JosephMD

DEs will come and go, you hate to see the good ones go, and you hate to see the bad ones go on to be someone else's problem.  District volunteers that has been around for more than a couple of years are used to this.

How is your district's FOS doing?  I think we all know that FOS and council pay checks are connected.  A DE that is working for the volunteers sure does make it easier for us to open our wallets doesn't it?

Our team handled two Arrow of Light Blue & Gold Banquets on the same day, one early in the afternoon, and one later.  The later one was a little bit of a scheduling mess as they were told they were needed at four o’clock pm.  The team feels like an hour to prepare is necessary so they arrived at 3, only to find out that they aren’t really needed until five thirty, which really turned out to be more like quarter to six. 

We know how these things happen, but they can be quite irksome, but the team kept a cheerful attitude and killed some time while waiting for the cubs to be ready for them.  There was no complaining, not even from our ceremonies adviser who took a blow to the head from a falling flag (he reads this board).  When I see the arrowmen living the obligation, it reminds me that it works, and that OA a worthwhile thing to be a part of.  The pack made sure the arrowmen ate well, and forced us adults who were advising to do so as well. 

The ceremony was great.  The team is so flexible with how they do it, adjusting for the number of guys they can get together, to each pack’s unique way of handling the awards.  As a chapter adviser, I really like to see the arrowmen engage with the Cub Scout aged youth, especially the Webelos, it won’t be too long before they’ll be eligible to become arrowmen themselves.

I was a Brotherhood member of my Lodge while I was in high school, went off to college and life happened. My son is crossing over next week and I intend on following him to his troop as an adult leader. I've been his Den Leader since Tiger. I've been out of the OA for over 20 years. Do I need to be elected in again or can I just join the new Lodge? How does this work?

 

P.S. I am not in the same Council as I was when I was a scout.

That is pretty much how it works, but every lodge will have its own process.  My lodge has a form where you would fill out your information, ordeal date, brotherhood date, etc. & from what lodge.  If you had an OALM ID, you could put that on there.  Some lodges were better at keeping records than others and some these days are more picky than others in their verification.  Some have better online presence than others, some have lodge meetings or if it is broken into chapters, chapter meetings. 

I'm a chapter adviser, I get adults transferring in from lodges long ago every so often, it unusually goes well, even though it is a paper process.

I guess a good question is, why'd you wait?  Just because you have the blue loops doesn't mean you can't pay those dues and wear the lodge flap.  It is rare, but it happens.  My chapter is big on cub scout outreach, having a couple of adults from packs is helpful there.

My wife is the CC of a pack and didn't participate in the Lion pilot.  One of the main reasons was that the council instructed pilot packs not to deviate from the Lion pilot program and leaving the Lions out of so many pack activities didn't sit well with the committee. 

Sounds like fun - I'm looking forward to helping with the K2BSA demonstration station!

I've been wondering that as well. Actually I have no doubt it's a promotional event to some extent. I just wonder if it's more promotional than I previously believed. Four uniforms says to me that they're nitpicking every detail of this thing. It has to be more about presentation than anything else. Kids don't really need more than 2. I never had more than one uniform shirt as a kid and kept it presentable through a week of summer camp every year. Didn't get a 2nd uniform until I was an adult.  

Wow, 4?  My son's jamboree troop has said they require one jamboree troop uniform and they recommend another as there are many times where uniform wear is the norm.  I suppose if you don't mind wearing a dirty uniform, one would do. I'll probably get him two.  They'll get used.

Overall comments on the cost.  It costs what it costs.  I think that some councils are less thrifty than others, and some have a much more expensive transportation expense.  If the council fills its contingent, the price is probably right.  The jamboree fee itself, $950 or so, is paying for a unique scouting experience, the rest is transportation and their council overhead.  The NCAC cost of $1250 was cited, that is what my son paid.  Fundraising started even before we knew what the council would charge but the $1250 was earned in a little over 9 months with a combination of popcorn, camp cards, fair parking, and a golf tournament.  it is not an impossible amount.

