spider

Our troop has been to both types of camps. The boys that have been to Camp Freeland Leslie (patrol camp) cook more on their regular weekend campouts(alot less requests for hot dogs and pop tarts). This year we went to Napowan with a "dining hall". The boys who had gone to CFL previously were not happy with the quality of the food in the dining hall experience. The parents of the first year scouts really liked the dining hall idea because it gave their boys more opportunity to do merit badges. Average number of merit badges at CFL was 4-5, average merit badges at Napowan was 7-10. Most c

Well, its been a little over a year since I asked for your advice, thought you should have an update. Both of my sons and I finally had enough and have switched troops. We have been in the new troop since October and wish we had made the switch earlier. This last January at the district Klondike, there was an incident with the old troop members and my son and his new troop patrol mates. The old guys deliberately ran my sons patrol over with their sled and also brandished a hatchet at the members of his patrol. My son's SM had a chat with the new SM of the previous troop and the SM of th

Thank you, SR540Beaver, for your advice. Three quarters of the committee has had training. The sad thing is the Committee Chair, Secretary and I took training together and at one time we were all on the same page. Last night they had an emergency committee meeting and I am expecting a confrontation at tonite's meeting. I have always been included in committee meetings except for this one so I assume I was the reason for the meeting. I have written out my plan for the troop and I will offer it up to them tonite. We will see if their understanding of the program is still the same as mi

1) What type of scouting unit is it? Troop 2) Do you feel you have a well functioning committee? No. I assumed the SM position in December after the troop was foundering with an absent SM and trying to run the troop by committee (too many cooks!). Now the CC is unwilling to give up control so the program can function as it was designed to. Other members are confused by what is happening and don't know how to help the situation. 3) How many members are on it and what are their specific assignments? 12 members. 6 have specif jobs; CC, Advancement chair, treasurer, secretar

Sorry, it seems a sentence got lost from my last post. It should have read: My son has asked the other boy to leave him alone, sort of an agree to disagree kind of thing, and reportedly the other boy has said "No, I like it this way."

Thank you all for your insights. Some of the committee was able to get together last night and others will be getting together today to talk about some of this. So far we are agreed to an ASM doing a SM conference and the committee having a discussion with the parents -probably no more than 3 so as not to make them feel we're ganging up on them. The discussions will touch all of the points; G2SS issues, scout spirit and rank advancement. Though the boy has been tenderfoot for over a year and seems to be proud of that fact, he has made comments as to what he wants to do for an E

According to the other boy's mother, this is the latest craze going on at the high school. I checked the web-site for Sprintrelayonline.com and it says that no records are kept of the phone calls that are placed or what the content of the message is, so there is no way to trace the calls. According to my son, even the relay operator thought the call was funny -she was laughing as she repeated the message.

I've just read the postings for "A Patrol of difficult Scouts" and decided to throw another your way. I apologize for the length of this, but I want you to have a good sense of what's been happening. My son has been the victim of a bully in his school for over 4 years and Scout troop for 2 years. No one, besides me, has taken my son seriously, they(school officials, troop leaders/committee) believed he was overreacting or provoking the harassment. The mother's stand has always been "boys will be boys". The school officials have finally come around and have taken measures to mini

Thank you all for your prompt and comprehensive replies. I understand Bob White's point, the OA leadership should provide the adults necessary for supervising the OA function and our OA boys should be experienced enough to handle themselves properly. Most of the problem lies with the lack of information given to the rest of the troop that is not involved in OA. We are told that's the way it is and not given any reason, as if that part were as secret as the ceremonies. The troop committee is still nervous though because WE do not know who the leaders are and if there will be enough attendin

I need some advice in reference to Order of the Arrow camping events and adult leadership. The G2SS states that 2 adult leaders are required for all campouts. The SM handbook repeats the same requirement and adds that this applies to provisional troops and Order of the Arrow as well. Some of the leaders in my troop have been told by "someone" from our Council that OA is exempt from this rule. There are a number of leaders in our district that claim they were told the same thing but no one will say who told them. Maybe someone with OA experience can give me some advice on where to go with