HashTagScouts

As we've said to our youth: If they want to have a campout where they sit and prepare nothing but hotdogs and s'mores, and play gaga ball and nap all afternoon, fine. Will the nights count as camping nights? Yes. Will any of that count towards advancement/MB requirements? No. If they want to change their plan to balance fun with purpose, we're available to help them with that.

And give the friendly reminder that both the COR and CC have the system access to sign-off on Advancement. At the end of the trail is an Eagle Application, and it is the SM and CC who signs that, not the UAC. Try to diffuse this persons attitude by coaxing the other Key 3 members handle them rather than you coming over the top is my suggestion.

Especially where this is not entirely a required training, having the online available could have been the only exposure that some youth may have ever had to the content.

I've always been given impression from our Council that it is for an actual recruitment event, but at no point should it involve an overnighter. Circle Ten seems to give that same impression: https://circleten.org/posts/30577/insurance-policy-and-claim-forms

If you are concerned about additional responsibilities, use the Unit Scouter Reserve position. They are not ASMs nor Committee members.

It's about time to have that conversation. Funny that the Declaration of Religious Principle states "Only persons willing to subscribe to this Declaration of Religious Principle and to the Bylaws of the Boy Scouts of America shall be entitled to certificates of membership", but the BSA webpages and materials about joining Scouting have zero mention of this Declaration.

Pretty sure it's up to the locality. We had asked local Walmart for a donation and helpful store manager explained that each store has a specific $ amount they can give to "community engagement" each quarter, and once the quarterly allotment is gone. it's gone. When my son was planning his Eagle project, he inquired at both our local Home Depot and Lowes for donation of materials. Home Depot HR manager was in charge of their community program, and she asked him to come back at the first of the next month and she would be happy to give what they could (seemed similar to Walmart concept, bu

That woke Boy Scouts of America with their "help other people at all times" and friendly and kind schtick. 😕

If not just added as an item into Star/Life/Eagle rank requirements. At the end of the day, what the badge is intending to have the scouts spend time reflecting on are elements that are reflective of the SO and SL. So, if we just added this as specific discussion points to take place as part of the "demonstrate scout spirit" conversations, would we have not been able to achieve the desired result without the need of another badge?

I'm generally ready to get right in line when it comes to kicking national in the shins. I really think that they would have been happy to have just kept grumbling when asked like you experienced, and not rocked the boat. Right now, with as much as they are having to open the notebooks and have all the minutiae questioned by outsiders, they have no real choice in having to tighten the screws. I had actually interpreted the prior guidelines on 21+ female adults the way it is written now- once they made 18-20 year old males non-compliant for two-deep, my minded just drawn the dotted line i

Previous unit I was with, I registered as an ASM when my son joined the troop. Most meetings and campouts, there would be 8+ of us there that were identified to scouts/parents as ASMs. Second year my son and I were there several folks who were Committee wanted to step down, as their sons had aged out several years prior. CC asked a few parents if they would register to join the Committee, and only 1 agreed. CC asked if I would switch from ASM to Committee- I agreed, would still be registered and could still go along on campouts, so no big deal. Then we hit re-charter time, and Committee meetin

Would tend to agree with that for my area as well. in that other 15%, probably half are folks who were involved with a troop when their kids were youth in the program, so really not big #s of folks who are just "community members".

If you have two other registered adult leaders there, I'd invite that MBC along any time they wanted to come. You're compliant to the registered leader requirement, while not putting burden on that MBC. As @mrjohns2stated, this is to stop those who don't want to pay-to-play. I'd say it is 50/50 on unit leaders that I've discussed this with that have always treated MBCs this way vs those who were viewing it as a way to avoid their unit paying the registration fee beyond ASM #2/Committee Member #4.

I think that the insurers are going to continue to make a very significant push on the BSA to tighten the screws going forward after the amounts that are floated in the bankruptcy case. These are some very massive losses they are (potentially) going to pay out. @KublaiKen, I would say assume nothing at this point, and be as vigilant as possible. Will there be a big visible change? If your council is like mine, Commissioners to this point rarely liked to rock the boat and truly get firm on anything other YP issues with units, so I question if they are going to suddenly start monitoring units on

My career is in insurance, and I can state that insurance carriers settle cases often simply because the cost of litigation and resulting bad PR are considered a better option. Generally settlement agreements will contain language like "payment under this agreement shall not be construed as or deemed to be evidence of an admission or concession of any point of fact or law on the part of XYZ". And let someone else do the cooking for you

https://www.scouting.org/health-and-safety/gss/gss10/ Prohibited Activities The Boy Scouts of America’s general liability policy provides coverage for a bodily injury or property damage claim that is made and arises out of official Scouting activity. The Guide to Safe Scouting contains a listing of prohibited activities. Prohibited activities are not considered official Scouting activities. Volunteers (registered and unregistered), units, chartered organizations, and local councils jeopardize insurance coverage for themselves and their organization by engaging in prohibited ac

Auto insurance laws vary by state. In some, there is very limited liability that an insurer must cover when it can be established that the operator was not operating the vehicle in accordance to applicable law. If you are driving under the influence of alcohol above the legal limit, see just how much your insurance company is going to willingly cover claims against your policy.

100% agree. The issue of negligence is at the heart of many liability cases that end up in the legal system. I think about the case against McDonalds where a person burned themselves on coffee that spilled on them when they had to stop short. Can't imagine that McDonalds could be liable on how people drive and have an expectation someone was going to spill coffee on themselves (then again, I also readily recognize that coffee is hot).

I still think it is a good idea for units to operate in the same manner as when the tour permits were required.

BSA is trying not to scare the daylights out of folks, but, essentially if you don't follow BSA guidelines, your unit may very well find themselves on the liability hook. A good friend of mine is an attorney, and represented a family that was involved in a lawsuit with a neighboring Council. The Unit Leader and Chartered Organization were also named in the suit. Ironically, it was a case that involved exactly what Fr. John alludes to. The unit had an outing in NH, had a parent that was not a registered adult leader attending and transporting his son and two other scouts. Vehicle got into a car

Lodges are Council programs, not units. There are no BSA position codes for Lodge Adviser/Lodge Associate Adviser etc.

We currently have only one (Chapter) Adviser that is not associated to a unit. They are registered as a District Member-at-large.

Properties would become a significant issue. National properties would be a matter of their own (and with outstanding liabilities on them, can't see them being sold for anything other than a loss). Many Councils could be in real bad straits, as many properties today are not outright owned by Councils, they are held in trusts that grant managerial control/usage to Councils. If the Council has to file Ch. 7, those are not outright assets for them, and exactly what happens to some of them could be long costly legal cases trying to resolve the "ownership issue".

It's a system that has just made a "good ole' boy" network the only game in town. Truly, BSA should take a solid look at itself and ask how inclusive it really is, and its dedication to that, at the number of females it has in the SE ranks. Don't see a whole lot on the horizon that is going to increase those numbers in the short term either. What we have is a bunch of folks who have four year degrees (but, in just about any major) with little to no work experience outside of BSA, who have managed to stick it out for 10-15 years and find themselves in positions to be "CEO". Yes, we have some go

I do think we are going to see more and more councils that were not charging a separate liability insurance fee to units will start to. Spirit of Adventure Council charges $100/year on top of Nationals chartering fee. Discount on "monthly specials" only at Crossroads Outfitters? OK. Not on everything, just what would probably otherwise have been a sale price on a monthly item. What I would be wary of is the discount on activities/rentals. The councils here that put in the annual fee for "Adventure Card" just jacked prices up that same year for events/rentals, so the net benefit was r