I'm looking forward to being on staff as well, and I've paid $850 for the privilege.  I think that is kind of high, but it is one of the ways I want to serve our youth, so, I pay it.  Fortunately, I can drive there, will probably car pool with other staffers from the area and write off the 600 or so miles for the round trip at $0.14 per mile. 

The others have noted that nominations should be made of those who the unit thinks may have something to offer to the order of the arrow.  While not an honor officially, many still find it an honor to be asked to serve.  My best advice is that you know the adults in your unit better than anyone else in your scouting community, and, you know there are some adults that don't need to be asked before being nominated, and there are some, that you think may have something to offer, but maybe you are not sure, ask them. 

As a chapter adviser, I know I need adults with a couple of spare weekends and a couple more spare evenings per year.  Right now, it is making sure that our elections team has transportation to troop meetings that aren't in their neighborhood.  That our chiefs and those who serve on lodge committees have transportation to lodge meetings.  I also need adults to help the youth get to fellowships & conclave as a lot of these events occur some distance away.  I hope some of these adults can develop into advisers for various chapter committees, such as, elections, ceremonies, dance, etc. as one day, the current adults filling those roles will move on and we will need someone to fill their shoes.  I also need a finance adult, it is something that I'm not very good at myself, budgets, balancing, etc.  I think it would be really helpful to have someone with a background in that sort of thing to help the youth in charge get a handle on these budget things. 

Our chapter shrank a bit last year.  Well, the combined numbers of two chapters that merged mid year shrank a bit last year.  Perhaps the disjointedness of the chapter merger cost us some membership.  We will work on our chapter retention and growth this year and see how it goes.  That our lodge grew, that means some chapters did well enough to make up for our losses.

Our troop elections so far this year seem to be going well, with many troops electing multiple scouts.  12 elections so far, 40 scouts with 17 elections to go, if the trend continues, this could be a really big year.  Of course, our chapter is the size of some lodges, so, it could be apples and oranges to compare.

I'm not sure if we are doing anything particularly different with the elections, maybe, there are just more scouts eligible in the troops this year than last due to the requirements change, I haven't really crunched the data to that level.  The new national video is a little better than previous ones I think.  And the chapter emphasizes leadership, additional camping opportunity, and service as key reasons that one would want to be a part of the OA. 

Our cub scout pack exposure will be pretty big this year compared to years passed, I think we have 6 arrow of light ceremonies on the schedule.  The chapter also hosted a webelos in the woods style camp out where the OA staff were showing some sash, and performed an awesome ceremony that was still on the minds of some of the adults at the next round table.

One problem with having a big year, is that, a lot of those scouts will age out together, so big up years will lead to big down years later on.  They don't all stay involved, that's just the way it is.

A photo of the finished product is attached.

It was not very fast, 12th place overall, but the boy was proud of winning the overall coolest car award. 

Cant seem to attach the file

Still no word.  looks like I better plan a hike on the A trail instead.

Nothing beyond the Eagle Scouts requested.  Our chief from the north was chosen to march though.

I would have really liked to do some service, as would so many of our other chapter mates, but, it looks like it is Klondike Derby for us that weekend.  Maybe in 4 years. 

But he is not looking forward to the overhead of the "Jamobree Troop".

I get why they do it that way, logistically, for huge events, you need things broken down into uniform manageable sized units but still, extra uniforms, troop tshirts, meetings, and so on aren't high on the "this is fun" chart.

Son: I want lights

Me: Sure

Son: headlights and tail lights

Me: that might sound easy, but I'm betting you want white headlights and red tail lights.  There is a problem with that, white LEDs are 3.3 volts, red are 2 volts, are you willing to do the math to design that circuit?

Son: I just want headlights

Me: Good choice, otherwise, everyone would think your dad did all the work.

I didn't tell him that no one would really know that a proper LED circuit would be required, nor that it would all work fine on a 3 volt source, but the whites would be a little dim and the reds would burn out a little fast, but it wouldn't matter in the time it takes to run a few pinewood derby races.

