Beavah

Yah, I reckon yeh can choose to disagree with every economist in da known universe about a fundamental principle of macroeconomics, but odds are they're the ones who are right, eh? The market is still decidin' salaries and benefits, eh? Not sure why yeh think otherwise. There's no requirement for a full-time or salaried employee to get a benefits package, eh? That's just market forces acting. Same with the desire to avoid employee turnover in key positions by makin' 'em full time. That's the market. The law doesn't affect any of that. All the law does is try to stop bad actor

Yah, hmmm... Of course it doesn't drive growth or economic stability. Not sure why it would, eh? Growth is driven by population, productivity, and innovation. Economic stability is driven by lots more than that. Yah, and of course growth and economic stability are opposite things, eh? Treatin' workers fairly does help with social stability, of course. Da McDonald's "manager" is still flippin' burgers and fillin' shake cups after all. Like I said, this is really just gettin' us back to da level we were at in previous decades, eh? A bit less, actually. It's an ordinary adjustm

Yah, this is true, eh? It's not what's at issue, though. The thing we're talkin' about here is who qualifies as an "exempt" employee under da Fair Labor Standards Act. "Exempt" employees are typically what you'd consider a salaried employee, eh? Yeh don't track their hours, yeh don't track their production, and yeh don't pay them overtime. CEOs, VPs, senior managers and such for sure, but there a lot of classifications. As a group these are called Executive, Administrative, and Professionals (EAPs) Of course, whenever yeh make an exception to a rule, there are those that try to c

Yah, sad case. Hug your kids, eh? Havin' helped a few troops through loss of a parent on a trip (never a youth, thank the Great Scoutmaster), I know these can be really hard. Seems like from other accounts the other leader on the trip did a good job takin' care of the man's son on the worst day of the lad's life. Scout salute to him. Beavah

Yah, hmmm..... Who is doin' the "decreeing", I wonder? That strikes me as an odd thing to decree. Seems like da decree should be "we're goin' to get everybody up to snuff to go canoeing!" and then do that. Bein' a furry water critter, canoein' is a fun thing, eh? Young lads learn fast, and on most water it's pretty easy to pair up novice paddlers with more experienced lads. It really shouldn't take yeh too many times out for the boys to get pretty decent. Now if yeh have a few lads who aren't swimmers and are also sorta afraid of the water, then it might be best to leave 'em

Yah, hmmm... The way to do this sort of thing well is for da ASM to mention the problem offhandedly to da SPL, eh? Let the SPL then work with da PLC to make any changes. Same with you and the council calendar changes or November schedule or whatnot. "Hey, heads up SPL, did you see this?" If it's minor, the SPL may just handle it himself, eh? Or he may call a PLC meetin'. Or he may just text all da PLC and figure it out. All your adults seem to be frettin' a bit too much about this sort of small stuff, eh? Seems like if yeh can't trust the lads yet yeh should set up some tra

Yah, hmmm... Folks have to remember that da BSA program materials are a one-size-fits-all attempt put together by Really Big Committees and very few capable editors . Don't get too caught up with da details, eh? Fact is there are a lot of troops that are only da size of one patrol. There are some troops that use mixed-age patrols, and some that use same-age patrols and some that use NSP and some that don't. There are plenty of "troop method" troops that do fine things, and some strong patrol method troops. All those different permutations mean different things for PORs, eh?

Yah, @@Adamcp, thanks for takin' the time to give us an update, eh? You're tryin' to change a troop culture, and that does require some adult guidance and settin' up of structure, eh? The Senior Patrol / Old Scout Retirement Home is a structure, eh? One that teaches lads that the most involved and capable youth should aspire to doin' nothin'. That's not what we want to teach. Older and more experienced scouts should be challengin' themselves by leadin' and teachin' and taking the troop to new heights. So it's just fine if you choose to abolish that structure as Scoutmaster. Exp

Yah, hmmmm.... "You only have to put down names" seems like da sort of sophistry that's just about the opposite of what we want to teach our scouts in terms of character, eh? I'd like to think a lad who is an Eagle Scout is capable of askin' folks for reference letters the same way he does for college applications. In my experience, letters from parents often tend to be da most critical, eh? Parents usually see teenagers at their worst, while they're doin' fine with everyone else. Parent letters give a board insight into things that they might not be aware of. Challenges at h

Yah, the parents can write this, eh? Personally, I don't prefer that since the parents already are contributin' a reference of their own. So I'd suggest the lad ask for a reference from someone who knows him well in terms of his spiritual life, eh? Could be a peer, could be another relative, could be da troop chaplain. Another good option is to have him talk with a pastor or youth minister of his choice from one of the churches he's been visitin', or from the CO. I know quite a few CO pastors who'd be delighted to spend an hour talkin' with one of their church's scouts even if

Behold, I will bring to them health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security. - Jeremiah 33:6 May God hold them and all your scouts in the hollow of his hand. Beavah

Yah, @@Grubdad, thanks for the update, eh? Sounds like a good temporary resolution, and I like your approach of deferin' to the current leaders while givin' 'em information. Da question will be how the follow-up looks, eh? The problem with written statements and "contracts" and all the rest is that they're just threats, eh? Threats wrapped up in adult legal-schmeagle nonsense, but really just threats. I'm not a fan of such things. For kids to learn yeh just need consequences. Put your hand on a hot stove, it gets burnt. There's no need for the stove to make threats, and the le

