bnelon44

> Can a Scout use the hours accumulated from a Scout Service project for both rank advancement requirements and school requirements?

Short answer: Yes

Long answer: Read the requirements. If there is no restrictions in the requirements, you cannot add them. No one can add to the requirements but national.

The chartering partners own the BSA units. I don't think the same is true about the GSUSA units.

AZMike, the chances of the BSA doing something that would cause the LDS church to pull their charters is ZERO

Your talking about the elimination of Scouting in Nevada, UT, AZ and NM and the closing of Philmont. Ain't gonna happen.

I would caution against awarding a rank or merit badge before at least entering the advancement in Internet Advancement. There have been too many cases where an unregistered Scout has been advanced and it is only caught when the Scout goes for his Eagle and council does the checking.

Gee' date=' I'm not seeing a lot of warm-n-fuzzy coming from the ranks of the Methodists; a somewhat liberal (at least in recent times) religious body. Their roots are showing, and they along with other religious folks are just not very comfy with the notion of a youth-serving organization giving tacit approval to homosexual behavior. IMO, the overall number of church-sponsored units who are really excited about the local option is slim-to-none. [/quote']

 

The warm and fuzzy is here: http://www.gcumm.org/news/2013/01-31/gcumm-general-secretarys-statement-on-bsa-proposed-changes

 

What they are asking for is a delay so they can study the ramifications and figure out how to implement the change. They are not, like the Southern Baptists, lobbying for a no vote on the resolution.

 

 

The Methodists are recommending delay in the implementation, not rejection of the new policy. They need more time to prepare.

Skeptic your looking at the wrong file on that website. Click on the 1st picture

see letter here: http://www.gcumm.org/

I think this idea is being explored in a number of other threads. However your questions are still good.

 

As has been brought up before the BSA is now in a no-win position where there is no answer that will please everybody.

 

I still think the local option is the best solution. I don't think the BSA can continue being exclusive, not when it appears that two thirds of the

councils don't want it that way. And I don't think you can force a CO to accept members they don't want.

 

There will be people who will stomp off but I am agreeing with some of the other posters here that there won't be very many.

There will be troops that will avoid each other but overall I am really thinking this is going to settle down, and fairly quickly.

Per Lara's Wikipedia bio, the bill's sponsor is openly gay and is one of 8 members of the California Legislature Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Caucus, so I think it's a personal issue with him, NJCubScouter. He ain't gonna drop the bill to support your Local Option. That 3.2% you mentioned has a lot of political power and friends in California politics.

A lot of PLCs make the mistake of planning the meetings first and then the outing. Start with the outing. The meetings exist to support the outing.

PLC Planning Process:

1) Figure out what your outing will be. Choose something interesting and exciting.

2) Make a detailed plan of your outing making sure there is stuff for all levels of Scouts to do. Make sure all time is accounted for, and it is FUN, new and exciting! A template is available for outings in the Scoutmaster Handbook

3) Based upon the skills needed on the outing, plan your instruction sessions at your troop meetings, those are the most important (and at times most boring) parts of your meeting. Make sure there is something for each level of Scout to learn.

4) Plan the rest of the meeting.

5) Establish what your communication plan will be to make sure all patrols are engaged

6) SPL should go over the above with the Scoutmaster prior to the PLC for any additional suggestions or comments

Exciting and Fun takes planning!

Much of the merit badge program is financed from the sale of merit badge books and badges. The BSA has looked into and will be offering electronic merit badge books in the not too distant future that will be dowanloadable to iphones and tablets and the like and sold where you get applets.

I talked briefly with my UMC minister this sunday. His position was he loves having a large Troop in a small church. And he says he can be welcoming to Gays at the church and at the Troop while not embracing the lifesttle. BUT his main concern was, in a small cash strapped church, the fear of a local option leaving the local church on its own to spend $$$ to defend itself from litigation from either disgruntled side. So he is waiting on National Methodist leadership to figure that out. But he was worried and he is a pretty level-headed pragmatic minister.

Change is hard. There probably would be an initial drop but nobody knows how much. A lot of people said they'd move to Canada or secede right before the last two presidents were elected and I'm not sure either did.

 

I suspect there are a lot of boys out there that would like what we have to offer but don't really know what that is because it's filtered by their parents who also don't know. National recognizes this and has said they don't control the message. They're right about that. Right now the message is gays. It doesn't matter what side you're on. For outsiders that want things to stay the same they see Boy Scouts as the last place they can put their kids. For outsiders that want a change they see it as a place with bigots. They're both wrong. For most of us that volunteer we see it as fun with a purpose, nobody talks about gays. I'd like to see the message get back to fun with a purpose.

 

If the boy scouts can gain control of the message I think the membership will rise. Right now, the message couldn't be worse.

Is anyone surprised by them not making a decision...business as usual. Why do we' date=' the heart and soul of the BSA put up with this kind of stuff. Can we fire these bums?[/quote']

 

Did you hire them? If not, they you probably can't fire them.