The real hard part would be wiring back to front and to keep it all looking nice!

@@onetallmama, welcome to the forums.

 

I find it very hard to turn kids away.

 

The boy scouts would handle this by splitting the group in two but still be in the same troop (each group is called a patrol). Maybe these scouts have differences of opinion on what they should do so two groups of 7 might be easier to work with. More scouts means more parents so maybe you can get some help. This could be a good thing.

My mother ran a larger girl scout troop with the patrol method.  They were middle school aged girls and it worked out pretty well.  I think she defaulted to what she knew based on the BSA training she had been through.  They planned some things as a troop, and each patrol planned some things just for their patrol. 

I just got back from an awesome weekend where I attended the Northeast Region National Leadership Seminar.

Having been through Woodbadge, the concepts aren't new, but the approach is different.  For example, stages of team development are just stages of development.  As OA advisers, sure, our chapters, lodges, and committees are teams, but our leaders are often just one chief, or committee chair.  My number one take away was learning how our youth leadership are taught these things at NLS.  I think it will help me be a much better adviser.

I guess the biggest trouble with NLS is, that space is so limited and there isn't a great way to get around that, and so few of our leaders can attend, but I'm glad to see the ones that do come back and use what they've learned in their lodges and sections, and put on their own leadership development trainings. 

J

Now, for the pack.

Have you ever tried to get a den leader to install packmaster?  Hint, they don't, or at least, most of them don't, or they do and manage to erase your dot net file.  I just had so many problems with that when I was a cub scout advancement chair.  My wife had the same issue as committee chair.  She actually had an advancement chair quit on her because packmaster was too complicated. 

scoutbook.com is really great for packs who often have a lot of cooks in the kitchen when it comes to advancement, giving them all, from the parent to the den leader an easy way to input advancement and award information.  It requires almost no instruction, works well on almost all mobile phones (even my WIndows phone), and the millennial parents seem to pick it up with ease. 

I use it for advacement tracking in my troop.  I've also used it as a merit badge counselor for scouts in other units.

I find it to be a grat tool for advancement tracking.  Most things are written into the scout's book first, then every so often I look at the scout's book and record the information into scoutbook.com

There are some occasions when something gets done as a group or something that I know about that gets entered in scoutbook.com first, it gets to the book eventually.

It gets really handy at court of honor time. 

A couple of our scouts access their own records.  I think the future will be that physical sign offs will go away, and everything will be done via the .com platform.

As an MB counselor, I've signed off on the digital blue card at the same time as the physical one. 

In all cases, the scouts, parents, and leaders all like having the digital backup copy should something get lost or destroyed.  It happens, and I've painstakingly worked to help a scout re-construct partial blue cards or a that one page with the first class requirements on it that fell out of his book due to over use, it isn't fun, for me, or the scout.

A couple of the parents really like being able to check up on their son's advancement.  I'm not sure how I feel about this, but, it does keep things transparent.

​A special task to show scout spirit, that's a new one on me.  You really should show scout spirit all the time.  I'm not a scoutmaster, but it should be obvious if a scout is demonstrating scout spirit by living the scout oath and law, and if he wasn't, he shouldn't have to wait for a scoutmaster conference to find out.  I could imagine in the worst case scenario that I'd suggest that he work on living the scout oath and law and come back in a couple of weeks for the sign off.  Remember, the SMC and Scout Spirt requirements are not linked.  As far as tests during the SMC, well, that really isn't in the requirements either.  Perhaps the SM can decertify whoever is signing off on requirements that haven't been met, but really, once it is signed off, it is signed off, and better handled with a conversation than a denial.

I've heard that the new overtime rules enacted this year will cause some problems with councils.  We all know that our district executivies are low paid, but the US Department of Labor has mandated that employees making under $47,476 /year are to be paid overtime for workign hours in excess of 40.  I know DEs are paid low, and work long hours, they'll either have to pay them more and have fewer of them, or keep the low pay and limit their work, but probably need to hire more of them.  No matter what, this will cost councils more, and those already in the red will have an even harder time.

