gumbymaster

@@Eagle94-A1, How long ago was your last NCS? Usually that certification is good for five years.

Considering that it takes 3+ years from application to approval for an uncontested patent, they would be unlikely to achieve that time line before turning 18. I guess it's good that the requirements are different for Inventing MB.

In general, I would be much more comfortable with this approach as well. Ok I've got to pay W if we want Boy's Life, X to the BSA organization (for registration), Y to the Council (for organization), and Z to the Troop (for Program/awards/etc.) - but as one annual fee to the troop. Or as an alternative, add that cost as a franchise fee to the Chartered Org. - Then let the Chartered org decide if that gets passed down. They at least get to vote on some of the Council operations - let them have some skin in the game. (Although overall I think I like the first approach better). One of

Not incapable. But I do have two anacdotal/experiential frames of reference for my comment. 1. Being in a Co-Ed explorer post focsed on leadership development training (running a NYLT equivalent) and using the patrol method ... a. The boys (NYLT campers) are a little smitten for the first couple of days with the Female Counselors (on ave. 2-3 years older) or fellow troop/patrol members. Several of the girls are likewise smitten. b. By the end of the week is is a non issues for most (other than the relatively few that think they have a summer romance - usually restricted to excha

It sounds like these boys are going to have a lot of fun.

Be careful what you ask for @@Stosh, I would not be surprised if more than a few Boy Scouts would love to have the Girls join the troop and be on their events and activities with them ... even if it was for the 'wrong' reasons.

Out of this whole conversation, I think the part that bothered me the most was the tradition of inducting an active parent with their child. Ok, as a youth, I was elected by my peers for membership. Is it really different for Adults? Or is this just a fancy way of electioneering to induct the parent? That said, I've had a love-hate relationship with the OA my whole Scout career. As a Youth, I was honestly surprised to be elected, and honored to join. We did a lot of off-season service projects to help improve and fix up the summer camp. My Troop actually never went to our Counc

To keep repeating an action and expect a different result is the definition of insanity. In my mind, if the Scout should be allowed to return, something should be different ... this could be a lot of things 1. Maybe the Scout has matured a little over this time 2. Maybe the Scout really wants to be with his friends, and now understanding the consequences of his behavior is willing to change 3. Maybe factors at home have changed (either for better or worse) in a way that this means more to that Scout now than before 4. Maybe the Scout has gotten some professional counseling or had their

I don't really know the numbers of boys you are talking about; however, one approach that we considered simply because the den was too large, was to let a single den be organized as two patrols. There are things they can do together, there are things they can do as friendly competition, there may be things they do separately - as long as there is sufficient qualified leadership. Like your pack, our Webelos usually split into one of two Troops, and for at least 2/3 of them, which one has been determined long ago by parent involvement and siblings. But for that last 1/3, they still like th

My Son's troop ... (16-20 active boys, only 3 or 4 above first class, intermittent frequency 6-9 month terms) A position was called Boys who were interested in the position got ~ 1 minute to speak in front of the Troop ... why they wanted the position, why the troop should elect them, etc., and then the troop made a quick vote and tally. All positions were elected, and not necessarily in the most logical order. When I was a youth ... (40-60 active boys, good mix of ranks, 6 month terms) The week before, Scouts interested in SPL would get to make their case. The election was held at

If this were true, then any Council that actually cared about their camps, etc. should look to incorporating the camps into a legally distinct entity from the council and then some long term lease back to the council. And for that to be implemented before the bylaw change. The hard part of this assessment if it went through is: 1. Would the National generally use this power to keep Councils from selling camps, (or alternately require a kickback to approve it's sale?) or 2. Would National generally go about selling lots of underperforming camps (or camps belonging to non-compliant counc

@@Stosh Every once in a while (ok, fairly often) you give me some real food for thought. The kind of head-slap why didn't I think of that. My Son's troop is having a devil of a time getting some (committee/parents) tasked with organizing some of the fund raising events, and here you go and describe a (extra challenged) scout running your popcorn sales. I tip my hat to you. Each time I think I have a handle on boy-led, you push it one further.

No offense taken. It's not the first time that the words that I come up with have more meaning than I intend. At least at work I have a technical writer to double check me.

Oh well, back to YPT for me I guess.

