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I found this level of independence to go up and down with each class of scouts. It is a function of being able to retain scouts as JASMs (or, TG and Instructors) and being willing to use them as mentors to SPL/PL's so they stay on task as a PLC. It's also a function of seasoned adult leadership who encourage some behaviors, and not others, on the part of adults.

I sit in on a lot of PLC's for our SMs. But, now that the boys are hitting their stride, there's not much to say to them anymore. I'm expecting our new SM will take his seat back now that he's starting to hit his stride. Like Barry, we hold ours weekly after the close of each meeting. YPT is a non-issue. Plenty of leaders are at the other end of the hall sorting out paperwork, counseling scouts, etc ... I'm gonna miss the PLC, but it will be nice to be back on that end of the hall. Bottom line: no more than one adult at a functioning PLC, please.

Liability for negligence is always a possibility ... even in the face of waivers. Some scouters, because they work across multiple youth organizations and have seen so many ways things go bad with individuals consequently facing litigation, purchase personal liability insurance. On a grander scale, we may be at a tipping point where certain capable Americans will hesitate to do good out of fear that they couldn't afford the risk of litigation.

Also, hold off on WB until you've heard from leaders who are just a few years further into their tenure than your are, and get their opinions on how the course was delivered. Although the syllabus is very specific, there can be some variability in execution. I held off until an advisor from another crew invited me and said he was going to be on staff for the course. He didn't directly interact with me during the course, but it was nice to know there was somebody there who I knew was respected by his youth.

We have no such rule against cell phones. Does it cause problems? Yes. Does it solve others? Yes. I'm not going to abandon an SM if he's not going to make it a hill to die on. (Although this year I'm ditching him at camp because of Wold Jambo, and wedding cakes of Mrs. Q's baking that we have to shuttle across the state. Did I say there are things more troublesome than cell phones at summer camp?)

I'm a little confused as to the "other activities". We let our scouts go out around the church and cemetery grounds. They may get the (somewhat flat) basketball from the shed and shoot hoops. We don't require adults to be there. One of us may go around to check on them periodically. They often manage to make themselves useful. For example, last meeting they collected a bunch of junk that was dumped in the woods. We've also had times when everyone was expected to stay in patrol corners even if the patrol was working on something that the scout wasn't interested it. Patrol corners are rarely more than 20 minutes, so that process didn't seem to trouble everyone. Note: we don't micro-manage patrols. Come up with a menu, or not. It's their stomachs on the line. I don't think it's a bad idea to have the scouts in patrols for a set portion of the meeting. But, if you do, I think you need to figure out what you expect from the non-participants at that time. Maybe you need to have them join you halfway through the patrol time and go over something else relevant to troop life (e.g., the next event they will be attending, general equipment needs, projects to do for the CO, ...). If your complaint came from a first-year, I'd brush it off. But, maybe the old SPL is seeing something that's bothering him. Maybe some scouts are disrupting the boys who are trying to pull their weekend together. I'd try to listen to him and ask him his suggested plan B. It could also be that he's not comfortable with change.

One thing to note for the "when I was a scout" crowd. The family car was much larger. In his Ford LTD, my dad could drive five of us, and in the trunk he'd fit our packs, canvas tents, a dining fly, and mess kits. SM had a station wagon.

Some first-years brought their own tent. Which they set up okay except for in a bit of a dip and with some tarp sticking out of one edge. Rained the first night, and SM got a call from a scout's mom saying her son called home because he was wet and chilled but too embarrassed to wake his PL or and adult up to ask for help.

@CarlosD, welcome to the forums! On one level, it's your troop, your rules. On the other hand, if your PLC had a plan for some good thing for these non-participating scouts to do, maybe it's worth giving them a listen.

Never sewed mine on.

I would have the SPL do it twice a month. But, he hasn't even tried once. FYI: I can't find the pre-printed inspection sheets anywhere.