Hi Dale,

Welcome to scouting on the National Capital Area Council.  I'm up north in the newly formed Francis Scott Key District of Frederick County (we used to be two districts, Appalachian Trail & Catoctin Mountain, south and north). 

My wife is experiended with JSNs.  One of her tricks is to have schedules availalbe for the next month or so and invite everyone.  If you get the contact information, send some e-mail invites, and make a follow up call. 

I encourage you and all of your leaders to go to training, in addition to what is offered online, Pow-Wow in November, University of Scouting in February.  Our council has an excellent training committee, and does a great job with these events.

ahh, going to pust in issues & politics!  Against my better judgement, but here goes.

I think as long as GSUSA exists as a seperate entity, girls will not be boy scouts and won't be able to earn first class, eagle, etc.  You always hear about girls wanting to be boy scouts, but boys wanting to be girl scouts, a lot less, unless they think they are actually girls.  Oh, and while I've seen all female boy scouts of America leadership, I've never seen that with the girl scouts, have you?

I think the next step for our female scouts is OA membership.  There are a couple of instances where ranger award requirements create a first class equivilenc.  This plus camping nights and a crew election would make it so. 

That being said, I don't really have a strong opinion on it either way.  If they add venturing elections to OA, including female members, that works, if they don't, that works too.  I know people that really want to see it happen, and people who will never pay another cent in lodge dues if it does.  But me personally, whatever happens happens.

My son wanted some publicity photos for his Webelos Mountain event.  He is running the event with his OA chapter.  The idea is for Webelos and Patrols from the district to camp together and do scout skills.

This isn't the best of photos of the bunch, but one that I was small enough to attach!

J

My state just mandated that the school year start after labor day and end before June 15 with a 180 day requirement.  They can extend beyond June 15 if there are emergency closures for weather, etc.

My children are home schooled, and they do go year round, and since we set the scheudle, we can work it around any scouting activities.

In the end, yes.  But...  there is always a but

Suggest your son check his e-mail

in our troop, a lot gets posted on the facebook group, I suggest that he checks facebook

give him some time

ask if there is anything going on at xyz time

suggest that you think there might be and that he should contact his patrol leader

give him some time

ask again

and after all of that, give him the message

This worked well for my son, but, I'm sure not every boy can do it.  Turning 13 and getting access to Facebook was a big help.  I know the troop shouldn't communicate that way, but the committee chair is a social media type person, so, that won't change any time soon.  These days, just suggesting that he check his e-mail and facebook is usually enough.

Well, after years of talk, speculatoin, and rumor.  My district is combining with the district to the south to make a single county wide district.  Chapters, well, merging by default.

History, the districts were once one, the Francis Scott Key district, witht he boundries of our county, Frederick County Maryland.  In 2003 they were split north and south, right through the middle of the county seat, to make the Catoctin Mountain (north) and Appalachian Trail (south) districts.  What's old is new again, as the combined district and chapter will be called Francis Scott Key.

Looking forward to the new chapter.  The scouts should be better able to staff their committees and teams.  They'll have to figure out who's chief, co-chief, or whatever.  For practical purposes, the merger is effective right away, budget and paperwork, January 1, and they don't have chapter elections scheduled until April. 

My son's troop has had a hard time fundraising, size, local competition, etc.  They changed their dues structure a few years ago to $40 / month, covingering BSA registration, awards, most camp outs, and summer camp, and some shared troop gear.  Since the cost of council camp went up this year I have a feeling we'll be talking about $50/month before too long.  If scouts do fundraise, they can get a month discount, it all depends on what they are doing.

scouts are expected to supply their uniform shirt, preferably a full uniform, but we aren't too picky, and personal camping gear, sleeping bag is the biggest expense there. 

Yeah, scouting isn't cheap, but it is still a great value!