5yearscouter

Oh and for communication and roster we just use Gmail, add in all the email addresses. make clicky sign up forms for events, type up short newsletter updates, add in the calendar, and use gmail documents to keep an excel-like roster with all the main leaders having access. We also have a free website that we can sync the gmail calendar if we want to, and create custom pages, store documents for everyone to see, but nobody wants to update the website, so there it sits....

We were only looking at it at the pack level as a tool for communication, roster tracking, etc....

We don't go as far as you do 5yearscouter at the pack level, we track nothing. We put on a program, arrange meetings, arrange camping trips and other pack level outings, but do not keep attendance or log anything.

On a Den level, my first task from our then Tiger leader was to keep track of the "paperwork".... so I started to log attendance. I also started filling out the achievements for the boys, but we just don't get enough boys/parents that are signing things off in their books until the end of the year. I'm trying to work with our DL to make the instant recognition beads a formal part of the program with a few minutes at each meeting encouraging book sign offs, recording progress, uniform wear, etc...

I like your idea of asking the boys to turn in their books for recording, but I don't want to sit at the back of the room each meeting flipping through books trying to decode what new has been signed off on. How do you make that work?

we give each boy a handful of sticky notes in the front of their book. when the parents signs something, we ask them to put the sticky note on that page. then we collect the books once a month and look for sticky notes to record those things. towards blue and gold we might go thru a book and see if there is something we know the boy did but the parents forgot to sign. for webelos we TRY to get the boy to sticky note the book, and bring it to the den leader to be signed, sort of like they might need to do in boy scouting, but sometimes that works better than other times.

we track rank advancemets at the pack level because otherwise we can't get the rank badges at the scout shop. we have a small excel spreadsheet and we write the date earned, we highlight the field if we haven't bought the award yet.

we track the belt loops and the other scout awards at the pack level because the pack will pay for them one time, so it's just a track of yes, we bought this scout LNT, and we don't have to budget to pay for that badge ever again. we probably could just use internet advancement for this and get rid of the excel spreadsheet except we do track a couple of council/district/unit things that aren't listed on internet advancement yet like service stars.

We have never had good luck with any den using the instant recognition fobs and beads very effectively. In 8 years of doing cub scouts now, it has always been hit and miss, with boys getting beads at first, then no beads, then close to blue and gold we get a chunk of beads being handed out. I would prefer to just get rid of the beads personally. we end up chasing them around on the floor more than doing anything else.

for dens we recommend the summary page of the excel spreadsheets -- not filling it in for each individual part of every thing for each scout on their own page, but a den-wide sheet showing the names of all scouts at the top and a place to mark next to each part when done based on attendance. something that could be printed and stuck in the front of the den leader book and checked off with monthly or every othermonth the boys turning in their books to be recorded. some den leaders do that, some just seem to wait for the parent to tel them that their so is done with the rank requirements ad they call it good enough.

I really believe that the individual tracking of each part of an achievement for a boy's rank is not something you should worry about at the pack level. there is not enough time in the day to track all the teeny parts in a reasonably sized pack.

So for the pack, I handed out an advancement sheet to the den leaders at the leader mtg, suggested that they check thigs like LNT and World conservation or OAA when I thought they needed that reminder. Then at the pack level we used a scout trax kind of excel spreadsheet--I edited it to include just the main stuff, ranks, belt loops, and the bigger awards (LNT, OAA etc). I enter the dates earned and then transfer it to internet advancement buy the awards and write out the cards and call it done.

We tried packmaster and we spent so much time trying to make sure everyone's info was right down to the little parts that it made it near on impossible to get someone to take over advancement chair. They saw it as a huge undertaking and we HAD to simplify it.

