scoutldr

Thanks for the insight, de4bsa. As Covey said, "Seek first to understand, then to be understood." I once entertained the idea of a career change to professional scouting. After all, what could be better than to get paid for this! I quickly realized that the role of the professional is VERY different from the role of the unit or district volunteer. The pro is first and foremost, a salesman with defined performance quotas. Don't perform, and you're history. Most volunteers don't realize the demands put on the DE and can't understand why they can't accept every invitation to a B&G or PWD, and don't have time to hang out around the coffee pot at the Camporee. Unfortunately, this is sometimes misconstrued as being unresponsive to the unit's "needs".

Ditto what Beavah said. Unit CC chairs the EBOR with committee members, one or two chosen by the scout (teacher, neighbor, friend, Pastor, etc), and a District Rep (me).

My son's first car was inherited from his grandfather...a 1987 Dodge Aries Wagon - red. His Varsity baseball coach promptly named it the "Radio Flyer"...he was mortified, but it was that or the school bus. But it was a great car for carrying his buddies and their baseball gear in the back. He was making honor roll, played varsity level sports for 4 years, working weekends, and doing Scouts to humor me, so I paid the insurance and he paid the gas. I guess I should have withheld the car until he made Eagle, because he aged out as a Star. He went on to graduate from college, and 2 weeks ago succcessfully opened his own restaurant to rave reviews. Both of my sons never gave us a lick of trouble, no drugs or booze, no pregnant girlfriends, made good grades, got their degrees, and now have good careers. If they need my help, I will do anything for them. All in all, I wouldn't change a thing. Making Eagle is not everything. YOu have to consider the whole picture. If the end result is an adult who makes ethical decisions, we've accomplished the mission.

Stay on the high road, E. I'm with you. What your friend describes is, indeed, more like a club. What comes to mind is the local YMCA. They plan the programs and offer their facilities to whomever wants to show up. The difference is, to have that available to me would cost me $55 a month for a membership. They take my money and provide opportunities. I can either go every day, once a month, or not at all. Makes no diff to them...they got my money already. What Scouting offers is training and experience in planning, leading and partaking of your own efforts. Different mission, different results. And different costs.

As OGE said...the "book version" is that the PLC develops their plan (for any activity) and presents it to the Troop Committee. The Committee should support their plan as much as possible. As the SM's prinicpal job is to guide and mentor the SPL, all details should be identified and worked out (e.g., transportation, fund raising, etc), and included in the plan. (This message has been edited by scoutldr)

One thing I find unusual is the wide disparity in pro salaries. In the govt system I'm in, a supervisor usually makes about 6-10% more than the person he supervises. If supervising blue collar workers who get overtime, the supv can earn less! In my council, the SE makes twice as much as the next guy in line, and about 4 times more than an entry level DE. Is that justified?

"Just got off the phone with our DE. I was asking if I could come to the District Committee meeting in a couple of weeks and propose an idea to have a Webelos-ree in our District." The way I understand District operations, the DE should not be deciding the meeting agenda nor deciding what will or won't be accepted as a District activity. The Program chair is in charge of activities, and the District Chairman runs the District with the DE acting as an advisor. At a District Committee meeting, the DE should sit to the side and take notes. He gets a "Professional's Minute" at the end. Now, I fully realize that this is the "book version"...rarely have I seen it work that way. Volunteers should be running the program...not the Pros.

Beans&Franks Dinty Moore Beef Stew (canned) Foil dinners

Boiling water in a paper cup directly on the fire is an old trick that will amaze most youngsters. So is cooking an egg or sausage ball in a scooped out orange shell or onion.

Your last post is confusing to me. If you don't want the UC, why would she be invited to your Pack Meeting/beading? Just because an e-mail was sent doesn't mean that communication has taken place.

I would tell the Dist Commish that you want someone else. A UC should be someone who is "detached" and has no emotional or historical "baggage" that they bring to the job. Sometimes the UC has to mediate disputes and they truly need to be a "disinterested third party". You'd be better off with no one.

Actually the troop leadership is getting tired. The three of us formed this troop 15 years ago, and our own sons aged out 10 years ago. Getting new parents to step up to the plate has been frustrating. I purposely have backed away from camping (due to health reasons and to give others an opportunity to serve!) and as a result, have had to cancel some outings due to lack of 2 deep leadership. Seems like when it comes to spending a weekend in the woods, everyone has better things to do. The SM has made it known he would like to step down, but there is no one interested in taking over. So when the day comes, we will give ample notice to our UC (yes, we finally have one after 15 years!), and then quit showing up. We will not desert the current group of scouts, but we're not real interested in "competing" for new ones, either. I have formed four units over the past 35 years, and three of them are still chartered, so it's not an easy decision to let one fold. But we can't do it all forever. And our CO is in "name only"...they don't care one way or the other.

Near as I can tell, it was 1930. See http://www.geocities.com/~pack215/hist-scouting1930.html

Well, our CO is a 501c3. And if the troop is "owned" by the CO, and they own all troop equipment and funds, then in effect, it's a donation to the CO, right? Besides, if I ever get audited (hasn't happened yet), it's between me and the IRS. I'll take the risk. Even if the deduction is denied, it won't kill me.