'Round here from an SAR perspective from May-September shirt color won't help much. Fifty feet into a thicket and the victim is invisible. From October-April it's so cold the activity shirt would be under a jacket. For hunting season I pull out orange pinafores (dog hates that one). Truth is any color that's a solid pattern will catch the eye. Their ain't much in nature (here) that takes up two square feet of just one hue.

Update on how things are happening IRL ... our progress reports to our funding agency now go through a system that prompts us for the details they need. Fine, I think it's nice that we address questions that may come up from folks who can't read our original grant. Plus, sometimes things change in the implementation and it's good to convey when an how that has happened. However, there is a new system for inputting these things that prompts our administrative assistant for one thing at a time. This means that even if we give her a full write-up like we always do, she has to submit additional information in small (say, a few checkboxes, or a few sentences, or some numbers), and there is no way of knowing what will be asked for the next chunk until she submits the current one. It would have been very nice if someone would have taken the time to say "you will be prompted on the following ...." and listed what would have to be prepared. Needless to say, we get random interruptions throughout the day as people stumble upon the latest question they can't answer but could have if we knew it was going to be asked of them. The challenge with all of this workbook stuff, is giving both the macro (e.g. outline) and micro (e.g. specific text or signature, that may be needed) views of the planning process at the same time.

Well, requiring plain-old-ascii would rid us of digital renderings! But, I'm not sure how any workbook or rules will prevent a troop advisor for going off the rails like this. This is where the commissioner corps and getting leaders to roundtable really matters. Certainly, for our grant work, the 12-page limit spares lots of blueprints, etc ... There are reviewers who would demand them (for our labs, etc ...). We simply say "they will comply to X standard" or, "we will employ Dr. A, who has supervised similar projects ...." I'm still seeing scouts being sent back over project minutae. But maybe it's not as bad as it was a couple decades ago. All I know is that it's worse than what it was 4 decades ago.

I gotta agree with @mrkstvns. My state taxes have a form-based option. And although it takes a little effort to learn because stuff has to be completed in a particular order, it is very reliable and the print-friendly version is easy to check. It even allows for write-in comments. The Eagle app would be even simpler, and could be deliverable via Scoutbook. The Eagle workbook could be similar ... web-based with an app that would allow the scout to work offline. But, always ask who would it be simpler for? It is very simple for a Scout to take a standard outline for a plan, copy and insert all the details, get signatures at the end, and make it looks decent. That means variability in font choice, margins, and spacing. But who does that bother? The folks who have to look at hundreds of Eagle applications? It's not like any of us have never gotten bids from contractors. For the scout how does filling out a form or downloading an app make it simpler than glorious copy-and-paste? Is the real problem that the workbook makes us look like we think bright scouts are too stupid to write for themselves? Example: for a ticket item, I made an auto-fill form for Venturers to use to write a personalized script https://sites.google.com/site/venturingcrew321/recruiting a scout could use as a basis for a school presentation. The crew(s) who I developed/demonstrated it with thought it was really neat. But, to my knowledge, nobody ever used it.

Depends on the number of trees ... and stacked hammocks that are sharing the same tarp.

Big pharma and little vials!

Considering the number of Yeti hunters out there ... If I'm going through the woods naked, I'm dyeing the hair on my Mediterranean back blaze orange!

Before dessert, ice cream and cake usually, I would pass around the text of the Declaration of Independence and have each person take a passage. My SM would make ice cream. Incredible stuff!

Sorry about the acronyms for a couple (current) varieties of Presbyterian. One the larger, the other an upstart. I'll not bore you with details. a) of course a conservative church would be steady on with non-believers. Sinners and publicans ... that's the recipe for growth. They might not be members, and they can't take communion, but they certainly are welcome. There's a reason they are called Easter worshippers and not solely Christians. b) well ... there are athiests and there are athiests. If one shows up for Bible study or providing music or sharing some other talent and trying thier level best to raise their kids in the church community, they are God's gift to the church as long as they are there. So, someone telling such a CO that a program that they would sponsor won't allow people under their care to participate, well that's a click against the program, not the company the church keeps.

