scoutldr

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.

It's still there. And I plan to have it in my obituary, too. As a manager who frequently has to review resumes of potential job candidates, I look for things like that. Nowadays, everyone has a high school diploma and the necessary college degrees to work in my profession. So I have to look for some other discriminator, and having been an Eagle Scout, (or the GS equivalent) or even a leader tells me that chances are this is a go-to person who I can trust to be proactive and get the job done right the first time. I look for "leaders" even for a non-supervisory position. Makes my job a lot easier in the long run.

A cardinal rule is that the we may neither add to nor subtract from the requirements. Ask them for documentation of the requirement that proves that is must be Scout related. Their opinions don't count. Moving into Venturing may be the best thing to happen to him anyway...it was for me (back when we called it "Exploring")...and he's still in the BSA program.

Wouldn't the most fair thing be to just adopt the "box rules" and leave it at that. As I try to teach new leaders, when the unit thinks they need to start making up special rules (by-laws, etc), it usually leads to unforeseen complications. As with advancement, we should neither add nor subtract requirements. Seems like this should be a good policy for other things, as well. Who cares if a catamaran wins? Sounds innovative to me, if the ru

Eammon, my man...How can you justify making $3000 profit on a Wood Badge course? (or did I misunderstand your post?) The way I was taught to do event planning, your registration fee is set to cover a good faith estimate of expenses. No more, no less, +/- . Realizing, of course, that no event will come in exactly on the money, but it should be pretty close. If I were a participant and knew that my training fee was inflated to cover other expenses, such as a copy machine, I would be outraged. My council already charges us trainers 9 cents per copy, which should cover the amortized cost of the machine. I normally just go to Kinkos' which is more convenient.

"Maritime Interest Sea Scouts". Isn't that redundant? Why wait for a "new program"? Just charter a ship and DO IT!

We have 11,000 scouts in 355 units and 7 districts in our council. We have only one pro in our district, but his title is District Director. He reports to a Field Director, who reports to the SE. I still don't understand the hierarchy. I think consolidation is done purely for financial reasons. If you can collapse 2 councils into one, you only need one SE, thus saving about a hundred grand off the top, plus benefits. When membership drops, camp attendance drops (or they go out of council), FOS drops, it's hard to maintain the same level of infrastructure and overhead. It's purely business.

I think it has something to do with the hunting and killing of humans. Even though simulated.