For the boy without his bobcat badge, I would go over all the parts with him. For #8: With your parent or guardian, complete the exercises in the booklet, How to Protect Your Children from Child Abuse. I would step in and tell him to read the booklet and talk to his parent about it. The next time I see his parent--even if that means standing out in the parking lot and talking to the parent in the doorway of their automobile, and ask them to please cover this part with their son. Explain that it says with parent, so you as den leader can't do it with them. If the parent isn't the one driving them to mtgs, I would assume that their "guardian" is doing it, and ask them to go over it with them. If the parent refuses, I might spend 5 minutes in a den meeting going over it with the whole den--covering the basics of don't go anywhere without telling your parent where you are going and getting their permission. There are some what if kind of scenarios in the Wolf badge that would sort of go along with it. and then I would sign it and give the boy his Bobcat badge.

And then go from there. Many Many parents think that if you are spending an hour a week with their kid that there should be no reason for homework or no reason for the parent to have to do anything out of the book with them. That's part of what you have to get across to parents that they don't always understand. Go thru and highlight and sticky note the items in the book that you are NOT going to do in the year and that they should do with their parent. and then do your best to get thru the rest of it with them in den meetings. keep communicating with the parents so they understand what is expected of them.

We did socks wars in December. Everyone who wanted to participate brought at least 6 pairs of white men's athletic socks.

We balled them all up like snow balls. divided them up so each den had about the same number of socks in laundry baskets at their fort. used the cafeteria tables they fold in the middle and are on wheels so we could make forts. and the cubmaster would blow the whistle and everyone would throw socks like snowballs. After a few minutes, blow the whistle to stop, everyone grabs socks and goes at it again. the adults started grabbing socks. someone took extra socks and stuffed them in one sock and made one ginormous sock and kept throwing it at the cubmaster, but other than that nothing weird happened. Then we had cold drinks and cookies. For gathering before the sock wars the kids all made christmas cards while we waited for all the socks to arrive.

A volunteer parent collected all the socks, washed them in scent free detergent, packaged them up in gallon sized ziplock bags, stapled a christmas card to the front and delivered them to a homeless shelter to distribute at christmas. I think we ended up with 150 pairs of socks donated. not a lot but for a small pack it sure looked like a lot of socks to the kids.

Basically it looks like Christineka has all the leadership she's required to have ON PAPER, but none really in person doing their job in person??!!

I would ask each parent if they could help with 1 meeting, even if all they do is stay for the meeting and hang out. with the LDS church's history within scouting, any dads that sign up most likely were cub scouts themselves and they may be more helpful than you think. For big jobs, ask parents does anyone do woodworking and could help boys with birdhouses or making the step stools or pinewood derby cars? or if anyone is an outdoor nut that would show the boys how to set up a tent, or identify trees or rocks or do the whittling chit with them to teach pocketknive safety. moms can help with chore charts and cooking and anthign else that aligns with their interest.

Now don't forget the community, or even the nearest traditional scout unit in your area if your bishop won't mind. sometimes there is a very small local pack that you can combine forces with for pinewood derby or other big things.

But also don't forget to look around at lowes and home depot and michaels for things like birdhouse building workshops. and local rock and mineral museum for geology stuff, a local tree farm or nursery to do some plant identification and leaf collections, local bakery for a tour, ride on public transportation around the block, see if the local zoo has a scout discount day.

Ask the boy scout troop if they can't give you a boy on a regular basis, could you get a couple of boys to help with pocketknife safety for webelos and bears? or for knot tying. or to play games for a cub scout olympics day. or help running the pinewood derby.

Check for council or district events that will fullfill your needs as well.

Don't do it all alone, ask and keep asking for help. you may not get what you want, but you might get what you need.....

We tended to do 45 min for tigers, 1 hr for wolves, 1 hr 15 min or so for bears, and 1 hr and a half for webelos.

Start your gathering activity on time. do it for no more than 15 minutes, that means if they show up 10 min late, they get to start the activity and have to take it home to finish it.