I'm now feeling so sorry for the committee members who reviewed my 12-point courtier triple spaced document using whatever outline the project instructions required at the time. For our NIH grants, we are given an outline, and we write our 12 page proposal using those assigned headers. Project-specific sub-heads are three or for levels in. Some of our older grants are far easier to read than our newer ones. Because, background has increased, we propose to do more, but we have to pack it all between pages 1-12. Not only would @ItsBrian have gained three hours of his life back, he would have some swagger down the line when a colleague wonders how on earth their little department can write a grant application or contract.

This is such a strange discussion to have from a scouter perspective. My boys are intrusive in so many other ways, that their colors are the least of my worries. One dropped wrapper or abandoned bottle is far more heartbreaking than eight bright shirts. Regarding bright tents (or any tarp, really), mitigate their impact by choosing a campsite sufficiently off trail. When I'm with my scouts in an area that allows canines, I blame it on my dog. I want him to have a spot where he can enjoy their patrol's company and not be riled by passing hikers. Even in a meadow, a bright tent 100 yards off does not stand out among tall grass and wildflowers. Furthermore, when scouts randomly disperse their patrol sites, and their tents within those sites, it takes some effort to get an idea of how many scouts are really there. One laurel thicket, and you will wonder where the boys are. Those tents might ruin someone's drone flyover video, but among patrons of wilderness recreation areas, those oversized mosquitoes are a hotly debated issue themselves. Generally in WPa, outdoors-men hang red flags over their occupied campsites and deer stands. Some properties require them to. It spares hikers like my crew from stumbling in. Once scouts master topo-maps, they know where the good campsites are. That bit of color helps everyone divert from someone's claimed sweet spot so that all may enjoy a peaceful day in the woods.

Well, I'm threading a different guantlet. What's a plus for Episcopalians might be a minus for Anglicans. Same for PC/USA vs PCA. Lot's of big tents have ripped these days. Among houses who promote a restrictive sexual ethic, three concerns rise to the fore: Liability. Speculation is circulating that exercising the "local option" means that the CO could garner the ire of activists for inclusion if a volunteer is dismissed for conduct not befitting the ideals of the CO. Leadership/resource drain. As membership and attendance rapidly grows. They need their people for other things. There is less space in the building for another activity. Intransigence towards atheists. Some families attending don't believe in God. A program that excludes such youth is not looked upon favorably by the CO. Maybe after church membership re-shuffles a little more, BSA will be seen as a good partner. Maybe not.

This is an important skill. I am currently helping some HS youth arrange a baccalaureate service. It's a little rough because, although many are natural leaders, they've always relied on someone else to organize their religion for them. One youth leader explained that he was concerned they might not handle embarrassment well if they fail. I replied that the beauty of being a scouter is that your concerns over failure with knives and fires eclipse concerns over a little failure leading worship.

This is where an older scout being a member of multiple crews and/or being an officer in their council's VOA and/or being an active arrowman can be extremely helpful.This is also where more than one adult from a unit attending district roundtable can be helpful. One of your scouts might need an activity (for advancement or any other reason) that your troop rarely provides. The scout who needs that activity doesn't necessarily have to be that active, but when her troop's scouts and scouters are that well networked, good things happen. Encourage older scouts to try and engage their patrol in activities that they have mastered. The troop might not have backpacking on their schedule, but no big deal. Two enthusiastic members of one patrol could make a plan in a couple weeks. If it's a good plan, raid your depth chart for the two ideal adults to support it. <Insert rant about how, prior to last October, scouts A and B would have qualified as one of those ideal adults.> Troops only scheduling 7 camping events a year isn't a problem if patrols are taking up the slack in the "quiet" months.