PbW

I do metrics development, analytics, and reporting for IT Service Management teams. Been involved with ITSM / ITIL operations for seventeen years.

I'm really torn on this issue. One part of me is glad national made this decision as I don't feel discrimination has a place in scouting. On the other side my oldest is going into Webelos-I and my youngest son won't start Tiger until 2017. My oldest is (currently) dead set on earning Eagle like Daddy, being a leader, and being a Buffalo like his dad and his grandpa. I've been taking my youngest to my pack activities for a while and he wants so bad to follow his big brothers foot steps. My daughter is in girls scouts and my wife is her troop leader. We're a scouting family. If this issue causes

For my pack (50 boys) we charge $10 for monthly dues and then recharter and boys life. Total is $156 so we round down to $150. We allow them the offset that cost through popcorn sales using the equation (150 - Sales * .33) so they can choose to sell popcorn or write a check (due net 30 after popcorn closes). We cover pretty much everything except basic uniform costs and try to avoid asking parents for a dime after that.

You mean ask them to tackle the real problems Illinois has like being a step away from junk bond status, soaring un(der)employment, underfunded pension plans, and horrible business climate? Pish-posh... much better to debate non-nonsensical garbage like state pies.

This year I had nine Webelos-II in my pack. Five of them decided to crossover two weeks ago while the other four chose not to. The weekend of our Blue & Gold the Webelos-II group went on a camping trip with the Troop we're connected to (same charter org). They came back and attended our B&G a few hours later where the OA Dance/Ceremony Team performed the Crossover. I learned a week afterwards that three of the four holdouts have decided they enjoyed the campout so much they want to crossover too. So we'll be doing another crossover in May and sending eight new scouts to the troop.

So people who are without religion add nothing to our society? I find that rather myopic and, to be frank, a ridiculous statement. Tell that to 93% of the National Academy of Sciences. Surely they add something to our society? Or how about the 99.8% of our prison population which claim to be religious. Surely they are adding benefit to society. I am not advocating this be overlooked. Policy is policy and if he blatantly states he's atheist then he doesn't meet the requirements. But scouting around the world, both boy and girl, is losing the religious requirements thereof. The global popul

http://national.deseretnews.com/article/449/boy-scouts-remove-god-from-oath-in-uk-welcome-atheists-to-the-ranks.html If it's good enough for the scouts in the country that founded the movement we're based on, why isn't it good enough for us? It's time the BSA moved into this century and realized morality and being a good person does not stem from a base in religion.Look at some of the northern European counties, especially the Scandinavian ones, and you'll find counties with great standards of living and are largely secular. Policy is policy and you have to judge this youth based on

I'm doing some searching for examples of surveys written to gather feedback from parents (and youth) on their perception of the scouting program at the local unit level. I'm not a professional survey writer so I don't want to bias the question phrasing writing them as the cubmaster. Does anyone have examples of surveys they've used in the past, or examples of ones online I can look at? I tried searching the web but the noise to signal ratio was horrible, and the first half dozen pages of search results here did not show what I was looking for either. Thanks!

I forgot how close we live to each other... that's the same one I'm looking at going to. Fortunately I live about 35 minutes from there and my wife's sister lives 5 minutes from it, so I'd either go home or crash at their place. You're right though, camping would have been a nice option. I went through the course guide and found a lot of classes I'd like to take. Unfortunately I'm planning on moving April 1st and the wife has requested I not take off for a weekend right as we're trying to do that. Looks like I'll have to wait until next year. But with two boys aged 9 and 4, and another ba

Registration for my area's Lord Baden-Powell University 2015 session opens soon. Anyone have experience with this? How useful did you find the programming? Did you go for any of the "degrees"? Is it worth going at the Cubmaster level (I do have intentions of staying on through the troop and district level as my boys age)?

Thank you all for the input. I really appreciate it. I'll take all of this information into consideration as I get next year's program information out to the den leads.

I'm in the same boat as LeCastor. Was inducted in 1991 and was active in the lodge until 1994. Came back as an adult leader in 2012 and only had to pay my $15 annual lodge dues... no reinstatement fee. But like you said, SMMatthew, each lodge is different and you're may have a standing fee in the policy books for this.

