Eagle94-A1

While I admit my dealing with Venturing are very limited, I do know that I can count on one hand the number of years my council had an "active" VOA. As far as the OA, I've had a lot more interactions. As a youth officer and 21-23 year old chapter advisor, I was pretty much ignored. I had to get one of my friends to pass off my ideas as his to get them even considered. I had one chapter chief so ticked off at the condecesion of one district committee meeting, he vowed never to attend again. And to this day, his successors have not attended anymore ( approx 7 years now). Talking to the

Family camping was the "camel's nose in the tent" that led to coed Cub Scouts. And according to BSA's documents, family camping is allowed for Boy Scouts, Sea Scouts, and Venturers. And we already face folks pushing "family camping" on the boy scout level.

Read the current youth application that came out in July 2017. Boy Scout membership states "children...."

page 22 of the Guide to Safe Scouting has this to say about family camping. And since 'OUTING is three-fourths of ScOUTING," I think this will apply to 'Family Scouting" Family Camping Family camping is an outdoor experience, other than resident camping, that involves Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting, or Venturing program elements in overnight settings with two or more family members, including at least one BSA member of that family. Parents are responsible for the supervision of their children, and Youth Protection policies apply. (emphasis added)

THAT is the problem. Most Scouters get what 30 minutes or thereabouts on the topic. As you stated, IT IS NOT ENOUGH TIME (emphasis). Then you got the folks, even those who SHOULD know better, that do not believe in the Patrol Method, or do not have the patience to do it right. Heck Bryan on his blog even did an article on it, and said it's OK for adults to intervene in areas when health and safety ARE NOT a concern. These adults think they are helping hte Scouts, wen in effect they are hurting htem.

Yes, it is already happening. My sons and many of their friends are not happy with the parents and siblings starting to camp with the troop now.

But that is CUB Scout, bot BOY Scouts. (caps for emphasis). Most 11-18 year old males want to get away from their parents and younger siblings. They want to do things on their own. The families going camping is one reason why my sons and several others are not happy with the troop. They had problems with siblings, as well as adults. An example form this weekend, PL is doing his assigned job at a fundraiser, and one of the parents tells him to stop what he is doing and get back to work. Thankfully I was there and told him to ignore the parent and SPL's instructions. Agree

That's just it, did youth have any say in the new policy? In my neck of the woods, the ones I talk to are against it. Don't know how many youth took the heavily biased for girls survey. Also do not know what the results of the membership survey was, but considering that those results have not been published by BSA, I do not believe the majority of those polled were in favor.

Not the Rat, but a local amusement/waterpark. When I was up in Canada, the last full day we had a choice of waterpark or amusement park. Most of us stuck with the waterpark because we were still recuperating from a week of canoeing, and of course the girls Most popular place was the huge heated pool. After a week dealing with glacier fed lakes, and me getting hypothermia, it was awesome to have hot water. It was included in the trip fee. Local troop on the way back from FL Seabase, did a day at the Rat.

All three of my boys think this is a major mistake. Youngest commented on what happened when one boys only group merged with the girls only group: it got boring and the combined group stopped meeting. Wife, who was a Venturing leader, has mixed emotions. Glad girls will have the same opportunities, but also sees how this will hurt the boys in the long term. There is no place for boys to be boys anymore. My troop will be coed no matter what national says. SM, ASM, and several MCs have daughters who have dropped out and/or are bored with GSUSA. One daughter is only in GSUSA to get Gol

At the moment we have 3 patrols and whomever shows up, shows up. Patrols have approx 8 each. But we have our issues. Someone here suggested 12 man patrols, so that if only 50% show up, it's enough to function. Might be something to look at.

Agreed. As much as I personally believe that accepting girls in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts is the worst mistake BSA ever made, their roll out and implementation of this decision is BSA's #3 mistake of all time, right behind #2's Improve Scouting Program fiasco of the 1970s. Don't know about other areas, but in my district, only 1 CO is looking to go coed. Two packs and troops will be approaching their COs about the topic. All the rest of the units and/or COs are against this membership change. One troop told me that if they are forced to accept girls, the CO will drop Scouting as an out

Don't go there. I already had one supply employee tell me that the cheap pants that are current issue do not have a lifetime guarantee anymore. Had to get a manager involved in that. And the second pair was just as bad. had to use ebay and get some "expereinced" shorts from the 1990s.

