HashTagScouts

The # of overnights and been increased in 2016, in part to get things back to outdoor emphasis as it had been in prior to the 90's. It didn't last too long, obviously, before it was changed back down to 3.

I did attend the Thrive webinar with our LEC. The numbers are a bit sobering, and the context of it all was... correct on many levels that we need to be concerned, but missing the mark on some points. The reality is that many units today in my part of the country camp only a handful of times a year. Many scouts are taking 4-5 years to achieve the requisite # of camping nights to complete Camping MB. I know units that do more indoor camping than tent camping in a year, and cancel outdoor activities and do day events to museums, indoor mini-golf, etc. if there is a hint that it will be a rai

Our "suggested" weekends in Ma are the same as yours. The area councils try to be banded together for those dates, as the Boston based media promotes it for us. I would say that November is a time of need, but the food pantry in my town has said they get a lot of donations that time of year and would rather we did February, as donations dip after the holidays.

The script versions they can google can be helpful in writing their own, but they would probably want to see some in action, so I might suggest watching some on Youtube first. Many are only about 30-40 minutes long, though they can probably FFWD through and not have to see the award presentation for every scout. A couple to get them started: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR741O7xn2o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiXymm0Dg0I

From someone who has unfortunately contracted Lyme's from a tick, this is not at all the method that the CDC recommends. It causes the tick to regurgitate into the bloodstream before it backs out. https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/removing_a_tick.html

Not admonishing- it does add complexity for sure. The Eagle candidates we've had since last fall had been fortunate that they had parents who were troop leaders, which made it easy enough to assure they had 1 pretty much accounted for, so only had to "recruit" 1 other adult for everything. We have one current scout working on their project that doesn't have that luxury, and unfortunately has gone rogue a few days that has been an issue. His project is for the CO, which hasn't helped him to fly under the radar from us.

Two registered adult leaders 21 years of age or over are required at all Scouting activities, including meetings. from G2SS. Nothing reads as conflicting to me about that.

it's any activity- if you are having kids standing outside a store selling items, you need 2 adults 21+. A patrol activity, same. MB class, same.

Good analogy. Another that helps to grasp it- in many states, an accident/moving violation on your driving record will stay for 5 years, 10 years (depends on your state laws) as long as you stay accident/moving violation free. Get into another accident/receive another moving violation in that time, your costs will increase all over again. You don't typically see a massive cost drop after that 5/10 years has passed, you just don't see a drastic increase on the next renewal.

In agreement that the cub program has become overbearing. I lamented that my son had no interest at cub age, thought he was missing out. Got interested in W2 age, but ultimately heard that the DL was not organized, and the kids/parents were just sticking it out to get to crossover so I held him off until he could do troop. As he got into troop, and I learned what was involved in cubs (was it two fingers now, or three? Law of the Pack isn't a thing anymore? And AoL is a program year itself now?), I didn't regret he didn't join. I've thrown it out in other threads- the BSA seems to care more

100% agree with you. Sorry, but she knowingly is making this into a circus- what Eagle BOR has she ever known has been conducted by any outside group? None. Zero. So it is not official. Her quote “The Boys Scouts policy right now is they’re not… allowing young women to have boards of review like this until October 2020 even though we’ve already completed the requirements to officially achieve the eagle award.” No, you have not officially achieved the eagle award- the BSA gave you the path, so follow it or don't. Sydney wants the official recognition as the first, period. That is the motiv

The cost just to be counted as a "Scout" or "Scouter" at $100 I do see as a deal breaker for some for sure. We've been discussing in our TC the ramifications- we'd love to offer assistance to families if indeed it is that big of a jump, but short of rolling in more fund-raising there's a limit of what we can offer. Our CO is tapped. We don't want to have fund-raising to start to overtake time spent on activities. In my view, the community is pretty tapped on those peddling to them. As we have historically covered the cost of registered adults, this could be a big jump to our budget, and I

So I did browse through the survey, as my son received the invitation. A lot of it is rating experience with call out, feelings about call out, feelings about Ordeal experience, etc. There was one question along the lines of "do you feel the BSA is headed in the right direction", with the response choices of agree or disagree, but there were sadly no follow ups on that thread. Seemed very oddly out of place to me that it didn't have any true direct follow up questions getting to why scouts felt one way or the other. There were some indirectly related questions later in the survey, on the l

I haven't received- I'm going to guess it is gathering stats to present for the Thrive webinar coming up. https://oa-bsa.org/article/thrive-national-webinar-local-commitment

oh, yes there is... council expect you to give them 10% of your earnings for any unit fundraiser. Every new DE we get, it is the first thing they ask us- you don't do popcorn, what do you do for fundraising? We just don't answer...

Sons previous troop was exactly as you describe, and had evolved to that starting in about the few years before he joined it. Patrols are kept together, and touted as "they are all going to be the group of friends they will have long after their time in scouting is over". Well, except for the kids who quit because they just weren't friends with their patrol mates after a time, but were not given an option to move to another patrol. Many of those kids who left had just grown apart from the other kids, there wasn't any actual animosity. A few went on to go to other troops, but sadly, many ju

First of all, great job on the growth! I think @qwazse has it right for your immediate needs. A year from now, with plenty of time to plan, you may have it figured out on a larger space that works to have everyone together, but for now spit nights. That also might help with getting some parents to step in as den leaders, if they don't have to do it every week.

I share some pessimism on whether we are headed to some great rebirth or massive membership increase. Scouts Canada went through similar progressive reshape of their organization, and for many of the same reasons that many are citing today as to why the BSA "is on the right track". The result? Membership of youth participants is on the decline yet again for Scouts Canada: 2013-2014 88,453 2017-2018 58,881

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The TC completes the BOR for rank, and records the date of the award as of that BOR. TC also records MBs the same way. And it is the unit committee chair that has the final signature to the Eagle application. I have seen many units, including ours, that have the CC (or a designee from the TC) do the opening remarks to all CoHs, and then turn over to the SM (who in turn should turn over to the SPL, or another Scout that the SPL as appointed as master of ceremony for the evening).

Your description of the CoH does sound rather dreary- making an announcement that you're only going to be available for 30 minutes to the kids is a red flag to me. But, I also don't know all the facts about the CoH. Did this occur on normal meeting night in lieu of the regular meeting (that is the norm, and not to have it as a separate night- for an Eagle CoH maybe, but not for a troop CoH). All advancement is technically awarded by the Troop Committee on behalf of the troop. As the experience of that night wasn't stellar, I personally think you and this other ASM should have asked the TC

Not to rain on this, but yes, Baden-Powell made the statement that the uniform was not mandatory, but the BSA, for quite a few years, has not made that statement. Current literature talks about the uniform as an essential component (for example: https://www.scouting.org/programs/scouts-bsa/faqs/). Current position training also states that no one of the 8 methods is more important than the others. Do I think we need to be so uptight as to break out a tape measure and start giving de-merits for a patch out of alignment, or that the shorts/pants the scout is wearing are the wrong shade of gre

Our council does need look for blue cards at Eagle BOR, we don't even look for the MB cards. What is on the Eagle application is what is important and all we truly look at, other than the scouts sash to ask them some questions about their favorite MB, etc.

Local laws might affect what you can do or how to do it. The only offer I can give you is you might want to contact the Board for this org, as they might have some advice: http://www.memorialscoutcamp.org

Many at the virtual campfire are rallying behind you. It is going to be tough, but the reward is that those left in your charge will get the program delivered correctly. Those that leave won't or can't see the dysfunction, and trying to but heads with them isn't productive or setting the right example for your Scouts.