curious_scouter

Start attending roundtable. Meet the district committee. In my experience - they will definitely have a way to use your energy. It could be commissioner life. It could be helping to plan a district event. I kind of "get" that local units are going to be a harder sell for a "stranger" off the street without a Scout of their own as at least an initial foot in the door. But show up to district roundtable a couple times and you'll find yourself well employed soon. You can bring value over a wider area in that kind of role (many units benefit from your energy vs. one) and you'll sti

These fees are out of control. There's no transparency or justification. They bring no value to units or Scouts/Scouters. In an age where Scouts BSA is purportedly emphasizing DEI these fees put Scouting out of reach for many. It boils my blood.

This all comes down to your local units and their established policies. Issue with Scouting is it is generational. Leaders and scouts come, engage for a time, and move on. If a policy was not written down and passed on, it's often lost. My advice is don't be afraid to rethink anything that's not specifically documented. Even so, some of my least favorite words to hear are "That's what we've always done." So? Doesn't make it right. Doesn't make it right for right now. I don't think you need to reinvent the wheel for the sake of it, but I do think the generational rollover of Scouting l

When you load an event in TWH, you can set a cutoff date for signup. We normally make it the last meeting before the outing, mainly so the grubmaster(s) know who to shop for. Nice thing is RSVPs are visible to everyone on the website. I would say 95% of Scouts regularly use this. Grubmaster SOP includes a final check of registrations for the Patrol right before the shop to account for late adds/drops. When someone does not sign up and still intends to come, the Scouts seem to know. I am 100% fine with last minute adds, I always prefer a Scout to come out with us than not over a "dead

All, looking ahead to next year we're beginning the uh... plan ... for the annual plan. I found this Wikipedia article that lists all summer camps... found it useful: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_council_camps_(Boy_Scouts_of_America) BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT OF THIS POST I would like feedback, particularly (selfishly) for FL/GA/NC/SC/AL camps you definitely recommend and why. But I thought this could be a refresh of generally useful feedback on camp destinations to put on our collective bucket list for next year or beyond. So by all means, recommend any camp but

It's a good tool to frame up your thoughts and prep for the conversation but if advising a Scout on this I'd hold firm that This section is specifically noted as not required. Be prepared to talk about your experience. I think the format of the section is great, worth using honestly. But if you did not or decided not to, you cannot be required because... Noone can add new requirements for Rank, including requiring you to provide a specifically unrequired part of this document and... Though one reason for a board of review is to help ensure the Scout did what was supposed t

we use troop web host. I post the outings in the calendar, scouts can sign up. Usually after the event, the CC tallies up the receipts and uses the scout accounts feature of TWH to assess actual cost to the Scouts. This varies a bit. Pretty much everyone pays a split of the campsite fee if any, but then the food is done by patrol. That way if Patrol A spends $15 per person and Patrol B spends $9 per person for food, the actual costs are passed along. I like TWH. In addition to just being able to post it, there are quick buttons for sending reminders to people who HAVE signed up and thos

have only used it for one unit, but Troop Web Host seems to have features in it for multi unit management. Worth a look.

Better People.

This is likely. Fair is fair though, if by this rule the # of paid leaders increases notably - the fees should decrease similarly. They won't.

This could have been done by restricting camping to only "registered leaders". The decision to make it "fee required" seems intentional and if so, purely financially motivated IMO. A MB Counselor, in my council at least, is required to take YPT and submit to a background check - but pays no fee. Previously, these persons could attend outings and support my unit as one of the 2-up. NOW, they would have to fork over almost $100 (fees for registered adults in my area are close to $100 annually now) AND be welcomed onto the committee or as an ASM (higher bar in my unit than MB counselor) so in

...because the kinds of parents that insist on observing are just this reasonable and level headed Unfortunately I don't view this situation as ad absurdum. It's an eventuality. I guess I'll cross that bridge as it comes, but Scouts BSA certainly do seem to spend plenty of time devising new and interesting ways to complicate our unit structures and YPT compliance. This fee-required addition is one I can't get behind at all. Accomplishes nothing net-new in terms of YPT, the only net difference I see is money in Scouts BSA's pocket. Only hurts the units and the Scouts in my book.

