Churches and religious organizations, like other tax exempt organizations, may engage in income-producing activities unrelated to their tax-exempt purposes, as long as the unrelated activities are not a substantial part of the organizations activities.I'm curious about what part of the WV constitution would jeopardize this. The IRS says that an organization can jeopardize its tax-exempt status, and that there are several requirements to maintain it.must not operate for the primary purpose of conducting a

Troopmaster is OK software ... but it has its quirks... 1) Only one user can have the database open at a time, (it is stored in the cloud) so sharing the AC position is really NOT an option. Only one user at a time can lock the database, but we do have lots of different people who make updates. Lock it, make the changes, unlock it. I'd like to see some finer-grained locking, but this one hasn't been a big problem for us, even in a big troop. 2) If you crash while the database is open, you can have a lockout situation. True, but it's easy to unlock it. 3) For large t

Tim, Thanks for the reminder. Of course, I, and I'm sure most of the other posters, will immediately think "thanks for reminding all those other posters to be nicer." As you note, any internet forum suffers from the anonymity of the participants. It's hard to moderate the behavior of the users, but notes like this from the community are a good reminder. Not everyone views themselves as a keeper of the flame here - some people aren't focused on how they come across to all of the other posters, the lurkers, the general public. They just want to make their point. Welcome to th

"Tent ants"? I had a whole bunch of those at summer camp. I mean, a lot. They were the big black ones.

"don't ask" may have always been the de facto national policy, but can you point to some place where that policy is specifically stated? Since the Green Mountain Council has had this policy for a long time, there is nothing new, other than the media is now noticing that their policy is intentionally more inclusive in its statement than the national policy is.

Teh Mohegan Council say that it does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. The BSA Mohegan Council, Inc. operates in compliance with all relevant laws, codes, ordinances, statutes and regulations. The council does not discriminate with respect to employment, volunteer participation or the provision of services, on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, ancestry, disability or handicapped status, veteran status, marital status, or political affiliation. The council policy forbids sexual harassment. The council has a right

They have some more discussion on their web site. The way I read it, they are clearly painting the existing policy as negative. http://www.scoutingvermont.org/News/BSANonDiscriminationPolicy They don't argue for the national policy. They pretty take it as a problem that they don't agree with. The policy is only portrayed as a drag on membership. "If however, they [parents] feel that the values, life lessons, fun and outdoor excitement and education outweigh this current policy, then they may choose to continue to stay active with their son and receive the full benefits of Scouti