I've been the Cubmaster for two different packs. My first pack had dens meeting every week barring holidays and the week of the pack meeting. When I came to this new pack I was told they meet once, maybe twice a month as dens and once as a pack. I know BSA recommends meeting every week, but the JTE requirement is only to meet twice a month plus the pack meeting. How often does your den meet outside of the monthly pack meeting? What is the total time spent in den meetings monthly? Do you meet every week for one hour. Every other week for two hours? Some other combination of days and times?

I've seen nothing on my council calendar indicating there will be any training at all. So for me, as a cubmaster, I plan on getting my head around the changes ASAP and holding my own training for my den leads over the summer. It would be nice if national put out a training program for councils to deliver along with the new material so every council did not have to reinvent the wheel.

Maybe I'm missing something due to living in an area with a very low Mormon population... but why does the LDS have a separate / specific training? Do they run a different program than non-LDS units?

The Bear den in my pack is way behind on their rank progress this year and the leader is now unable to run regular meetings (he's been doing ad hoc "when he has time" meetings this whole year... hence them being behind). I'm supposed to be meeting him for dinner in the next week to get the rest of the year planned out. I think this is a really great idea. I am concerned, like blw2 said, that their night will come up and they'll cancel... but hopefully that's few and far between.

As cubmaster that's how I've asked the DLs in my pack to run it. Let the families manage the religious achievement requirements on their own, but make it clear that they need to do it. So far it's worked out well and no DL has had to manage the complexity of ten different religious practices. I've seen the argument made that doing these things in a den is a great way for the boys to learn of other faiths than their own, but I've also heard the counter argument that 1-5th grade isn't the time to be teaching Comparative Religions 101. Hence I've kept it out of the program run by the pack.

My father in law earned his eagle in the 60's and just a few years ago finally figured out why he's felt slightly off of center his whole life. He came out to his daughters as transgendered. I feel no less respect for the man than I did before he came to understand himself. I really hate how gender identity and sexuality are hyperlinked to morality in this country. Who you choose for a partner has no bearing on your morality or worth as a human being. It's certainly not worth shaking a head at. Edit: To clarify my point... Shiff stated that he didn't know Jenner was transgendered and post

Maybe I'm not long enough in the tooth to understand the reference. Why is this image head shake worthy?

I was under the impression from reading the new program material that current Webelos-I boys had the option of continuing on to Webelos-II using the current AoL requirements. Current Bears going into Webelos-I next year (as is the case for my son) will have to use the new program. If this isn't the case I have a lot of learning and knowledge sharing to do in the next 6-8 months.

While I am the cubmaster for the unit, my oldest son is only a Bear this year so my in-depth familiarity with the Webelos program is limited to when I was that rank back in the 80s. The question is on when do they earn certain pieces of their advancement bling. Do they get their shoulder colors as they graduate from Bear to Webelos, or is that earned after they earn their Webelos rank in Webelos-I? They have to earn three activity pins to get their rank, so if they do not have colors already how do they display them (on their hat is what I've read, but that sounds sketchy). Are they a

I feel your pain, though not to the same extent. I'm the cubmaster for a medium sized pack (rechartered 49 boys) and we, like a lot of units, use popcorn sales to drive our budget. We try to do as much with that money as we can, but some things do have additional costs not part of that. For example, I'm running monthly workshops to help boys earn their Sport and Academic Pins since they are going away. This program was not in the budget for the year and with about 40 boys each month coming to the workshops that's just shy of $200/m for awards and materials. When I introduced the parents t

I'd say wear it. It's a formal occasion, so from a uniform standpoint it's appropriate. And he's trying to garner interest in the OA to a new troop, so they kids should see it. I've often been asked by parents in my pack what that pocket flap is for, and when I tell them about the OA they always seem to be in favor of it. Some people here seem to be very against adults having too many patches and stuff on the uniforms. I'm of the opinion that showing an active uniform can both get the kids interested in having stuff on theirs and indicates to parents you might have a clue about this scout

So I'm in my first year with a new pack as their Cubmaster (was CM for another pack for a couple years but my son switched schools and hence packs). I've encouraged all the DLs to use segments to awards the boys for things they do at their meetings. For example, my the Bear Den just did the opening/closing flag ceremonies for the city council meeting where our pack is located.I mentioned to the DL (as my son is a Bear) that he should contact that advancement chair (who just quit on me today, no idea why) and have the boys given the American Flag segment. It never occurred to him to reward