We'd try to do a small elective thing as gathering activity. so for wolves it would be the pie pan washer toss for a bit, or practice playing catch for the achievement; sometimes it would be sit down stuff like make an emergency contact list to put next to the phone--I'd print out a worksheet for it, the'd glue to red construction paper and fill in what they know, fold in half write In emergency call 911 on the front. For bears we might do a sheet to learn the states on a map, or cut out grocery store ads and figure out what a meal would cost, or a food pyramid/plate activity; or do some 2 man games. or pick one thing in a badge in webelos to work on--like the meal planning worksheet, or practice tying knots.

Be sure your flag ceremony starts with it as a main activity to show several ways of doing a flag ceremony and spend a bit of time on flag folding and running them up the flag pole. after that spend about 5 minutes on a quick indoor flag ceremony. then in a few months, repeat the longer flag main activity for any new scouts you've gotten and have the boys practice for doing it in a pack meeting.

expect your main activity for younger boys to never last more tha 30 minutes of sitting down time. shorter than that is ideal.

As for your 2nd leader showing up late, let them know it's imperative that they show up on time, or make one of the other parents stay until they arrive. 2 deep leadership for the whole meeting is really a foundation rule for your own safety. Let your church leaders know if you are struggling with getting another adult there on time if it continues. but talk to the other leader and see if meeting start time needs to move to accomodate them due to work or other scheduling issue.

We had bad luck sending things home to be finished--they never were completed.. But there is no reason why you couldn't start it one week as the main activity and finish it the next week as the gathering activity. We also tended to break up craftsman and work on one project a month til it was completed, so we could mix things up and not be sitting doing crafts for a month+ straight. The boys liked things mixed up. Also be sure to have a pack meeting night to display everything you've made and ask the boys to all bring theirs to show off.

We made the bear display thingy from the book for patches that looks like an animal hide and used it for webelos craftsman. Hint, we used chamois you can buy it pretty cheap, made a pattern and cut branches off of a tree. We used wire to wrap the corners to hold it together, but then covered the wire with thin leather strips so it looked like it was lashed together. Then when they get out of their blue uniforms, they can put all their patches on there and give away the blue uniform shirt to someone else in the pack to wear.

You could make buddy boards from wolf and have it be a bear or webelos woodworking project. Or the stilts or other things from the wolf book.

ok, so to unclick the default scout user role, we'd then have to click which items all scouts should be able to do. Going thru the list, having used the TWHost for a while, which items are most likely for scouts to use? most of the items seem to be adult options, or scouts in specific leadership positions.

Now if you don't click the view membership option, doesn't that mean they can't view any member data? That doesn't just hide some info, it hides all info about the scouts and leaders? We just want SOME reports or some data fields hidden from the member data reports, not all the data hidden. know what I mean?

 

See that's an example of something that appears to be a community event, not a scout unit, district or council event--but it is supported and attended heavily by scout units. So we would talk it up in scout meetings, and get the SM on board to count it for the award. That would be something I'd think of as an exceptable under the auspices that isn't technically a scout event.

 

 

Everything does not have to be strictly a Scout Sponsored Event.

However You Must apply BSA Rules

They Obtain a Tour Permit prior to Coming

They Observe BSA Guidelines

but occassionally a community or church event could become "under the auspices" with a little work by the unit/patrols.

But just for fun stuff doesn't count cause it's not auspicious enough.

auspices is a weird word, isn't it?

Type slower Basement....

I know you can set settings for individuals to see certain things, but that seems to take out whole tabs at the top for people, not just reports.

So what exactly did he say you could do and where? We can hide addresses and phone numbers and email addresses how? when my CC emailed he did not get that kind of answer. so what question did you ask?

If anyone Needs Miles For Cycling Wichita Falls Texas has Hotter-n-Hell 100 Bike Ride In August every year. We have several Scout Units participate each Year. Still time to register. Wichita Lodge 35 will be working Event again this year. I am sure if yall look around you can find a Bike Ride to participate in as a Scout Unit

See that's an example of something that appears to be a community event, not a scout unit, district or council event--but it is supported and attended heavily by scout units. So we would talk it up in scout meetings, and get the SM on board to count it for the award. That would be something I'd think of as an exceptable under the auspices that isn't technically a scout event.

