scoutldr

scoutmom is correct. In a "perfect world", The CC and SM/CM are recruited and appointed by the CO/COR. The CC then recruits and appoints the rest of the committee, with the CO's approval, and the SM does likewise with his/her assistants. There is no "election" involved. One solution posted previously on this forum is to establish all positions as one-year terms, renewable at the discretion of the CO. Some will be asked to continue, some will not, and some will be relieved that their "term" is up and they can step down gracefully. But all this is up to the CO. The reality is, many CO's are content not to be involved in the process, other than to provide a meeting place and a signature on the charter every year.(This message has been edited by scoutldr)

Neil said, "If a boy is insufficiently active, they say he should be transferred on the rolls to being an "associate" member." I'm not aware of this membership category...can someone please clarify? As far as I know, they are either registered members and show up on your charter...or not. To address FOG's original question, if the scout's POR is "Troop Photographer", I would ask him to bring his "portfolio" to the BOR for review. When he can't produce, ask him why he is there. The answer should be obvious, even to him. The purpose of the BOR should be to show the scout the path to making an "ethical decision."(This message has been edited by scoutldr)

Not to oversimplify, but the professional's job depends on more youth, more units and more money. If they are successful, making Quality District, you can expect them to be leaving soon as they are transferred to another district or take a promotion to another Council. Eamonn, the situation you describe violates several points of the Scout Law, not to mention possible fraud when it comes to the operation of a non-profit corporation. Heads should roll, and I would side with you in refusing to be a party to it.

Oz: "Remembrance Day" is known as Veterans Day here in the US. It was originally Armistice Day, celebrated on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11 Month, when the armistice ending WWI was signed. It is now Veterans' Day and is one of the few holidays that was not moved to a Monday by Congress. It is proper to fly the national ensign at half-staff until noon, at which time it is restored to full-staff. We are proud to have the Australians as allies throughout the past century.(This message has been edited by scoutldr)

On line roundtables? Isn't that what we're doing here???

Thanks, twocub. You echoed my sentiments exactly. It is very frustrating as a trainer to have to tell Den Leaders in an April course, "of course come September when you become a WL, you are no longer trained and have to take WL training which is 75% a repeat of this course." In fact, this is so stressful that I am thinking of stepping down as a trainer and trying some other underserved position, such as Commissioner. As to Fast Start, our training is advertised as "Fast Start training is a prerequisite". Then I just assume they have all had it, realizing, of course that in reality very few have done it.

I agree with FOG...it's cultural. We could name this generation "The Pamperedest Generation". Before everyone jumps on me with both feet, I will agree there are exceptions...but they are getting fewer and fewer. This generation wants everything spoon fed to them, and I see it every day. Who's guilty? We all are: parents, teachers, scouters, coaches, employers. We no longer demand that they be responsible and accountable. Didn't do your homework? We know you're awfully busy, so bring it in when by the end of the semester and we'll count it. Don't want to work on MB? We'll organize a class and tell you what to do step by step, so you don't have to figure it out. Filling out your Eagle application? I'll go to council for you and make sure your records are straight. In the absence of specific direction, they choose to do nothing productive. My Dad was one of the Greatest Generation...a submarine sailor in the Pacific theater serving from 1941-1964. Half of his buddies didn't come home. What did he teach me? If you want something, work for it. If you want a gift, wait for Christmas. If you want to make Eagle, you do the work, not him. If you don't know what to do, figure out what the right thing is and do that. Stupidity is painful...as it should be. If you make a mistake, admit it, fix it, and move on. Every bad decision has a bad consequence. Some hurt you. Some hurt others. B's on the report card mean you didn't work hard enough. If you want money, get a job...any job. No job is beneath you if it needs to be done. If you need to get to school, don't waste gas, ride the bus. Play is what you do if the work gets done. Until you graduate high school, school is your job. Everyone needs to know how to cook, sew on a button, clean house, wash clothes, use tools, change their own oil and do a tune up, and take care of the house and yard. Before you leave home to get book-learnin'. Dad passed on in 1995, but I still feel his guiding hand every day. I do my best to pass on the lessons of life to my own sons and Scouts, as I can think of no greater legacy to leave when I'm gone. They don't always like it and think I'm mean and unreasonable. I felt the same way at their age, but I am forever grateful. Thanks, Dad.

FOG has the right idea. Here's the concept: following each BOR, the advancement chair logs in to the unit's folder on Scoutnet and enters the advancement info. It will not accept any entries that do not match, e.g., unregistered scout, wrong name (Bobby vice Robert), logic errors (advancement to rank if previous ranks are not entered; not enough time between ranks, Lifesaving MB if Swimming not already entered, etc). Prior to COH, advancement chair goes to scout shop to purchase awards...registrar pulls up current report (awards entered, but not yet purchased), and only those awards are sold. Records are duplicated in at least two locations, unit and Council. In this age of technology, there's absolutely no reason to be doing this repeated work with stubby pencils. Perhaps Oracle Corp would like to take some of their profits and donate the code for this project???