BSA has changed the way it is getting feedback. Please do not use the phone number any longer.

Feedback link is on the site: http://www.scouting.org

I do agree with those saying it is probably more cathartic for those who want to express an opinion than will actually be used to decide anything. Too many outside groups organizing call-ins.

NJCubScouter,

The way the BSA is now getting feedback about the program from the field is with Voice of the Scout. They send a survey to those with valid email accounts in ScoutNET twice a year.

More on Voice of the Scout is here:

http://www.scouting.org/jte

Voice of the Scout last year did indicate a 50/50 split among those who commented on "constitutional issues."

(This message has been edited by bnelon44)

Twocubdad

Technically they are only giving you a heads up on a requirement change. The change is not in effect until 1/1/2014. The reason for the lead notice is so no one is caught off guard on 1/1/2014. It is a good thing.

Tampa Turtle,

He can complete it now. When 2014 comes around it will count as an Eagle required badge. Right now it doesn't but then, it sounds like he isn't ready to make Eagle this year anyway.

Twocubdad makes a good point. The Advancement Chair does not works as a gatekeeper, and they do not sign Scouts off on advancement. Their major job it to make sure boards of review are held and do the council paperwork to obtain the badges.

He can't use it as a Star or Life Eagle Required badge until 2014. Your definitive guide is the 2013 Boy Scout Requirements book (should be at your local Scout Shop now)

Cooking Merit Badge to Be Required for Eagle Starting Jan. 1, 2014

Effective Jan. 1, 2014, the Cooking merit badge will be required to obtain the Eagle Scout rank. Regardless of when a Scout earned the Life rank or began working toward Eagle, unless he fulfills all the rank requirementswith the exception of his board of review before Jan. 1, 2014, he must earn the Cooking merit badge to become an Eagle Scout.

Note: This means that as of January 1, 2014, the number of "Eagle required" merit badges will be 13, instead of 12, and the number of "Optional" badges will drop to 8. In addition, this change to the Eagle required list will result in another change to the footnote to requirement 3 for the Star and Life ranks. Once the Cooking merit badge becomes required, the footnote will be changed as follows: "* Choose any of the 17 required merit badges in the 13 categories to fulfill requirement 3."

http://usscouts.org/advance/changes/advchanges13.asp#eagle

Nice try on the Scouts part, but it won't count as Eagle Required until 1/1/2014

(This message has been edited by bnelon44)

There are two definative books for Boy Scout advancement (and the Boy Scout Handbook and Scoutmaster Handbooks are not either of them.)

The definitive book for advancement policy and procedures is the Guide to Advancement. It is available online and as a hardcopy you can purchase at the Scout Shop. The online version is here:

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/GuideToAdvancement.aspx

The definitive book for requirements is the Boy Scout Requirements book, it comes out annually, the 2013 version just arrived at the Scout Shops.

The wrong quality unit patch, really? Well there is absolutely no requirement that a Scout show up to s SMC in uniform, let alone having to have all patches in place. You can refer your advancement chair to the Guide to Advancement. They also can't add such a requirement. No council, committee, district, unit, or individual has the authority to add to, or subtract from, advancement requirements. See the link above.

As for the Board of Review. It is preferred, but not required, that a boy have the proper uniform with badges in place for a BOR. If he didn't have a QU badge, that was needed, too bad. He gets his BOR anyway. The pertinent section is:

8.0.0.4 Wearing the Uniform-or Neat in Appearance

It is preferred a Scout be in full field uniform for any board of review. He should wear as much of it as he owns, and it should be as correct as possible, with the badges worn properly. It may be the uniform as the members of his troop, team, crew, or ship wear it. If wearing all or part of the uniform is impractical for whatever reason, the candidate should be clean and neat in his appearance and dressed appropriately, according to his means, for the milestone marked by the occasion. Regardless of unit expectations or rules, boards of review may not reject candidates dressed to this description; neither may they require the purchase of uniforming, or clothing such as coats and ties.

I hope this helps. If your advancement chair has any questions they should give the Council Advancement Chairman a call. If they can't help, you can send a note to

advancement.team@scouting.org

The question you need to ask yourself is how to present the facts to the adult leadership of your troop without turning them off.

Boards of Review are formal occasions and it is recommended (but you can't insist) that they are in full field uniform. Scoutmaster Conferences are NOT formal occasions and are not meant to be. There is not even a recommendation on uniforming for SMC.

It's not the office, it is the service desk and that is where they have setup a phone bank to take a survey. Your on and off in a matter of seconds.

If you want to write a long rationale, use the email.

BE POLITE !

Remember a Scout is courteous.(This message has been edited by bnelon44)

See:

http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/10-553.pdf

Please do not call the BSA office to complain or praise about the potential new policy.

The BSA has established an email address you can send your thoughts to:

nationalsupportcenter@scouting.org

or call:

972 580 2330