scoutldr

This saga illustrates why self-chartered units are not recommended. Sorta like the fox guarding the henhouse.

If I were asked to take over as Treasurer, I would request an independent audit before agreeing, so we start with a "clean slate" so to speak. The audit could simply be by a committee appointed by the CC...perhaps consisting of a few parents and/or members of the CO.

I haven't seen RichardB in a while...he is the National POC for G2SS issues. "any and all activities" is pretty unambiguous. If that's not what BSA meant, they need to revise the language. For the swimming example you posted above, I would say definitely yes. If every Scout has a parent or LEGAL guardian present for the activity, then they assume the responsibility for medical issues, not the Scouters. I would insist that every Scout have a permission slip signed by the parent for every activity that is not a routine meeting. Caveat: I am not an attorney.

I;m amazed the GSUSA isn't jumping all over the trademark infringement.

I think the intent for "2 deep" is that when on an outing, if an adult has to take a scout (and his buddy) for medical care, there will be an adult with the group left behind. Then, as long as there is no "one on one contact", everything is fine until the adult returns or a second adult can join the group. Yes, you can have a meeting with one adult present (it's not an "outing") as long as more than one scout is also present.

I wish you well, Joe. That's how it's designed to be.

I'm reading this at 6:49 pm, EST.

Howdy, Ma! Welcome to the campfire!

Here are some ideas...I would have the SPL/PLC do some research and propose some ideas. http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/Ceremonies.pdf

Thank you for your interest in this young man. To answer your questions, no there are no academic prerequisites to be a Scout. There is no minimum level of participation, except for rank advancement which states, "be active in your troop for a period of XXX". The criteria for "active" are largely determined by the troop leadership, hopefully taking each Scout's situation into consideration. When baseball season starts, we typically had some who temporarily "suspended" their scouting activity, but we knew if we asked them to choose, we might very well lose. So we took the attitude that "enjoy baseball and we'll see you when you come back". They always came back. The decision to suspend Scouting is up to the parents and scout. My only concern is, that with his negative attitude toward school, his newly found "free time" will be spent somewhere else other than school. The Scouting program can be highly educational, and there are (or used to be) guides out there that would correlate various scouting activities with educational goals (in my state, called "Standards of Learning"). So instead of cutting him off completely from an activity he loves, is there a way to achieve educational goals through Scouting? I know that college admissions staffs look at how extra-curricular time was spent...it's not all about grades and SAT scores, especially if he starts in a Community College and can perform well there. Just my 2 cents.

My neighbor's little girl just hit me up for GS cookies. She's a Daisy. I had the option of "pay me now or upon delivery". I presume if I don't fork over the cash, I don't get my cookies. The other advantage of cookies is we're only talking about, what 3 bucks? So, if the scout delivers the goods, there had better be cash or checks collected to cover it. Or a police report.

A lucky Boomer raised by the Greatest Generation. I say lucky because Dad was on submarines in the Pacific theater in WWII. 50% of them never came home.

I haven't been at the unit level for a few years now, but I agree. CS Roundtables were fantastic in my District, being run by older, experienced ladies who were probably Den Mothers when I was a boy. BS Roundtable was nothing but announcements by the DE and passing down popcorn information. We got tired of wasting an evening to hear something that could have been put in an email. I think OA Chapter meetings are even more dismal.

Of course, that's not to say that it wouldn't have been "friendly, courteous and kind" for the COR to discuss his/her intentions with the committee so they were aware of what was going on. Presumably, if something would have happened to the equipment, the COR would have replaced it for you?

I agree with Stosh...I wonder how many of the other rules and laws they blow off as "not worth worrying about"...

All MBCs must be registered with the District and "Trained". In the training, they are taught that they may NOT add or subtract from the requirements. Worksheets and written reports are "added requirements" if not expressly required in the MB Pamphlet. That being said, the BSA has a process for "alternate requirements" for boys who have a documented disability.

