Twocubdad

At the time we do FOS, we have about 70 or 80 active Scouts. Off the top of my head, I don't know how many families that represents, but I do know that about 30 families contributed to FOS this year. Our unit's total contribution this year was about $1000 higher than last and represented about 15% of our district's Family FOS goal. I don't know how we compare to other units locally or nationally, but my impression is that we do our share or better. We also sell over $20k in popcorn, so that's another $6k or so supporting the council. Why do you ask?

Thanks for adding the reference, Bob. I thought that was the case but don't have my leader book handy to verify.

And I agree with you, Bob. I don't begrudge the council their 15% vig. But here, I don't feel like we get our money's worth. Printing and postage comes from our side, and we lick the stamps, too. We track the registration, collect the fees (we make one deposit at the council) and answer the phone calls. But that's okay, because we know about the 15% upfront. Those are the rules we agreed to. But now, with council revenues down, they're looking at day camp (and other programs, I'm sure) to help make up the difference by cutting expenses and leaving more than the required 15% on the

Personally, I think meeting ideas from the Bear Book are terrific. They are all age-appropriate and connect with the program's core values. Not all requirements are suitable for den programs but many are. And you don't have to complete every single element of a requirement to make a den meeting of it. The boys can finish it up at home. Of course you don't want to make "checking off the requirements" the focus or seem like a chore, but if the kids are having fun, who care!?! Examples: Law Enforcement (7a&d)-- den outing to police dept. to do fingerprints. The Past is Excit

Oh, and a question for the Man of Steele on a slightly different topic: What percentage of camp and activity fees does your council keep to cover overhead? Is there any thought of increasing it? Does your council provide anything back to the event (other than basic staff and administrative services) in return for their cut? Do the rest of you know what I'm talking about?

One would hope, Mark, that there are enough business-minded people involved in running your camp to realize that the way to improve its finances is by improving its quality. We've got the same problem with our Scout Shop. A neighboring council opened a new shop near us which is managed by the National Supply Division. Whatever you may think about the quality and prices of BSA gear, I can tell you National does a really great job of running it's retail stores. Notably, they have in stock virturally everything in the catalog and they are open Saturdays. Of course our council's sho

Hate the beret. Ditto to Wallace's problems with it. We were required to wear themt at the '73 Jambo, but no one in our unit ever wore it afterwards.

Glad to have you back in communion, Rooster. I agree with you 100 percent. I said in my first post on this subject that I could hardly imagine a "serious" conversation with a Scout which I would keep in perfect confidence, sharing it with neither the parents nor properly equipped professionals. But I still maintain that possibility. You said it well, "I reserve the right to make my own moral decisions...."

Bob, I'm glad we are in such agreement. But I have to ask if you agree with the point I was making, or do you only agree with sentences you quoted, stripped of the context of the rest of my post? While we're all savoring that rhetorical nugget, those of you who feel this is a black and white issue, help me understand how you deal with it on a practical level. How do you decide what merits a phone call home? If you take the position that only a parent can know what information is important, aren't transcripts of all our conversations the logical conclusion? Otherwise aren't you m

As usual, Bob, you couch things in the most draconian terms possible. No one has suggested hanging out a shingle saying "You can tell me anything and I won't tell your parents." Just the opposite, in fact. I think everyone agrees that keeping such a confidence would be a fairly rare and serious decision. Why does listening to a boy necessarily mean you are interferring with parental descretion? Can you not lend someone an ear without passing judgement or trying to influence their actions? If it's simply an out of bounds topic (and not a matter real danger), why not just reflect the p

I realize hypotheticals are the meat and potatoes of this board, but I think this topic defies being defined in terms of fictional situations. Sitting here I cannot think of a situation in which I would not ultimately either inform the parents or involve professionals. Certaily, the best avenue is to convince the boy to talk to his parents on his own. Failing that, I would almost certainly have the conversation with the parents myself, with or without the Scout. If I felt the circumstance required keeping the information from the parents, with equal certainty I would involve other profes

I've got a lemon squeezer but find myself wearing it less and less. Both my uniform shirts have all five of the knots to which I'm entitled, a jambo patch, OA flap and any one of a number of activity patches I rotate through, depending on the occasion. I like to wear my Philmont arrowhead for special occasions. I also wear a set of four service stars representing the years in different levels of the program. Oh, and a palm on my Eagle knot. I suppose that's the full monty -- at least it's everything I'm entitled to wear. I like wearing all the fruit salad because it frequently be

Bob I think you and I are in violent agreement on the core issue that we should evaluate boys on their own level, at least as it related to activity in the troop, leadership and scout spirit. We seem to just be arguing around the edges on the other issues, so I'll leave it lay.

