scoutldr

I would give your Council DE/SE/Registrar the courtesy of a phone call just to let them know what's going on...hope you recover soon.

That skirt looks like the shorts I used to wear in the 70s.

It's not corny, it's what Scouts do. You might want to have your local Troop on hand to help lead the song, or you may be the only one present who knows the words. Also, might want to have them printed to hand out. Thanks for continuing the traditions.

It's an ongoing general trend. 20 is the new 10. I have nieces and nephews pushing 30, living at home, who are still treated as if they are 16. And they act like it, too. Parents refuse to cut the apron strings and force them to be self-sustaining adults.

Sorry, but I don't think any organization which funnels money to political candidates should qualify as a 501(c)(3) "charity"...that includes the NRA, PP, BSA, or whatever.

The year 2020 will go down in history as having been devastating for a number of reasons. To those who lost their jobs, I wish them well. My own Scout sons, now grown with young children (9, 5 and 5) of their own are wondering every day if the axe will fall and if my Grandkids will ever have a "normal" school career. One works in the restaurant industry and the other for a city Police Dept. I wonder when the COVID axe will fall on my high risk body, which I feel is inevitable in spite of best efforts to avoid it. Nobody deserves this, any of it. God bless us, everyone.

I had scouts who were obviously on swim teams and liked to show off with their "flip turns"...they'd get upset when I pull them out and make them start over. Yes, they can swim, but not by gliding half the distance. I also had "swimmers" show up in my BSA Lifeguard classes who couldn't do one length using a recognizable stroke. The first day would be the 400 yard swim...then half of them could go register for something else while the week was still young. That's why swim checks are (or used to be) conducted every year at camp. You'd be amazed how many "forget" how to swim from one year to the next. When you're out in the middle of the lake or ocean, there won't be a wall to push off of or side to hold onto. People need to realize, the purpose of the requirement is not to just sign off the requirement for rank. It is to ensure that the scout is prepared and able to save himself if he unexpectedly finds him/herself in the water. It is to allow the scout to progress to more advanced water adventures, such as canoeing, motorboating, sailing and white water. The "minimum" is not good enough in this case.

I have conducted hundreds of swimmer tests in our council camp pool, which is 25 yards. 3 lengths using a strong stroke and the final length using a resting backstroke followed by floating motionless in the deep end. If the scout touches bottom or stops swimming, or touches the side when turning, he starts over.

Yes, I just looked it up. It must be a documented disability verified in writing by a "health professional".

These are, and should be, VERY rare exceptions.

Ditto. What if all the units just said NO? Let the SE chew on that for awhile...

This is the patch I earned as a youth. If "Brownsea" was the JLT course for your council, I would say it is not for adult wear.

THey are missing "stakeholders" and "mission, vision and guiding principles"...

So, adding more local professional staff is the answer? Color me skeptible.

The last few years that I attended camp, they would bring trainers in to conduct basic training for adults who had not yet completed it...back in the stone age before everything went online. During the week I was in camp with my troop, we would teach YP, Safe Swim Defense, Safety Afloat, and volunteered to open the pool at 0500 for "Polar Bear Swim" and mile swim workups. The rest of our "free time" in camp, we would utilize skills for the Ranger's projects...such as re-roofing the dining hall in 95 degree heat, replacing toilets in staff cabins, running the bush hog to cut the fields, rebuilding the OA amphitheater...things like that. Never got a badge for it....just a cheer at the closing campfire.

"gettting to Eagle as fast as possible"...I find that sad. Scouting is about the journey, not having something to prove. Advancement is a by-product of the journey, not the purpose of it.

I vote to borrow the term "Advisor" from the old Exploring and now Venturing program.. With new emphasis that the adult Scouters are there to "advise" the "Leaders" who are the SPL and PLC. The do not decide, they do not dictate, they facilitate. The advise the program that the YOUTH decide on, and ensure safety and adherence to the GTA and GTSS. In the decades that I have been associated with the program, I have seen the gradual "helicopterism" taking over such that the youth merely sit there and wait for instructions from the adults. You don't sign me up for a MB University, I don't earn MB. You don't spoonfeed me advancement and sign me off because I sat there and listened to a lecture, no rank. No direction, no action taken. It's the way we are raising them, and it's wrong. I have family members with "kids" pushing 30 who still can't function as adults. It's sad.

I will treat you as you treat me, hopefully with mutual respect, love and friendship. When you resort to violence, looting, destruction and vandalism, you have lost me, and I no longer care what your cause is...you are a common criminal and no better than those you protest against.

Maybe it's been discussed before, but how does the Chapter 11 affect local council properties, since Councils are considered independent corporations? Our main camp is on the banks of the James River in Virginia and is a former plantation, the deed of which can be traced back to Capt John Smith. The state archeologists are excavating a home site on the river bank dating back to the 1600s when some settlers at Jamestown expanded across the river. The common thinking is that the owners deeded the 800+ acre plot to the Council in 1958, with a similar provision that should it not be used for Scouting, it would revert back to the owner, but I cannot confirm that.

So, rather than teaching scouts and parents that following the rules and laws of the land is what we should do (A Scout is Obedient), we should spin and obfuscate and do what we can to "minimize the chances of an audit", even though it may be illegal. Got it. From my reading of the tea leaves, it will all soon be a moot point anyway.

The guidelines in my state will require DAILY health checks for every student and staff member, conducted by the school nurse. My wife was a school nurse for over 20 years. The only one In a school with over 750 students, plus staff, her days were more than full and she had to go in every summer without pay to get all the required recordkeeping done for new registrations and updating student health records. She was also more often than not, the primary care provider for many of the lower-income staff members. Many of the poorer school districts in the state do not have a school nurse in every school...one nurse may serve several schools for one day a week to conduct state-mandated screenings. And no budget increases are being programmed. Indeed...a plan for failure. The plan for opening camps will also require daily health checks for all campers and adults by a qualified medical officer. How much time will this take out of the program day? If I were a parent, I would have severe reservations about sending my scout to camp under these conditions. That is not to say I do not think infection control measures are necessary...

Our Gov in VA just announced back to school guidelines. Buses will be restricted to one kid per seat, skipping every other row, and all must wear masks. This cuts it down to 11 students per full sized 66 passenger bus per run . My sister is a bus driver and she just laughs. They were woefully short of drivers before this happened. No way will this work. Elementary schools will meet 4 days per week...2 days in person and 2 days virtual. If you have more than one kid in school, you have no guarantee they will be on the same schedule. Out of zone requests will not be accepted. Classrooms must keep a 6 foot distance between kids at all times and masks at all times. No common areas will be used, such as cafeterias and gymnasiums. My DIL is thinking she will have to quit her job because the "telework" option is coming to an end. As of now, our camp is scheduled to go on "with modifications", whatever that means. The regional camps will remain closed due to lack of potable water supply for cleaning purposes and lack of full time medical staff to conduct daily health checks.

My Council required a fresh YPT certificate for ALL adult registrations at the first of the year, regardless of our expiration dates. Those who did not comply did not get registered. I pointed out that I still had a year to go on mine...didn't matter.

FOS = "Fund Our Salaries"

Sounds like a one-time "Initiation Fee"...in addition to the annual fee. That's gonna price a lot of families out of the program.