Col. Flagg

I must be doing it wrong. We get the SMEs to help the Crew, but the Crew designs, develops and executes their activities.

Group A (BSA) has a program for boys that some girls (not all girls) want. If you change your membership to allow girls in Cubs and Boy Scouts you will lose a % of those who want a traditional single-sex program. You will also have to change the program a bit to meet the demands of girls. If you think you can just get ride of the gender-based pronouns in the Cub and Boy Scout programs and satisfy the female "demand", you are out of touch. Group B (GSUSA) could more easily make their program more Boy Scout-like...if they want. BSA meaning a few of the organizational leaders, not

Yup we have the same. Great tools!

Here's the problem: If we are asking BSA to change to accept girls, why can't we ask GSUSA to change to meet the demand of the very group they purport to service? Why should BSA have to change to meet the needs so girls? Now, I have no issue with Venturing lowering their age to allow younger girls and work them in to BSA that way. I *do* have an issue with crow barring open Cubs and Boy Scouts to allow girls. If someone has to change to meet the needs of girls it should be the age-old organization that is supposed to support them.

No apology necessary. Rick and I have chatted via PM and we are good. I don't take anything online too hard. Rick's a good guy and this is an impassioned topic. All good.

Well said! It's almost a full time job making sure our data isn't somehow screwed up by BSA. For Pete's sake, we submitted a change in unit leader form a few weeks back, and somehow Council anointed one of our leaders NOT involved in the leadership change as the new unit lead. It could not have been any clearer: Change Bob Smith from SM to ASM, make John Johnson SM from ASM. Somehow Sandy Sanders was made unit lead and everyone else changed to ASMs. Then the TC Chair gets a note that Sandy is not trained for her position. No kidding!!!

Fair points, @@qwazse. The reasons I said "share" in the fault is because BSA's training on how to do things -- whether at the Scout or Scouter level -- is woefully inadequate. Some folks may not have an idea of how to set performance benchmarks, establishing quantitative evaluation factors, etc. I think that if BSA is not going to adequately train the Scouters and Scouts to do such things, then they should, at very least, have examples in their literature (handbooks, position descriptions, etc.) on how to do just that. Other than that, totally agree with your great points!

Shouldn't the Crew be doing all that planning?

Don't think anyone is saying girls don't want the things boys have. I think the point is BSA has a program for that called Venturing. Otherwise their only other option is GSUSA. If they are not meeting the needs of girls then maybe they should change to meet those needs. For now the only official BSA option for girls is Venturing and Explorers. Curious, but what niche does GSUSA serve that BSA doesn't?

Freakn Dragon literally translated "sheeple" as "sheepeople". Go figure. I really feel sorry for you northern boys. Not only do we have drive ins, but we have drive ins with adult beverages and BBQ. They're right next to our Robert E. Lee statues and gun shops. We still have what 'Merica used to be down here. Ya'll come on down any time and join all the other northerners prospering down here. http://coyotedrive-in.com/fortworth/

I agree with your argument that some positions lack real substance. As @@mashmaster and I have quipped once already, I think the REAL problem is how BSA defines the roles AND setting up substantive, quantitative criteria for the Scouts to follow in order to ascertain if they are fulfilling the role. Units share in this failure too on not setting up such criteria whereby the Scout can track and measure their progress during their POR. For example, the Historian has a job description but it is pretty antiquated and in some units may not be even relevant or practical to implement. It's then

Yup, that was your cyptonite. If you have 20 packs you only need 20 responsible people to manage registration. Now that you've put the onus on the sheepeople who are used to having people do things for them, you can expect a drop of 50% or more. You'll now need to hit those 300-600 people 3,4,5 five times each and you can expect a 10-30% response rate. In future if I can avoid direct marketing to masses, and rely more on Pack-managed registration, you're MUCH better off.

Girls can play along at Pack meetings and Den activities if it doesn't interfere with the Cub Scout program. They can't get ranks or other awards though. The program is officially for boys only.

You'll do fine as long as you have a vision AND help the boys to lead rather than letting the adults lead.

We do both orienteering and geocaching, but I admit the former is far more fun than the latter. We work with the Instructors to set up the course, rather than handling with adult intervention. After laying out the course we develop different caches to find; sometimes food (pizzas are popular) sometimes gear or trinkets. We've done Night orienteering (very popular). Setting up false way points helps the patrols rely on their skills rather than where the THINK the cache is. We've added Zombie areas too to make it more difficult to get Fromm Point A to Point B.

This was mentioned at an August RT in my area.

When I took over as SM the ASMs gave me the "banned food list". I asked who put it together. It was the adults. I went to the PLC and gave it to them. I said they could ratify it or tear it up. At first they tore it up and went back to poor menu choices. Within two camp outs they realized they needed better food. Rather than create a list of banned foods (adult solution) they created a series of meetings where nutritionists, dietitians and three chefs came it to talk about food choices and cooking. It became a regular thing they do once a year now. Have had a need to "ban" anything since.

My issue with PORs is that there are no measurements (or directions on how to establish quantitative measurements) for evaluating success or failure to meet POR objectives. Our unit has put them in place so that they know what quantitative things they need to do to get credit. We meet with the Scouts during their tenure who may not be meeting expectations and put them back on the path to accomplish their outlines documented goals. How can anyone strive to meet leadership expectations and get credit without these things?

I think he's a bit older giving his nursing school comment. But I agree with you. Finding anyone under 40 who can articulate anything that's not blaming others for society's ills is impressive.

I would hope they'd accept that. Very nice of you.

I'm surprised it's only $1m. I have no clue how such amounts are set but I suppose it's based on statute and other factors.

Balanced with +1. All is back to order.

Yeah...well different strokes. We train them and trust them. If they mess up they will learn their lesson. Allergies are one thing. Not approving because they have pop tarts instead of whole wheat toast robs them of the learning experience and youth leadership opportunity IMHO.

So ASMs override what the boys want?

Masks? Or respirator masks? My guys said they saw the former not the latte...at least not widely used.