boleta

Every time a boy comes up to you and asks a question, respond by saying "did you ask your patrol leader?" If they say yes, ask- "did you ask the SPL?"

Tell your ASMs to do the same thing.

Have a PLC after every troop meeting for 15 extra minutes. Review what went right and what went wrong. Make a strong effort to have the boys plan a program and the next week's meeting. Do this every week in the beginning. Soon you will only have to meet once a month.

One idea is to have the PLC meet the hour before the committee meeting. Then the SPL can present what the boys want to do to the Troop Committee.

Go to your Roundtables monthly and don't be shy. Ask what the other SM's are doing to get to a boy led troop.

Try to let the boys lead. They WILL make mistakes. And they will learn from them.

Interesting observations Bob. Dead on for our District for the most part. But, our District Committee is supposed to be made up of the COR's of the District. After calls, e-mails and pleas to CORs and unit leaders, we can expect 4 or 5 out of 20 CORs at each meeting. The heavy lifters in the District- Training Chair, Membership Chair, etc. have committees of 1 or 2 at most.

It seems that the problems expressed in this thread are the symptoms of the disease of lack of interest on the part of parents and scouters who are necessary to make the program better. The last thing we need is to have a new adult come up to District and then get criticised for not being perfect. He then says- "I don't need this, I was perfectly happy in my Troop which works fine". Many hands make the work light.

My 15 year old Eagle Scout hates the uniform. Thinks it is very uncool.

I have found that it is very difficult not to alienate new people who come up to District and Council level. The older scouters may not be sensitive to the fact that we need new blood to make the program work. It requires us to be sensitive that the volunteers don't know everything and a lot of assistance may be required.

Wanted to see the company I am keeping.

Hey Fuzzy, Is that all it takes to be your friend? Sorry, I have enjoyed your insights, so... no insults here.

Such an occurrence would have barely been noted except that the young man was an Eagle Scout. It demonstrates that the rank truly marks the individual for life. All of his actions, good or bad, will be placed in context with respect to being an Eagle.

I guess I should have said the study of anatomy. But, that might be ambiguous too!

I always wondered what District and Council did when I was a Cubmaster and everything seemed to be just fine with our unit. The kids advanced, the summertime program went well, and the pinewood derby went without a hitch. The problem is not with the successful unit with history and well trained leaders as assets.

packsaddle says

"I have learned that by keeping the troop strong, nothing that happens in the district or council beyond can kill us."

There will be new units with untrained scouters. There will be a Day Camp to organize and run. Even the Spring and Fall Camporees need District approval and assistance. If you are not part of the solution then you are part of the problem. The District Committee and Commissioners can use all the help they can get. They are volunteers too.

Having said that, some people excel at the unit level. They are great with the kids and provide excellent leadership for Scouting. It is understandable if they have no interest in what is happening outside of their unit. But please don't complain about the program if you aren't trying to give input into it.

Your District Committee should be meeting monthly. It may not meet in July- summer camp break. Your District Executive and District Committee Chairman will be present and can answer most of your questions or get you on the right track. As a District Committee Chairman, I assure you they will welcome your attendance at the meeting. You might learn something about how your district functions too!

Pliny the younger

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I see Jason is at it again. Too bad I can't read it as it is squelched. I assure the rest of you reading this thread, the quality has significantly improved without the benefit of his input, although it is interesting to see the responses without knowing what the responses are for.

Fuzzy, That is quite an inspiring tale. I have occasionally worked with the disabled. You have my utmost respect for the course you took.

 I was a physics major in college. I felt that I would never make a major contribution to the field and decided to pursue biophysics in medical school. Unfortunately, I fell for anatomy and became a surgeon instead.

Hey Bob,

I thought I saw something recently that says the Pack Trainer position is required for Family Camping activities and that this person must be trained. Any info on this?

It appears there will be a court fight (lawyers are expensive) since they did not settle. How is this different than selling a $50 fundraising patch that is worth a dollar?

Ed, 20% of all Scouts in BSA are now LDS members. Mormons use BSA as their youth organization. It would seem that BSA thinks that LDS scouts can do duty to God without any problem.

In the beginning of this thread, Hunt asked why does BSA think following a false religion is better than having no religion? I wonder if you think following this cult is any better than atheism.It seems you keep making points that BSA should allow atheists to be involved in Scouting.

Maybe youshouldn't participate in an organization that would tolerate a cult as a valid path for duty to God. You are also violating the 12th point- respect for the beliefs of others, by the intolerant nature of your post.

Fuzzy, thanks for trying to bring this thread back to sanity. But, rigid religious beliefs do noteasily respond to thelogic of your approach.