Scouter99

Oh I'm pretty sure any scout in our troop should have the camping rocker thingy, because we do camp 2 nights every month, plus a week long summer camp of 6 nites, so that's 28 nites a year (11x2+6) that is if they go on all the campouts, eh? I think comparatively, camping is the easiest one to get, almost too easy.....

I don't think the allowances to count this or that are shortcuts, those are just the rules man!

I agree that

"Still, the amount of allowances written into the awards make ANY "fudging" ludicrous."

Based on how well the boys tend to do dishes when they are in a hurry and want to get on to the next thing, the sanitizing step seems like a really good idea. Backpackers tend to lick their dishes clean and maybe rinse their dishes and take them home to wash. I think you could mix up the sanitizing solution in a spray bottle and spritz it on and let air dry as a stop gap measure but then you are carrying a spray bottle with solution. of course it could be a 1 oz spray bottle, just enough to cover your bowl/pot a couple times. Does the sanitizing tablets eat the guts out of spray bottles so they stop spraying like bleach solution does?

"under the auspicies of the BSA"does not = everything you do as a scout is a scout activity. This award is designed not as a 1 and done or with built in shortcuts, or even that it were to be EASY and everyone in the troop can earn it without trying. I see it as something your long term scouts can earn, when they've already gotten all their mbs and ranks so they focus on taking it up a notch to finish up one of the rocker thingies or the pins. not something your 11 year old scout will get in a year or even two.

If you were to add up the miles for trail to 1st class hike, hiking mb, backpacking mb, plus hikes done usually thru the year and at summer camp you should come close to enough miles for the award if you are an avid hiker and participated in these events.

If you were to add up the miles for getting hiking mb and bike mb, plus your troop goes on maybe a horseback ride or biking activities every year and you were interested enough to participate in these events, then you could get the award.

If you were to add up the hours in the water for trail to 1st class swimming, swimming mb, lifesaving mb, canoeing, kayaking, motorboating, sailing mb--to show that you were an avid what would that be? it's not just avid boater, but that's a huge part of the hours, then you could get that award.

If you have to count everything you do in life since you are a scout so it must count-in order to come up with the miles/hours you need for this award, then the award doesn't mean anything.

As far as I'm concerned it would be pack (if you were a den chief or when you were a cub if it's a cub award), troop, crew, ship, team, post, any unit function. Any district event, any council event or council sponsored event, national jamboree, OA. In certain circumstances, perhaps something with family, church, community etc with Scoutmaster's approval but shouldn't be the default that anything goes. So like a community bike ride with a LOT of scout presence, advertised at the troop mtgs, then if SM is ok with it, I'm ok with it.

We did escape camp scrutiny this year with medical forms that were not in the mandated bi-lingual format.

 

I kept waiting to for the challenge so that I could counter, "Your medical staff doesn't speak English?"

Maybe next year...

Yeah we were hoping nobody would notice the "old" med forms. They say they are mandatory but was that mandatory jan 13 or jan 14? We have people who went to the dr in June of 13 and used the old form cause it came up when they did a google search (even though we sent them the link and told them what pages they had to complete).

I know that we don't like the new one aside from it being so LONG -- because details about allergies is stuck at the top of page 2. Since we have scouts with deadly peanut allergies, and others with allergies to bananas and strawberries and other common foods, we REALLY think allergies should be something easy to find on page 1 of the med form! Yes it's off to the side next to their name, but it doesn't fill in allergy there unless you fill it in on the Dr part C for allergies. It should pull the info from page 2 where it's complete, because for short term camps you don't need PartC at all.

