Bob White

I wasn't going to get in on this but some pretty scary things have been said here. The POLICY of the BSA (and no unit has the authority to add to or subtract from advancement policies) is that "the boy should be neat in appearance and wearing as correct a uniform as possible". That does not mean that we can refuse a Board of Review if he is not in uniform. Such a rule within a troop would be a violation of BSA policy and the scoout would have the right to an appeal before the council advancement committee. I will tell you from first hand experience on two appeal boards that I was as

The Scoutmaster Handbook gives some suggestions on how to use Assistant Scoutmasters. Here are a few they mention and a few additional. * Fill in for SM when needed * Oversee New Scout Patrol program * Webelos Resource Person * Lead certain Introduction to Leadership conferences * Train Den Chiefs * Oversee Venture patrols * Adult quartermaster * Grubmaster for parents and adult leaders on outings * Skills trainer for Junior Leaders * New family orientations * Fill in the blank It all starts with training!

My apologies for the spelling in my last post. My fingers are way ahead of my spell checker. yers in scooting blob wite

An excellent question. Certainly as Scoutmaster you need the Scoutmaster handbook, however don't expect any single publication to be able to cover all the information in a program the size and scope of scouting. The SM handbook is a reference guide to troop leader administration. It refers to other resources for more specific info. Your training team and your local commissioner can direct you to official BSA materials. Scouting Bulletin Boards can be a good tool providing that the reference you to actual scoutin materials and don't just pass along their version of what they think scoutin

evmori, did you know that national found that boys who did not reach reach first class first year were something like 6 times more likely to quit at the end of the year and 8 times more likely to quit within 3 years. First Class First year gives the scouts the frequent recognition they need at that stage of development, the outdoor skill exposure to be comfortable camping, and a buffer period to socially adjust to older scouts. It is a Primary goal of the scouting advancement program and the heart of the New Scout Patrol system. Of the 13 new scouts who joined us last year, only one

Our experience has been that new scout retention is greatly affected by 1. Crossing in February so that they get comfortable with the troop and the outdoors before they head to summer camp. 2. If they are Arrow of Light, they get a quick review and Scoutmaster Conference the first Troop meeting. So that they can leave the first meeting with their Scout Badge. (give them their scout handbook at crossover so that the parents can complete the youth protection section prior to the troop meeting. 3. Most important, achieve First Class First Year. 4. Get the parents involved in

We seem to have drifted from uniforms into the area of BSA policies. It's an excellent discussion but should probably be in it's own string. I've started one in the Open Discussions forum. I apologize if I come off preachy, but to me BSA Policy seems a pretty clear-cut subject. Enjoy

This string is an offshoot from a unoform discussion in another string on this forum. There seems to be a great misunderstanding as to what is BSA policy, what are recommendations and what are procedures. There also seems to be a question as to where this information is found. All BSA Policies are available in the publication 'Rules and Regulations of the Boy Scouts of America'. The policies within this book cover three topics primarily. Uniforming, Advancement, and Safety. Most of policicies,procedures, and program applications addressed in this publication are found in 'The Insigni

That's great andrews. Just a reminder that the COR should (needs to) be a member of the Chartering Organization.

I think you are right korea scouter that we agree more than disagree. Uniform is however controlled by national policy because the uniform is a registered trademark of the BSA. National is not about to send out uniform police to make our members toe the line. they rely on our trustworthyness as scouts and scouters to keep the promise we agreed to when we signed our registration applications. Every adult and Chartered organization signed a contract with the BSA to follow the policies and programs as set forth by the BSA. It is unfortunate that so many adults fail to keep the promise.

I understand where you are coming from on this topic but I think we see the cause of the problem differently. For instance, you say that the the reality is that Class A's nad B's exist because units have it in their By-laws. I see from the standpoint that Uniforms, Advancement and Youth Protection are the three areas of scouting strictly controlled by BSA Policies and units have no authority to set rules that are counter to those policies. If they followed the scouting program and explained the purpose and the facts of scouting uniforms more scouts and more adults would be in uniform. These il

I agree Korea Scouter that this is a wide topic and not solvable in this format. i was just trying to address the class A class B topic. I also mean no disrespect but as pointed out in the new Scoutmaster Leader Specific Training there are indeed two uniforms (as described in the catalog). They include 2 shirts, the uniform shirt and the activity shirt (an optional uniform shirt) the terms Class A,and Class B do not appear in any BSA training material or resource material.

Feeder Packs? I've never really appreciated this term either as a Troop leader or Pack Leader. Any troop can recruit membership from any pack. What makes the differenceas to where the boys go? Usually it all comes down to program. the boys will want to go were they percieve they will have the most fun. If by feeder packs you refer to Charter Organizations that use multiple scouting programs to serve youth, such as a Cub Scout Pack AND a Boy Scout Troop, of course they will have a high recruitment rate. Don't you expect the members of your church's youth choir to join your church's

Sorry to be answering so late but I just joined and saw your post. You have terrific district resources to call on. Invite a a member of the Cub Training team or a member of the commissioning team to vist your Pack Committee, or Pack Program committee meeting, for additional training or to just answer questions and share scouting resources. Rember that New Leader Essentials and Cub leader Job Specific are just BASIC training. There are lots of printed material, people resources and additional training like POW Wows, Roundtable, Wood Badge, Baloo to help you. Don't feel like you need to do

I glad to hear that many of your units have a good relationship with your parent organizations, the Chartering Organization. Old Grey eagle was very close when he said that the CO "in a sense owns the program". The actual situation is that The BSA owns the program, the Chartered Organization owns the Pack, Troop or Crew. In 1916 as the climax to a copyright battle between Chicago publisher, Chicago publisher W.D. Boyce and publishing mogul William Randolph Hearst, the Congress (friendly to Boyce) recognized (chartered) the BSA rather than Hearsts similarly named group. Since that day

Congratulations on organizing a new troop for your church. Your questions have sparked alot of good conversation. Let's look at how scouting is administered and the responsibilities of the various parties involved. First, who should be the Committee Chair, Chartered Organization Representative and Scoutmaster. At this stage you are both unit organizers and should be working with your local District Executive, District Commissioner or Unit Commissioner, District Membership Committee and Training Committee to see that you have all the scout resources available to get the troop off to

You raise alot of intersesting points, however some of the responses have also caught my attention. Something that I feel would answer many of the topics that have been raised in this thread is Partricipation in New Leader Essentials and Scoutmasterand Assistant Scoutmaster Leader Specific Training. One thing that you will learn at training is that there is no such thing as Class A and Class B uniforms. In the Boy Scout Program there are 2 uniforms. The dress uniform and the activity uniform. The dress uniform consists of the official tan shirt, scout belt, scout pants or shorts and sco