Yah, welcome @@wendibyrd! Yeh gotta love district folks who make pronouncements, eh? In real life, I reckon there are as many ways packs get organized and run as there are groups that run packs. What yeh have to figure out is what works best for your pack. Your CubMaster is givin' yeh feedback as a gift, eh? He feels the way you're set up now devalues da Cubmaster role. So if yeh want to keep him as Cubmaster, yeh need to take that to heart. I agree with the group here, eh? Generally speakin' in effective packs, the Cubmaster leads and the Committee supports, eh? The co

Nah, no different, eh? Local council corporations are incorporated in their own state, and also have IRS 501©(3) determinations. Da BSA charters councils to service local scouting programs the same way councils charter organizations to run local units. A chartered organization can authorize another corporation to administer its scoutin' program, too. Just not sure why that makes any sense when all yeh want is a bank account. What's more common is to have a separate corporation hold major assets to protect 'em from greedy COs and Councils. In da case of Associations like da AMA,

Yah, hmmm.... I reckon this is what folks are talkin' about when they complain about too much regulation, eh? The money-launderin' and other rules are muckin' up a lot of industries at the moment. Seems like what you're stickin' on is the bank's requirement that da federal EIN name match a state registry name of some sort. Many states allow yeh to register unincorporated NFP associations with da Secretary of State for that state. This is typically free or very low-cost, and usually not as involved as incorporating. Then yeh get the EIN for the Association, but yeh still list the p

Yah, what do yeh think BSA councils are, eh?

Nah, no particular issues, @@Krampus. The most common thing is to have a separate charitable corporation that holds the assets of the group, eh? Sea Scout Ships did a lot of this, with separate corporations that held the boats. That way neither the chartered organization nor the BSA could get ideas about makin' a bunch of quick dollars by shuttin' down the unit and sellin' off the assets. NFPs can also have subsidiary separately incorporated NFPs, too. That the same thing as a "Friends of" organization, eh? "Friends of" organizations are actually the chartered partner, and they'r

Yah, hmmmm... Da bankin' regulations keep gettin' more complimicated because of the efforts to curtail money laundering, eh? And Dodd-Frank, and other things. Makes doin' normal stuff hard. @@blw2, Catholic Church organizations that are not religious orders have a funny legal structure, eh? They are usually set up as somethin' called a "Corporation Sole" directed by the bishop. Da actual structure of that sometimes varies by state. What that means is that from a legal perspective the only entity is the diocese, eh? Parish's don't exist legally, they're just administrative subd

Yah, Hmmmm.... @@Grubdad, we're all tryin' to figure out what's goin' on in your program from afar, eh? As you keep sharin' information, we keep updatin' our own thoughts and offerin' new suggestions. Yeh get to take 'em or leave 'em or stew on 'em. Yeh seem like a fellow who has some vision and leadership ability, who might make a fine Scoutmaster in a few years. With that in mind, let me illustrate how I read your last post (droppin' all the I'm mad at Beavah parts). Feedback can be a gift, eh? Last fall our Cubs camped with this troop as visitors. Troublemaker #1 and his

Since forever, eh? What you're tryin' to describe is da role of da Commissioner Corps, not da pros. Not sure which item yeh think this falls under in da DE's job description. Maybe Popcorn? Yah, yah, yeh can imagine some vague connection to Chartered Org support, but did yeh actually read the expectation? Visit da COR annually. Make a plan to provide more support for the comin' year. Nuthin' much more than that, and we all know that Chartered Org. visits are one of da things that DEs honor more in the breach, eh? The connection to the professional staff is that only the SE

Yah, hmmmm... Well, I suspected there might be a backstory, eh? I"m curious, is the daughter the crew Advisor (adult leader)? Or the crew President (youth leader)? One of da laws of human endeavor is that those who do the work control the outcome, eh? As long as da Smiths are the only ones doin' the work, they're goin' to control things. Even if da CO stepped in and showed 'em the door, odds are the kids and other families would be like your boy, eh? They'd follow the Smiths out the door. These sorts of snarls can be very difficult to unsnarl. I'd say give a call to you

Because it's really not a core component of their job, eh?

If you're really a small troop then I reckon you'd be better havin' conversations, eh? It would just be on you to make sure yeh took the time to have a conversation with everybody, rather than just da folks who are easiest to talk to. I wouldn't do group conversations, because often folks in groups stay mum in da face of louder personalities. For a bigger unit, doin' a survey isn't a bad thing. It at least gives folks an outlet without disruptin' anything else. Plus, Scoutmasters spend their time with kids and sometimes miss warnin' signs from parents. I would encourage yeh to s

Yah, @@SnarlyYow, let's take a step back, eh? Generally when someone pops in with a question like that, there's a backstory that matters. So as Paul Harvey would say, what's da rest of the story? As a general answer to your question, though, the Chartered Organization is the owner of the troop's assets, generally speakin'. Not just assets that were paid for by fundraisin', but all of da assets that aren't owned by individual boys or adults. Beavah

Yah, welcome, eh! You're right that Venturing has recently re-invented itself a bit, at least advancement-wise. The old bronze-silver award just wasn't seein' much uptake. Actually, advancement in Venturing often doesn't get much traction. Kids by that age are more mature, and goin' after awards is more an elementary/middle school thing, eh? So I'm one of da skeptics in terms of whether the new Venturing advancement stuff will get much more traction, though I do think it's better. As @@qwazse says, Venturing is also pretty adaptable to specialties and kids' interests, and done we