Here are some links for you.

http://www.geocities.com/~pack215/pt.html

The virtual cub scout leader handbook is a great resource.

http://www.geocities.com/~pack215/home.html

It is my understanding that this position is now required for your pack. I am surprised that your council does not offer it. Try contacting your Council Training Committee Chairman to get specific information.

This borders on a discussion that several threads have grazed recently but have not directly discussed. It has less to do with women than the the relationship between the volunteer and professional sides of scouting. The Council has a budget which they pay their professional scouting personel and ancillary staff. The costs include health insurance for the staff, supplies and many other things.

The money for the budget comes in large part from the fundraising of the volunteers. This includes Product sales (mostly popcorn), FOS and other fundraisers (in our area we have a Golf Tournament with corporate sponsorship and a Breakfast of Champions). If we only had a larger Endowment!

And what do we get for our fundraising? The Council then helps to move the program forward and assists with units, leaders, and organization. Some Scouters think the program would continue on autopilot without the professionals. Some units might do just fine, but the districts would suffer IMO.

To me, women should be just as capable as men on both the professional and volunteer sides of scouting.

As a Scouter, I feel we owe all the boys that are present an acceptable program. When I, as an adult, go to a Christian Worship Service and hear the word Jesus, I can think God in all forms. I listen to the message (which is pretty much the same in all faiths). I would hope that the Christians that feel strongly about it would hear the word Jesus when the word God is spoken at a non-sectarian service. But to insist that only Jesus be represented as God, when others do not feel this way is a problem if some in the audience find this objectionable. Especially if no alternative is given. Unfortunately, the True Believers just can't seem to accept this.

Tamegonit Arrowman

That had to be the best post I have read on the Forums so far. I suggest a yearly award, you should be the first to receive it.

Hey Unc. You said:

I just read all 14 pages for the first time. It made interesting reading. Some posts were ugly.

I have been a very active participant in this thread. I must say it got much better since I squelched one of the posters. The discussion has actually been provocative and interesting. I hope I wasn't one of the ugly posters in my responses (does that mean I am ugly or the posts were ugly?). If so, I apologize to all.

I became interested in Council and District activities as a CM, then ASM. I am now a District Committee Chairman. In this position, I am a member of the Executive Committee of our Council.

A fellow Scouter who is quite enthusiastic and excitable was certain that fiscal shenanigans were going on in Council. He is no longer welcome at Headquarters. Looking into this matter was one of the reasons I decided to be more active at the higher levels of our Council. As I have been more involved, I have learned that the running of the Council is more complicated than one might consider at first glance. I have been a passive observer so far (3 years) because I still really don't have a clear understanding of all of the goings on. We are volunteers. I think it is better to try to steer the ship from inside than to sink it from the outside.

Hey!

Don't take it so personally. It's a FORUM. Discuss or don't discuss. If someone is too boorish, you can always ignore them so you don't have to even read their post. Better yet, read their post but don't respond to it.

One new member has been very controversial. I finally clicked on the "ignore this user" button and was surprised to find I was the 8th member to squelch him.

As a relatively new participant of the Forum, I find the dynamics of the last few posts fascinating. Each time Bob White has quoted rules, regulations, handbooks or manuals (of which I own most) he has ultimately been correct. This thread has so much subjective information in it that the conclusions to many of the arguments are tenuous at best.

Bob, you recently asked in another thread, what is the problem? You have felt attacked on occasion. But you attack others when you say things like "You need to understand that your biggest problem is a personal lack of knowledge of the BSA structure" when you don't even know the individual. What you say may be true, but the individual bearing the brunt of your message still feels attacked. I think you could convey the information without the additional personal opinion, unless it is simply for the sake of stimulating the discussion.

I couldn't tell if it was sarcasm, but once you are a Brotherhood member, you are no longer Ordeal and therefore would only wear the one sash.

Hey! If you cross the MB sash with the OA sash what is the secret significance of which one is in front of the other? And is the OA sash the one that goes to the left? I think the MB sash wouldnt fit right if it goes to the left.

(just joking guys)

Consider the position of Junior Assistant Scoutmaster. Ask to be in charge of programs. Then you can be an advisor to the SPL and assist him in developing a better program. If you meet immediately after the troop meeting to have a reflection of what went right and what went wrong, you can help the SPL develop a better meeting. It really only takes a few minutes of planning to make things better.

I believe I was the first to call the gathering at the Camporee a religious service. Interestingly, BobWhite called it a fellowship service. But it seems that the intent is to show duty to God and reverence. Is this not a religious service? I strongly agree with the sentiments here that it should be non-denominational or non-sectarian.

The appendix of the old Scoutmaster Fundamentals course included "Suggested Interfaith Worship Service" and Suggestions for Religious Observance" which includes many excellent recommendations to avoid the kind of problems that our District encountered.