In our area, many of our parents have long commutes. So our gathering starts and 7:15 and I try to end by 8:30. Unless it is a special occasion like the Webelos bridging, we don't do snacks, as most of our Scouts go to bed right after the meeting and we don't want to hype them up. Our den meetings generally have a similar time frame. The planned start and stop times are ok with our parents, but I will hear about it if I run too much over. Many of our Scouts are in a Karate program (on different nights) with their classes usually from 7 to 8.

Kids are pretty resiliant. If he is earing something, but maybe just not as much as some others in the den, I wouldn't worry about it in the least. Otherwise, If you have a chance, before the meeting, you can talk with the Scout and his parents. Manage their expectations. "Billy, I know you didn't have a chance to complete the xxx award that the others will be receving tonight. I want to make sure that you and your parents both know that you can finish that award at any time you like, and when you do, let me know and we'll make sure you get it at the next meeting."

In my youth, the District Camporees had the competitions set up for Patrols (if the Troop could field one or two full patrols). My Troop never had a problem with fielding 4-7 patrols. Even our leadership corps was organized as their own patrol. Some other Troops had to make temporary patrols by combining what they had. For us, being able to field full patrols, and that our competition was more about how we did against the other patrols in our Troop - and much less about how we compared to the other units in the district was probably a significant contributor in how well we did. I do

Historically, the baggie approach is that you call up a boy, hand him a bag of awards and say "here are your awards". In short, you recognize the Scout but not the (qualntity and quality of) achievements. The Baggie itself is not the problem, and even the Scout leader guides recommends the use of it or a similar item to organize and track the awards for each Scout. The key is to make sure that each Scout gets recognized for each achievement.

The (non-staff) Phases were a week long summer camp. Almost everyone who did the program (typically 120-180 youth across all three phases), did this in addition to their Troop's summer camp. The program was co-ed, so I don't know about the girl scouts and camp fire participants. It was usually run near the end of the summer - late August. The program rented a Council camp that had been closed for the season, and set up their own operation. All three phases occurred at the same time - so essentially it was like three full troops operating at a summer camp. They ran independent programs

One of the things I really liked about the youth leader program I attended as a Scout was it was divided into levels. The first year was "Phase 1, Patrol Member Development". Scouts 11-12, were taught how to be good members of a group. They learned core Camping skills, and were exposed to peer-to-peer teaching, and various leadership and communication skills. Staff members acted as the Patrol Leader for the group. The second year was "Phase 2, Patrol Leader Development". Scouts 12-13, were broken into patrols, each member was the patrol leader for a day, and charged with coordinatin

As for the Skits or Songs and other activities ... I usually have a couple of "back pocket" skits that require almost no time to practice, especially ones that can have varying numbers of people, and the Scouts have a lot of fun doing them (invisible bench, CPR, pulling rope and other run-ons). I also always have one or two songs that I know by heart that can cover a dead space; if it's a repeat song, I can still call up the responsible den to "help" me lead the song. http://www.macscouter.com/Skits/ Our Camping coordinator, for skits on the campouts, has a bunch of skit idea cards in a

Moderator's Edit: See this thread instead: http://scouter.com/index.php/topic/27761-roles-of-professional-scouters/

@@ProScouter06, I don't sign the President's paycheck either, but the common conception is that the President (is supposed to) work for the citizenry. Similarly, the Professional Scouting staff is supposed to serve at the will of the membership; although in practice, I don't think a membership mechanism exists to remove them. Now, don't get me wrong; almost all of the Professional Scouters I have worked with have, at the very least, had their hearts in the right place; the only exceptions being when I was a Program/Camp director and directly interacted with the Council Exec and Ass

Registration CAN be done online through the Be-A-Scout system; however most units (mine included) have either not turned on or otherwise disabled that functionality. Our council ran training on the system two or three years ago. The reasons are that (1) The online system can only collect the national dues, not the dues set by the pack/troop/crew - so this creates confusion; It also does not have the ability to accomodate units that pay for their adult registrations (2) All three members of the Key-Three have to use the system to validate and authorize adult leader applications; I think o

So 'Courteous' doesn't cover that one? We get warned that any leader with a YPT that will expire +/- 2 months of rechartering may get dropped. They put the responsibility of checking the registered leadership on the unit's key 3. They also mail registration cards for my pack directly to the Cub Master, so that too is another check to make sure the leader's registration went through.