I know an SM who after 30+ years, is still attending roundtables. At what point would you consider him "trained"? As a trainer, one of my frustrations is that there is not enough time allotted for each course...if one follows the syllabus to the letter, shows the videos, etc, there is no time for questions, discussions, interaction, sharing of ideas, etc. We would be there until midnight. I agree that the weakest courses, next to TDC (which is pretty worthless), are the Cub Specific courses. My council always (in spite of my pleadings) advertises "Cub Specific" as one course. Then, out of a class of say 20 people, I get 2-3 of each flavor, most of whom don't know what unit, den or district they are in. As a sole instructor, or with maybe an assistant to help run the videos and pass out papers, there is no way I can split the group of 20 into five groups and still be effective. Also, in the "specific" curricula, there is much overlap ... the same info is presented to each group with little different that addresses a specific position. I plan to capitalize on the Pack Trainer concept in my district. I will train the trainers...they will train (and mentor on an ongoing basis!!!) their unit level leaders. The best instructor is one who has been there recently, not a 50 year old gray-beard who hasn't been a Cub Scouter since 1985. Ideally, prospective DLs should start as Assistants, then move up. Same with CMs. Nothing beats OJT...you don't learn how to have a fun den meeting by listening to a lecture. To Thumper...good ideas...thanks.

Not me!

FOG said, "They work as hard as they can to not believe in a supremem being when the evidence that there is a supreme being is all around them." Kinda like the Christians who teach their kids that those dinosaur skeletons are all fakes planted there by the evolutionists?

Everyone is correct, we can't add to the advancement requirements. We don't have an attendance requirement. We believe that "any" Scouting is better than "no" Scouting. But...the Scout and his parents need to understand that there will be natural consequences to their choices, e.g., he may not be elected to leadership positions by the rest of the Troop (out of sight, out of mind), he may not be elected to OA, he may not advance as a result of not satisfactorily completing a leadership position, merit badge work, etc. Make it clear that these are all within his control, not the Troop Committee's. Then if the troop elects an SPL who never shows up, then they will have a learning experience, as well, and that's within THEIR control. Boy-led, boy-led, boy-led. If you continue to make sure they can't fail by creating artificial boundaries to their decisions, they will never learn anything.

So THAT's where all the Unit Commissioners are! I've never actually seen a live one in the wild.

The BSA Policy is called the "Declaration of Religious Principle" and is found on the inside cover of the adult leader application: BSA DECLARATION OF RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLE Excerpted: from Adult Registration Application B.S.A. No. 28-501K. The Boy Scouts of America maintains that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God and, therefore, recognizes the religious element in the training of the member, but is absolutely non-sectarian in its attitude toward that religious training. The Boy Scouts of America's policy is that the home and the organization or group with which the member is connected shall give definite attention to religious life. Only persons willing to subscribe to this Declaration of Religious Principle and to the Bylaws of the Boy Scouts of America shall be entitled to certificates of leadership.

I've seen these on eBay, but are they an official BSA item? If not, then putting it on the red wool jac-shirt is questionable, since it is considered part of the uniform.

Nice web page! Is this near Lake Monroe?

To be honest, I have never played laser tag, but the "weapon" is probably no more powerful than a laser pointer which you can buy at any Office Max...no danger unless you hold it right in your eye for an extended period of time. More likely the gadgets use an infrared beam much like your TV remote. No hazard there. So why is it forbidden in the G2SS, I don't have a clue. Now paintball, I can see. Them suckers HURT! Scouting, to quote someone famous, is "a game with a purpose". What does laser tag teach someone? How to hunt and kill humans during simulated combat? What with sports, school and other things, there are precious few hours available to us for Scouting...why not spend them teaching/learning something useful? They can do laser tag the other 6 days of the week.(This message has been edited by scoutldr)

In case anyone missed it, around Nov 03, the Robert E. Lee Council of Richmond, Va, became the "Heart of Virginia Council". http://www.relcbsa.org/

As I stated before, my objection is during check-in when I (a 50 year old adult) am subjected to being questioned in front of a group by a 14 y.o. CIT about items on my health form and medications (WHat's THAT for?)...and come to find out she's not even medical staff...she worked in the handicraft area. It may not violate any rules, but it ain't proper.

I don't mind vigorous campaigning as much as I do apathy. We just had City Council and School Board elections. Most of the incumbents were re-elected because they ran unopposed. Needless to say, voter turnout was very low, and we're looking at 4 more years of the status quo. Very sad, indeed.

Yep, I remember making my own arrow and having them notched...allegedly 3 notches and you were out (never actually saw that happen, though). Now the arrows are pre-made and issued upon call-out.

Well, it worked. Spelled 16 different ways. Still can't get in.

One of the purposes of having an "Assistant " is to have someone who can keep the program going in the absence of the primary leader. It is not expected that the DL will be able to attend 100% of the meetings, so the DA has to fill in and take up the load in his/her absence. That means the DA needs to know everything the DL knows, and it's another benefit of "two deep" leadership. Every registered "direct contact" leader should be "Trained" in their position. Some councils are making it mandatory.

Ditto, NeiLup! No one has been able to explain why the percentage of Eagles hovered at 2% for so many years and now suddenly it's 4%. We do a Life to Eagle session at U of S, and I found it to be excellent, answering questions about leadership positions, recordkeeping, leadership project (it's the process, not the product), etc. If we are to do our jobs and produce a new generation of self-reliant, confident leaders (of society, not necessarily Scouting), we have to stop the spoon-feeding. That goes for the schools and colleges, as well.

Ordeal 1970 (back when Allowat was about 7 feet tall and the "tap" would buckle your knees!) Brotherhood 1991 Former Chapter Vice-Chief Current Associate Chapter Advisor It's now called a "call-out" ceremony. Sheesh.