Mark, I really do understand your point. What would you do with a boy -- regardless of age -- who say he has no income? But in my humble opinion, you're essentially adding a requirement to the merit badge which says a boy has to have a certain level of income. I think there are a couple of practical solutions, though. First, you could counsel the boy to sit down with his parents and work out a salary or allowance for the chores he's doing at home. I think most parents would think this reasonable, but you're still not going to get $50 or $100 a week like a 16-year-old with a parttime job.

I don't want to disagree with the Man of Steele, but I'd double-check the exemption from day camp standards based on the short duration of your camp. I'm looking at two, three-inch binders of stuff from camp school and don't see anything about an exemption. Talk to your DE or SE. If you get the green light from them, at least you've covered you assets, so to speak. My I speak frankly, Joni? Honey, you need help. I'm no doctor, but it's pretty easy to figure that July isn't going to be a good time for you to be running a day camp. Cub Scout Day Camp is a DISTRICT function and needs t

It's probably unfair to debate training issues using the worst course in the BSA arsenal -- Youth Protection -- as an example. In the case of YP training I don't see a huge loss if a Scouter is given the YP tape and told to report back when they've viewed it. I assume that whether or not they actually watch the tape isn't an issue, a Scout being trustworthy and all. Frankly, Steeleman, I'll probably shoot myself well before watching Cordelia et. al. 50 times. But in the 6-8 times I have seen it, I have yet to see a meaningful discussion take place in the three minutes allotted in the video

Bob, if ability to communicate clearly and adherance to the syllabus are the two key traits of a trainer, why doesn't National present most training via video tape? Videos could use professional presenters and tightly control content. The few local items you mentioned could be easily covered in handouts, the way local reporting information is handled during Youth Protection. What is the purpose of having live presenters?

Bob, you missed the point of my admittedly silly hypothetical. The Scout had "improved" from having been arrested to only two detentions at school. I can't believe you really believe not having been arrested lately is measurable evidence of having lived by the Scout Oath and Law. But let's forget the hypotheticals. My point is this: if it is appropriate to judge a Scout's attendance relative to his other activities and his self-defined goals, why isn't it appropriate to judge Scout spirit and leadership by the same criteria? A few weeks ago in another thread regarding young Eagle

Actually, I cited two requirements, one of which I included specifically because it does not include a measureable standard.

Since Ed has come clean on his role as Devil's Advocate, let me pick up the charge.... What I'm hearing as the concensus here is that "active in your patrol or troop" is relative to the attendance goals the boy sets for himself and the legitimacy of his reasons for not attending Scout functions. Does this relativity apply to other requirements? Maybe I can't swim 100 yards, but relative to my swimming ability and the goals I set for myself, is 75 yards okay? I've been in detention at school twice this semester, but relative to my prior arrests, I'm living by the Scout Oath and Prom

The CSA National flag or the Confederate battle flag? (Sorry, wrong bulletin board.) Actually, quite a few councils used the Confederat battle flag. East Carolina Council's early CSPs were basically Confederate battle flags with the council name superimposed. Lee, Jackson and (I think) one or two Mississippi councils used CSA flags in their patches. There are collectors who specialize in Confederate-themed Scout patches. To my knowledge, all these designs have now been retired.

A note of historical accuracy: Lee graduated second in his class from West Point (apologies if your comment was tounge-in-cheek). Grant, by the way graduated in the bottom third of his class. Jefferson Davis died and was originally buried in New Orleans, later removed to Richmond. He was captured in Georgia within weeks of Appomattox and held in a federal military prison for two years. He was released on bail (Horace "Go west, young man" Greely posted much of the bond), and spent several years traveling abroad (including a year-and-a-half living in Canada). If you want to say he

I would say it was inevitable. Eventually, all of American history and culture will be reduced to the Disney version.

Is this a brand-new camp or are you taking over from someone else? Developing a whole new program is a much different question than taking over an existing one. Technically, Day Camp Program Director is a position which requires National Camp School certification. Camp school teaches you how to go about setting up a camp program. The "final exam" is to develop a plan for a hypothetical day camp including programs, staffing, health and safety, facilities, administration and finance. Unfortunately, I think most of the Camp Schools are over for this year. It's very difficult to try

You may be confusing bylaws with procedures. Maybe what you need is a policy manual. Yes, there needs to be a standard method to handle pack expenses, checking out pack-owned equipment, etc. We are constantly tweaking how we handle advancement reports, popcorn sales and things like that. There needs to be some minimum expectations of accountability, but as CC I expect the people in charge of those areas to run them as they see fit. To my mind, a set of bylaws for an organization covers big-picture, constitutional issues like purpose, organizational structure, who can vote, who can be a