We did get grief because the SM wife didn't enter the dates for all immunizations, instead she just attached a copy of their shot record. Camp wanted it on their form! I cause everyone else that did that, but figured SM family would have got it right. since they turned in theirs the day we left for camp, I didn't check it and just sent them on their way.

Yeah that's why almost everyone is listed as just parents, so they can't see quite as much stuff as people listed as leaders can see. One parent that is also a leader freaked out that they could print a birthday list of everyone adult and scout's birthdays. someone else freaked that in the contact list it showed their employer's name and phone number. they My CC has talked with TWHost and I believe its on a to do list somewhere. But there is a bit of disagreement as to who should see which reports.

What our parents would like is to be able to click next to which info of theirs can be listed on a troop roster for everyone to see-- so they could choose which phone number they want listed but be able to leave all of their numbers in the system for say the emergency contact report to be printed for the SM for an outing. Or if they don't want their address on any of the reports they don't have to delete the address, they can leave it so we can have the address as membership chair working thru recharter. I guess we have a couple people in the witness protection program

Would like it so that the youth can't edit all of their own info. or admin click if a youth can update their info or if their parents have to do it or something like that. I know it seems if they have an acct they should be trustworthy enough that they aren't going to change everything. but my 13 year old really wanted to change his nickname to something obnoxious and put the school phone number down as his cell phone number for some reason....

Lots of people get confused about webelos dens/patrols because the webelos get to choose and wear a patrol patch on their shoulder rather than their den numbers. I know a lot of people here get all caught up in the difference between the webelos den with a patrol patch and a "real" boy scout patrol- but there can be a lot of similarities between a webelos 2 den and a new scout patrol within a troop.

-I know some Webelos 2 den leaders who really work to transition their den towards the beginnings of acting as a patrol--with a patrol name, cheer, flag, patrol leader (denner) and the den leader starts to act more like a SM or ASM for the group, or mb counselor for covering the activity pins--advising as the boys plan and run their own meetings, set up their camps, do their own cooking with lots of supervision and instruction of course. yes, even while still webelos.

In dens where the Web2 den leader has tried to get the boys to start thinking like boy scouts, we have higher retention when those boys do bridge to our boy scout troop. Web2 dens that stay completely adult led and planned the boys tend to take longer to adjust to being boy scouts and following boy led and more drop out before they figure out the difference. just my 2 cents.

I took a short glance thru this link from an LDS cub pack

and it appears to give you what you need. it would at least give you a starting point.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=lds%20combined%20den%20meeting%20plans&source=web&cd=8&ved=0CFIQFjAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cubpack174.org%2FDownloadableContentHandler.ashx%3FmediaId%3D55975b06-a9ff-4939-b536-da1ccdba08a3&ei=UMPVUeL_A4mQiQLZqIBo&usg=AFQjCNFd55PehNpQEgWKagVXKWmlwi_X5A&bvm=bv.48705608,d.cGE

yes it's a gobbledygook link, but when I tried the link button scouter.com gave you a link to google.com

I'm not sure I can help that much without typing a novel.

In your meetings get as much adult help as you can. ask if you can get any boy scouts for help as den chiefs.

assign a boy in each rank level to be denner. give him a lot of responsibility--he can pass out handouts or assignment sheets for the boys that are at different levels and be like a teacher's helper for his rank. have each rank do gathering, flags, announcements and closing together. Have each group sit as separately as possible for their main activity.

There is a lot of overlap--a lot of repetition, but things should get harder or more in depth as they get older.

make a chart of which achievements sort of line up between the badges

I would focus on the Bear content areas, 1 for god, 3 for country, 4 for self, and 4 for family.

pick the ones in bear that seem similar to wolf. and try to cover both together.

then for webelos find the activity badge that is the most similar and work on that. webelos are older, so for some things they could work independently--with a boy scout even once a month that could really be great

Looks like you are working on the sportsman badge for webelos, some of the self achievements of physical fitness for bears, and there are some for wolves too.

when you do the god part for bear, that is faith for all three ranks including the faith requirement for the webelos badge.

for country, you have citizenship, flag ceremonies, for webelos that would give you citizenship badge, you could do scholar and being a good student,

for family you have family member for webelos, throw in cooking in the bear and wolves and outdoor cooking for webelos.

all have something for first aid related --for webelos that's readyman, we usually do that towards end of webelos but it could be at any time. but bears and wolves have something first aid, visit a police station, kind of thing.