Quoting the leader,"He said 'This is a naturalist beach, and my family and I go through here all the time it's not a big deal.'" I agree with Huey...they guy is a moron and should have his membership revoked. He knew what he was doing when he planned it.

As I stated in another thread, my wife is a school nurse. As such, she also has responsibility for emergency care of faculty and staff members. One way she's solved this is to request each adult to write down "things we need to know in case of an emergency" and place it in a signed and sealed envelope, which she keeps on file to be opened only in the event she has to call 911 for any of them. At the end of the school year, she hands them back at the last faculty meeting and asks if anyone needs to update anything. Might be an acceptable compromise for you.

If the OP had outlined the WHOLE issue in the first post, my answer would have been more complete. Health and safety rules of the BSA are not negotiable by the committee, whether by vote or by consensus.

Committees are free to function in any manner they choose, if in agreement with the Chartered Organization. There are no rules to my knowledge at the BSA National level. If someone is not satisfied with how the Committee is functioning, they should take it up with the Chartered Organization Representative (COR). In my experience, most Committees function by consensus.

BSA YPT made me really paranoid. After years of Scouter-ing, I re-enrolled at the city rec center to do winter lap swimming. Imagine my discomfort when, as I was showering and getting dressed in an open locker room/shower room (nude, of course), a bunch of yutes run in as their swim class dismissed. It seems no one actually showers in the nude any more. And no "separate showers"...just male and female locker rooms. And no showers before swimming...they just strip off their clothes and already have their swim trunks on underneath. yuk.

Unfortunately, I don't think there's much you can do. I am a public health professional and my wife is an elementary school nurse. Parents today are so narcissistic that they put your kids at risk daily. They will take their kid who has been vomiting all night and has a 103 fever, dose them up with Tylenol and put them on the school bus, hoping against hope that they will make it through the day. Sometimes they don't even make it to class...they get off the bus and go straight to the clinic. Sometimes the parents don't even work...they just don't want to be bothered with them staying home. It's infuriating. She had one just this past Friday...when the tylenol wore off and the kid showed up in the clinic, the mom was called and her only concern was "well at least she got to participate in the party, right?" She did check, and of a student population of a little over 700, she has 7 who have "religious exemptions" to immunizations. There are always a few others who are exempt because of other medical conditions, such as HIV, or chemotherapy. In this state, all the parent needs to do is fill out a form and sign it to get the exemption. I'm betting if you asked the kid what "religion" they are or what church they go to, they wouldn't have a clue. Due to inclusion laws, there are kids in schools intermingling with the others who have HIV, or aren't immunized, or other conditions. Due to HIPAA laws, only the nurse knows...if the school has a nurse (not all schools do). She is not allowed to tell anyone else, and in the case of HIV, the parents are not required to disclose it. Bottom line is, if the parents don't inform the scout unit of an illness, you're not going to know. Unless the local public health authorities advise to "avoid public gatherings", there's not much you can do. I did hear that in the western states experiencing the measles outbreak, non immunized kids who are exposed are then banned from school for 3 weeks, religious exemption or not. That's a smart move, since you can be contagious up to 4 days before symptoms are evident.

I should have said, "the TAY for the geographic area remains the same..." The edit function wouldn't work for some reason.

I don't have any data, but my guess is it would have zero, or negative impact on membership. The Total Available Youth (TAY) for the gegraphic area, and you would have fewer professionals (DEs) out there going after them. The only reason for a merger is to reduce overhead costs.

Cheating is rampant in schools and colleges, and the kids think nothing of it. I once heard my son telling his cousin how to rip music off the internet. They were dumbfounded when I suggested that there was something morally wrong (not to mention illegal) about that. Once I got over charged at a Home Depot (an expensive item didn't get scanned), and when I returned to pay what I owed, the cashier and manager looked at me like I had 3 heads. The problem is, they all can sleep perfectly well at night (unlike me), because it doesn't even occur to them that they've done something wrong. We have failed. At least I've learned what "torrenting" is.