Cleveland Rocks

Time for the chartered organization to get hands-on. It's their money. They own the Pack. Your council won't get involved because this is between the Pack, your former Cubmaster, and the chartered organization. I agree with RememberSchiff--time to find a new Pack.

I agree with the facepalm. I'm an IT professional and I think the Cyber Chip is worthless. I really want to see how they plan on confirming that everyone has the Cyber Chip. For the older Scouts in my troop who are past Star and aren't required to have it for rank, they've just laughed at this whole thing, like, "yeah, okay, whatever." It's like those that say you can't light a fire until you've gotten the Firem'n Chit or can't use a knife until you've gotten the Totin' Chip. I did just look up our camp's program guide and it is indeed in there.

While I agree that there is no national rule saying that you can't wear open-toed footwear at camp (at least I couldn't find any documentation that says it's prohibited), I wanted to relate this story that happened a few years ago: I was on staff at our council's Cub Day Camp in charge of one of the stations. One of the days had the inspector show up to do his inspection of the camp for accreditation. We had told families (and it was on the paperwork that families got prior to camp starting) that sandals, and other types of open-toed shoes would not be permitted. While our camp did ver

Our council announced that in order for Scouts to have smartphones at Summer Camp this year they have to all have earned the Cyber Chip.

That goes against the Guide to Advancement. 9.0.1.7 References Contacted Completed reference responses of any kind are the property of the council and are confidential, and only review-board members and those officials with a specific need may see them. The responses are not to be viewed by or returned to the Scout. Doing so could discourage the submission of negative information. For the same reason, those providing references do not have the option of giving the reference directly to the Scout and shall not be given the option of waiving confidentiality. Once a review has been held,

According to that same calendar, CAD, Multimedia and Advanced Computing were all removed from the list. CAD and Advanced Computing were removed in May of 2015, and Multi-media was removed in April of 2014. I did not see anywhere where they had been added back. In Bryan's blog post announcing Exploration MB in February, he mentions that it was the first new MB since Animation in May of 2015, and: "It also could be the last new merit badge for a little while. The BSA’s Merit Badge Maintenance Task Force has shifted its focus to improving requirements for existing merit badges."

The supply division offers made-to-measure uniform shirts and pants. Just fill out the form and submit it to the supply division. You can also turn it in at a national Scout Shop, too. You can have minor changes to an off-the-rack shirt or pants, or have major changes done if you need something built from scratch: http://www.scoutstuff.org/media/content/docs/pdfs/5767_MadeToMeasureForm_shirt.pdf http://www.scoutstuff.org/media/content/docs/pdfs/7419-104590_Revise_Made_To_Measure_Form_Edit.pdf I've had fellow Scouters use this service and they were happy with the results.

Here's the text of an announcement that was put into our council's monthly newsletter for April, that was posted online yesterday: Tour and Activity Plans no longer required by National office! As of April 1, the National Council, BSA has terminated the Tour and Activity Plan requirement. Units will no longer have to file any trip forms. This is intended to cut back on paperwork for unit leaders. The BSA has adopted a flexible risk assessment strategy for your use. This is summarized in the Guide to Safe Scouting, and detailed in the Enterprise Risk Management Guidebook. The BS

Guide to Advancement, 9.0.2.12, Addressing Common Misconceptions 3. There is no requirement a project must have lasting value.

Blue cards are to be issued by the Scoutmaster when the Scout requests one from him/her. That should be the case for a MB college as well as an individual working on a MB. The only exception I've seen to that is at our summer camp, where the blue cards and records are kept/printed electronically. But prior to that, we would issue hundreds of blue cards for summer camp. Not sure what you mean by "supposed to be written on by the camp's MBC staff". The MB counselor at camp should definitely be filling out his/her portion of the blue card. If the unit is only getting a printout, I would

How would council know that he didn't complete the requirements using the new version? Internet Advancement doesn't keep track of individual requirements met. It's now March, how would council (or National) know that in these first 3 months of 2017 he did or did not complete the new requirements for Second Class? I could maybe see if it was January 5, say, and this came up, but we're 12 weeks into 2017.