I also wonder how this works in conjunction with the requirement that all aspects of the program be open to observation by parents or leaders. If Mr. Dad demands to attend a campout to observe, does that FORCE us to take Mr. Dad onto our committee (whether we want to or not) just to permit him that right? Or do we just say "If you insist, then your Scout cannot attend because you are unable to attend without being regsitered"

I was using this loophole as a way to "qualify" new ASMs and parents. We have an influx of new scouts and parents. The parents don't know me and my leaders, we don't know them. But as soon as a parent comes into the picture I ask about their interest in outing participation. If they have one, I first encouraged them to register as a MB counselor. We need more anyway. In our council this meant a background check, registration with Scouts BSA and YPT being recorded. That established a minimum bar for my comfort level on youth safety for them to attend an outing. Then I would invite them

It's not a tradition yet, but we've had 5 boys this year who will all turn 18 before April. We've made a habit of having the last outing they attend have some kind of going away party and some aspect focused on their favorite part of scouting. Like a fishing outing followed by an elaborate dinner by their Patrol and then the Scoutmasters supply a pile of cobbler and desserts and we give a later lights out that night. Leading up to their last meetings and outings, I announce it and do lead up recognition in my opening recognition segment as well.

I use the left as often as I can. Esp. for scout stuff. As mentioned, on successful BOR, after a SM conf, any time a Scout approaches me as a Scout and I want to say "Great encounter". All leaders line up at COH and congratulate the Scouts as the come up and use the handshake. Thanks to covid, the left handed fist bump will often serve as a faster and more casual version in our unit now. You'll see that a lot for things like when a patrol pulls off an especially great dinner, lots of left handed fist bumping in celebration. It's nothing to be super hardcore about, but I think this sc

believe, I've thought about it. Should be possible honestly. I mean... from a "can it be done" not a "will it be done" perspective.

1 - don't care 2 - don't care 3 - Kinda like it 4 - Hard no. Hate it. Why? Standard of advancement changes. Unless they change it for AOL too. Standard for completing in Cubs is "Do your best". And most / many requirement say "With help if necessary". I believe pretty strongly you need to know the Scout Oath and law to get your Scout badge. It's not a huge lift from the standards of Cubs but it's a very important first step IMO to leaving "do your best" behind.

Good info in here, I do like the tips about viewing this as "selection" vs. "election". Another thing I'd like to share is around eligibility. Don't rely exclusively on things like your troop's website for eligibility. We had a few Scouts who had transferred to our troop in the past year, their camping history was not complete on our website so they were overlooked but eligible. Caused a bit of a fiasco because the ballots were nicely pre-printed by the elections team based on what an ASM told them from the troop web host report. Now, I'm having ASMs work to re-compile all campin

Looking for actual experience from unit leaders on how they have let College Reserve Scouter scouters participate and especially any links to actual materials on the topic from Scouts BSA. This year we'll have 7 Scouts who turn 18 between Jan 2023 and May 1, 2023. They have not yet started college, but most will head that way in August/September 2023. Several have asked me about registering as College Reserve. I'm open to it. They were all great leaders as Scouts, could certainly continue to be a value to our program. I'm challenged because I can't find much guidance, outside of

Yeah loss/damage of a book happens. Our SPL announces "Everyone, take pictures of your book tonight" at the first meeting of every month for this exact reason. The adv chair also snaps photos at every BOR and attaches them to the note in SB for the BOR so they are preserved. It's better than nothing and avoids a full rebuild.

Also an advocate for paper book. In our unit that's the official record. Today SB is updated by our adv chair after a successful BOR but does not include the individual requirement dates - only the BOR is updated. We have a handful of newer Scouts and families entering progress directly. You need to set expectations with them. As many are coming in from Cubs, their belief is they are "signing off" on the requirement by doing that. They get frustrated to find out later it's really just a "heads up" the Scout is ready to test on those. They still need to meet with someone in the

wow!

I don't feel like transparency and pragmatic measures are mutually exclusive. In fact, to borrow your phrase the only acceptable position these days is that Youth Protection comes first. If you as a parent feel obligated to observe and are unwilling to take the most basic Youth Protection steps - then I am sorry. The protection of all the other youth is as important as your youth and I must decline your attendance, and therefor your Scout's. I will not let anyone who has not minimally taken YPT attend an outing with our Troop. If that person intends to attend regularly, I require the

Maybe a bit more back on topic... how have your units handled this scenario: New scout joins, often via crossover from cubs but sometimes as they move into town from away. Parents want to join us on a few outings. On the one hand as a parent - I get this. I don't really care how much training and YPT a bunch of adult volunteers have had... I'm going to find it very difficult if not impossible to get comfortable with the idea of sending my child off into the outdoors with a bunch of people I don't know at all. On the flip side, my established leadership is not wild on the idea of unreg