I'd have to sit with all 3 books here to get more in depth.

you could also have wolves meet 2 times a month, bears 3 times a month and webelos 4 times a month. with them doing the overlapping things together. or have wolves meet for 45 minutes, bears for an hour and webelos for 1:15 to give you a little more time with them just at their own level.

It may help you to think of the "things cub scouts do" as a way to organize your year.

They work together to be a team/den/pack--getting to know you, playing games together, good sportsmanship, maybe communication with visit to a newspaper office, or a library.

They go camping and work on outdoor stuff--camping, outdoor essentials, hiking rules, maybe toss in outdoor cooking and fishing.

They are good citizens, so you do your flag ceremonies, your visit to the state capitol, being a good citizen at school, following rules.

You have the first aid, visit to the fire station/police station, etc.

They have a strong faith and family oriented activites usually at Christmastime.

They build things (so you get your craftsman and pinewood derby cars built that month)

um, let's see.... you have outdoor ethics, recycling, leave no trace, world conservation, throw in some geology, bird study, etc.

fun in the sun--swimming, and sports sports and more sports?

music, magic, talent show type stuff

science and technology stuff.

what else?

My son is a Webelo 2' date=' his brother was a Webelo 1 last year. This provided my son with the unique opportunity of attending both his brother's patrol and his patrol for part of the time. As a result, my son is close to earning the super achiever award for cub scouts. At the Blue and Gold in January of this year, I would like for my son to advance as he will have all twenty activity badges, is ten years old and has been a member to scouting since he was a tiger. Under these circumstances, can a scout crossover before his patrol? He is ready and willing to move on. I feel that holding him back will frustrate him and possibly disengage him.[/quote']

 

Re-read the requirements for the Arrow of Light. Cause certainly you want him to earn that before moving to boy scouts? Have him stay til he completed those requirements would mean he's working towards a goal and shouldn't bore him too much.

 

Then read the requirements to join a boy scout troop from the application.

When he meets the requirements to join boy scouts,complete the application and have him join the local troop.

 

 

However, if possible don't have a barely 10 year old join a boy scout troop. He'd have to have his AOL and the way I read it he'd have to be out of 4th grade, but some packs seem to read the requirments differently than I do.

So in our troop we have some boys who joined at just barely 10 (day after birthday) with their Arrow of Light. And they are honestly too immature and too intimidated by the older boys to really fit into the troop well. We have some that are less than half the size of my 13 year old and roll around playing on the ground with matchbox cars during troop meetings....

So Don't push that hard. Be sure he gets everything out of cub scouting and the webelos that he possibly can before crossing him over--especially chances for webelos den campouts without mom and dad right there tenting with him. Let him grow up a bit if possible. O

We have troop web host that we just started up.

But some parents don't like it due to privacy issues.

Basically if you use itas your main database of info about all the youth and adults, by default that would mean you'd put in full names, addresses, email addresses, seveal phone numbers, etc. right?

Well on all the reports, that any member can pull up, not just leaders, they get to see a lot of that personal info.

since we have over 50 youth, that means there are about 100 adult who have the basic level of access. some of the adults don't want all the youth and all the adults to see all their addresses and phone numbers. We uploaded automatically from troopmaster, so it entered employer and work numbers which also show on some of the reports.