From a high level national volunteer on facebook, BSA is now reconsidering a separate all girls program, and is now looking at separate girls patrols in existing troops. To quote Yoda, "Always in motion, the future is." IMHO, National had clue what they were doing. They probably discussed this with academics, and a few affluent volunteers who have been away from the field so long, that they are clueless as to the realities of the program. They do not know the challenges that some of us face. And since they are not releasing data from the surveys, I bet that they didn't even listen to

@NJCubScouter beat me to it. BUT as someone from national told me in a PM on facebook when I kept stating a program needs to be up and running no later than January 1 2019, the girls, and boys for that matter, can stay in Cub Scouts and continue working on Adventure Badges until the girls program is created. Can you hear the negative PR when boys start crossing over in the December 2018 to March 2019 time frame, and the girls cannot because a program has not been implemented yet?

I can tell you for a fact that the 1999 figures were inflated. Does Ronnie Holmes and Greater Alabama Council ring a bell? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45573-2005Jan28.html Sadly, he was not the only one inflating membership. One of the reasons I quit being a DE was being pressured to inflate membership. The pressure was intense, and affecting my health and life. It got so bad, it was affecting the wife, who gave me the ultimatum: her or the job. Interesting thing was that once I left, several units I allowed to drop were recharted. Thank goodness I have kept a copy of

Sadly my first district was like that. No knots or beads, you were ignored. Fortunately a friend with knots and beads was on the committee, and would repeat my ideas a little later and they were brilliant. We both got a laugh about that. In my neck of the woods, over the past 20 years we have declined. partially due to the "In School Scouting units." But once that mess was cleaned up, we have continued to decline. Of the traditional that were around when quit being a DE: all 4 of the units I started no longer exist, (2 packs and 2 troops) 4 additional packs folded

They changed BALOO a few months back. Part of it is online now, and that has to be completed BEFORE the actual class/outdoor experience. We were suppose to have a class last year, and that was postponed because the changes came out 2 weeks before the class.

Interesting conversation last nite with oldest. He was planning to ask the SPL for 5 minutes of time to discuss the matter of the troop doing fundraising, but the Scouts having no input as to purchases. I reminded him that the fundraising committee also asked for some time to get ideas for other fundraisers, and suggested he bring the matter up to them. He's going with that. Thankfully he's been involved in debate and mock trial. So he can think on his feet. I posed some questions the adults might pull on him, and he countered every single one.

Actually according to some national level volunteers, the "separate but equal" Girls' Program troops is being reconsidered. The PTB are now looking into coed troops with segregated patrols. That is what is being reported on Talk About Scouting facebook group.

Yes I know. I spent 20-30 minutes trying to talk the MC out of it. MC did it anyway. West Fellowship Knot has been around approximately 25 years. I was told by a pro that the reason it was created was to thank high level donors to the endowment with a recognition that doesn't take away from other recognitions, i.e. the Silver Beaver. It was also promoted as a way for groups of folks to recognize long time Scouters. I know for a fact that one Eagle class in my council does not know they are James E. West Fellows.

Some messages on the Talk About Scouting Facebook page have mentioned that the "separate but equal" girls program with their own units is now under consideration. Troops may go coed with segregated patrols. And that is being stated by some national level volunteers.

I've seen it all regarding the West Fellowship. I've seen one guy buy 4 fellowships: his wife, daughter, son, and himself. Weird seeing a Cub Scout with that one. I was on the receiving end of anger when one donor was recognized as a West Fellow. He did NOT want it advertised and he started of ticked off at me AND it showed. Thankfully his buddy, who was also MCing the event told him not to get angry at me 'cause I told the MC not to do it, and he did it anyway. I've seen 3 respected leaders wearing it. 2 of them I had the honor of helping their troops and/or former Scouts get t

I don't think he was telling me what I wanted to hear when I talked to him in the past because when we had a meeting like this twice before, he said he wanted less interference from adults, and wanted to be allowed to make mistakes. And after the last PLC, he made some comments about adults taking over again. In the past 6 months, this Scout has essentially become disengaged, and is only in Scouts to get Eagle. Which is sad because when my son visited the troop 5 years ago, this Scout was SPL, and was the reason why my son joined the troop. The money raised at the last two fundraisers

Troop money was spent, it wasn't a gift. The tents the troop were gifted when they started back up were not taken care of properly and some were deliberately vandalized by previous Scouts in the troop. As for SM talking to the Scouts, that was after everything was purchased and delivered.