More councils listing it: Mount Baker Council: https://www.mountbakerbsa.org/blog/2017/03/14/tour-and-activity-plan-terminated/ Far East Council: http://www.fareastcouncil.org/Districts/council-news/tourandactivityplans-nolongerrequired Buckeye Council: http://www.buckeyecouncil.org/News/TourPermit Three Rivers Council: https://www.facebook.com/3riversbsa/posts/10154621427323768

Looks like other councils are making the announcement, too. This is from Verdugo Hills Council: http://vhcbsa.org/tour-and-activity-plan-termination-faqs/ The text is identical to the document above. Same for the Ore-Ida Council: http://oreidascouting.org/tour-and-activity-plan-terminated-faq-as-of-april-1-2017/

That 4 uniform requirement isn't coming from National. I'm on my council's contingent and we're only saying two uniforms, and even at that, we're not telling them they HAVE to have 2 uniforms. If they can get by with just one that's okay. The only times you are required to wear your uniform at Jamboree are: arrival day, stadium show, religious observances, and departure day. All other times are at the discretion of the Scoutmaster. And we're not requiring it any other time. We are telling our Scouts that if they're not wearing their uniform, they should be wearing some other Scouti

Our council limits counselors to 15 merit badges, only 6 of which can be Eagle required. They also eliminated the "Troop only" stipulation last year, although in the notice that went out announcing that fact, they simply said you can just decline to work with someone outside your Troop if asked. Like CNYScouter, our council has a form you fill out annually. The renewal letter we get every July lists all the badges we are registered for, and whether we want to make any changes. We have until August 15 to return the form. They ask for your qualifications, but to my knowledge, they'll take j

There was a post by Mike Walton on one of the Scouting LinkedIn Groups last week saying that Tour Plans would be going away as of April 1, citing, among other things, a desire to process less paperwork and red tape, and the fact that many units never bothered to even fill out Tour Plans when they would travel. That post has since been removed. He did note that while the intent was to eliminate them as of April 1, it was still not a done deal and that the team involved in making the decision was still taking comments on the issue.

Exploration Merit Badge is super-new. I had heard it was supposed to be formally announced and released at the Jamboree in July (it's on the list of Merit Badges being offered there), so I'm surprised they already have pamphlets in stores. There hasn't been a formal announcement of it yet from the BSA. All that said, you won't be finding any counselors for it yet, since very few even know of its existence.

Our troop charges $95 for the first year dues for the first Scout and $75/year after that. For the second, third, more, scouts from the same family, it's $63/year. That covers: The $24 national dues Boys' Life (we do just one subscription per family; if they each want a copy, they pay the $12/year extra) Awards The extra money we charge first-year Scouts covers the Handbook, neckerchief and slide, Council Shoulder Patch, Patrol Emblem, World Crest, green tabs, and custom Troop numerals. If the Scout already has some of those patches they're bringing over with them from their Webelos

They told you that 2016 ribbons aren't available or 2017 ribbons won't be available? 2016 ribbons are available, and there's an order form you can submit to your council to order your patches, ribbons, etc. http://www.scouting.org/filestore/mission/pdf/513-192(16).pdf 2017 ribbons, patches, etc., wouldn't be available until at least the middle of 2017, since the awards are always for the previous year. But JTE ribbons are a unit award, not a den or patrol award, so wouldn't the ribbon go on the unit flag? Or are we talking about the National Den Award, which is a ribbon that woul

That seems unlikely. There are already 2017 scorecards available, and Bryan had a blog post back in May discussing the 2017 program. http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2016/05/09/help-2017-journey-excellence-scorecards-will-even-better/ http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Awards/JourneyToExcellence.aspx

10% if you show your BSA membership card.

Bass Pro Shops, Dick's Sporting Goods and Gander Mountain each offer a 10% discount if you present a current BSA membership card. Cabela's offers 10% in store if you present your troop checkbook. Many other outdoors stores offer Scouts discounts. http://scoutingmagazine.org/2015/10/money-saving-tips-to-help-you-experience-scouting-to-the-fullest/

Beagle, Fleagle, Drooper and Snork!

Correct. From the way it was written, I got the impression she was being interviewed by the EBOR in advance. I knew about the different ways councils staff their EBORs; my Scoutmaster introduced me before my EBOR. The way this was written, Zuzy gave me the impression that she was being questioned by the board before her son went in.

Yeah, I'm curious, too. Why would you have to answer questions to the committee, assuming this was the EBOR?