Congrats, gwd. This is one of the most rewarding duties I have in scouting. Advice? Normally, there is (or should be) time for only 2-3 questions per Board member. Try to put the scout at ease and have a conversation with him. Ask open-ended questions that the scout has to think about...that he can't answer with a "yes", "no" or a grunt. Remember that the requirements have been met...there should be no surprises at this stage of the game. Enjoy!

Thanks for the slam-dunk, Brent. Appreciate your helpful comments. For the record, this was the first time in memory that such a list has been distributed. I had not decided how we were going to respond to it. I was just interested in others' experience. It does no good for me to call 15 Webelos who live at the other end of the district, 15 miles away. I don't have time to be playing phone tag with answering machines every night. Been there. I like Randy's district's "Webelos Transition Coordinator"...great idea!

To an outsider witnessing a BSA activity, such as a troop meeting, OA ceremony, Wood Badge training, Roundtable, etc, they might come away with the idea that Scouting IS a religion. There are analogies any where we turn. We even have our own Creed and list of "Commandments" (Oath and Law). To some youth, Scouting is the only exposure to religion that they will experience.

To an outsider witnessing a BSA activity, such as a troop meeting, OA ceremony, Wood Badge training, Roundtable, etc, they might come away with the idea that Scouting IS a religion. There are analogies any where we turn. We even have our own Creed and list of "Commandments" (Oath and Law). To some youth, Scouting is the only exposure to religion that they will experience.

Just got a printout in the mail from the DE, with a list of all TAW in the District (based on age and grade level). We (troop unit leaders) were admonished to call each one on the list and ensure that they cross over to a troop. What struck me was that there are only 71 names on the list, coming from 21 packs in the district. There are 17 troops in the district, ranging in size from 70 scouts to 6. The largest group of Webs comes from the largest Pack, sponsored by an evangelical church, which is a pretty closed community (only members of the church belong to the scout units, with few exceptions), and one could assume that those Webs will automatically join their own troop, which is now the largest in the District. A coworker used to be active in those units, and they don't participate in popcorn, FOS or most other district/council activities, although they do make an annual token cash conribution to Council. Because they have good numbers, the District leaves them alone. That's neither here nor there, however. My question is, how does that compare to your experience? We have not had any new Webs join our happy little troop in 2 years. It's my observation that there simply are not that many Cubs out there looking for a troop, and there are too many troops to feed, many of which have less than 10 members registered. There are 6 troops within a 3 mile radius of my house. Maybe this has always been the case, and I am just now seeing the numbers?

"She informs me that nearly all the projects seem to not belong to the Scout and when Dad isn't there with his list and his ideas the Scouts have little or no idea what is going on." Sadly, this is the trend I am seeing as well. A co-worker's son recently received (I won't say "earned") the Eagle. I spent 6 months listening to her trials and tribulations as SHE dealt with all the details of getting the project completed. I would gently try to ask, "so, tell me again why YOU are doing this?", to which I just got, "well he is so busy with sports and school, SOMEONE has to make all these calls for him!" Now she is so proud of HIS accomplishment, and I just have to roll my eyes.

SW, it's found several pages back, like p.6 or 7. Only those making >$50K are listed. In my council, that's two people, and the SE makes double what the other one (Assistant SE) does. I find it curious that the compensation listed DEcreased from 2004-2005, and the contribution to pension fund dropped from around $13,000 to less than $500. Consequently, I don't trust those numbers any more than I do the membership numbers. Or maybe it does reflect performance, but I doubt it. We are having our troop FOS presentation next week. I have been a consistent high dollar (relatively) pledger for many years, but this year, I think I'll write a check for $25 just to get my name off the call-back list. My big dollars will go to the Troop. To the IRS, it's all the same. Not to sound petty, but my council offers special collectable CSPs and coffee mug every year for a certain level of donation, and I haven't gotten one for a couple of years. It just doesn't seem important to anyone, in spite of numerous reminders. I am an avid patch collector, so that leaves a sour taste in my mouth. If they can't even do that right, how do I know they are spending my money wisely?(This message has been edited by scoutldr)

"1701- USS Enterprise, NCC-1701 (cool if you were lived in Enterprise, Alabama)" I had never heard of Enterprise, AL prior to this thread. Now they're in the news the same week. Please don't mention my town ... Thoughts and prayers to the people of Enterprise...

If we have to buy a tag from BSA to make up the BSA's profit, then what incentive do I have to make my own uniform? If it's going to end up costing me the same, I'll just let the 12 year old in Bangladesh get his 38 cents a day for making them.

Cub Resident Camp!

OGE, no Bradbury fans here, apparently. A high-tech crew would be 1984. A high adventure crew specializing in winter survival could be Crew -32. We had a Post 911...emergency services. When I got back to Scouting with my sons, we joined Pack 66. The Pack split and we formed Pack 99. Split again and formed Pack 991. Then we formed Troop 99.