Leaders can see even more data--date of birth and driver's license numbers and medical insurance numbers all as nice little reports and some people take issue with how easy it is to get that info. So right now all adults are just listed as regular parents, except a handful of people rather than giving access to those reports to the huge number of people our troop has listed as committee and leaders.

so to make themselves feel better about their safey--parents are going thru and deleting things in their profiles to protect their privacy, which is ok--except now we have to keep a separate database of home addresses(to update at recharter to get those boy's life subscriptions etc), and email addresses elsewhere for communication cause if you remove your email we can't send you the auto newsletters and stuff from within troop web host.

The default is that everyone in the system has an acct. some parents are a bit concerned that their youth can log in and add back in all the info the parents have deleted. or that since we have some youth who are only 10, some of the parents are a bit more concerned about the level of unattended communication that can occur between their young one and any of the adults. I mean realistically there are adult parents who now have accts on the system that I have never met and I'm membership chair. so I might not like that the adult I don't know could private message my 10 year old scout by sending a txt thru the system and I would never know about it. It could get oogly woogly.

With a small troop in a small town, it might not be as big of a potential issue, as everyone tends to know everyone else and where they live and where they work.

If we are going to use TWHost, We have to rewrite the troop's website policy to address some issues. We have to figure out if youth under age 13 will have accts or not. Right now we deleted all youth accounts that troop web host made automatically because we do have some incrediby young scouts who have not shown good use of common sense in other areas, so we are unsure about automatcially giving them access. We aren't positve what would apply from the Children's Online Privacy and Protection act (the main reason why Facebook doesn't allow youth under 14); there is a provision that no-profits don't have to follow COPPA, but that seems like a cop out.

I've dealt with a scouter who didn't want to give us a copy. then finally gave us a copy but refused to sign the hold harmless agreement.

then finally signed it but wasn't happy about it and complained.

I would suggest to that person that if they are that worried about it, they should discuss with summer camp if they can review the form with the nurse/dr/medic at camp and show it to them that it is complete and if there is any part they need to reference like meds. then ask that their form be sealed in a big manila envelope with their name and unit number in sharpie on the outside to be opened in case of medical emergency. maybe put their emergency contact phone # on the outside of the envelope just in case.

of course the unit leader for summer camp should also get a cursory review of the form to ensure there are no health issues they need to know about. If they don't like it, they can stay home.

I'm assuming it's a scouter. If it's a scout, all bets are off. The stuff is there for your own protection and to assist medics in emergency so give it to the unit leader or stay home. yes, I know that's a double standard but for some reason it seems ok to have a little more variation. I've known adults who are really afraid of it due to having their identity stolen before and there is enough info on a med form to be compromising--did you know people are finding that others are posing as them in order to steal their med ins coverage?

our prior scoutmaster 2 years ago went thru the file cabinet and tossed everything.

so I'd probably say a be a bit more sentimental than that!

The BSA applications at the bottom say to keep on file for 3 years. Not sure if that is to the unit or to the council office. or if that is 3 years from joining or 3 years from leaving the unit.... overall we keep the applications as long as the scout or scouter is a member and then usually for a couple years after that just in case they come back. Sometimes a scout needs to access the date on his application if council records conflict with say the date he received his first rank advancement, everyone likes all those dates to fall in line when they stick them in the eagle spreadsheet.

advancement we file in the cabinet. when the cabinet gets full, we get rid of the oldest year of stuff. everything else is archived somewhere --scoutnet, troopmaster etc.

financial records for the troop I'm not sure. For the pack all records since I joined in 2005 are in a file box under my desk. since I'm IH I figured I'd better know where those are just in case.

In the troop we have a lady with our city historical society that keeps a scrapbook of all the eagle projects since the troop is almost 90 years old. Various scrapbooks and historian things are in the sm office at the scout hut. until the next sm decides to toss it all.

In the pack I have photos and copies of some documents since I started in 05. I keep printing and making a scrapbook with den help, then someone takes it home and never seems to bring it back. arrggghhh!