HashTagScouts

Year-over-year, RT has had the January topic as the "Webelos transition". Not the right headline, with AoL being a rank, so right there the whole topic goes off the rails. Also spends way too much time talking about the more "physical" attributes like the crossover ceremony, rather than hammering home to the Packs that if they haven't been direct to parents that there is an actual difference between Cubs and Scouts BSA, they've missed the boat. I've gone hoarse trying to explain this to the Cub RT commissioner. We lost the the narrative a long time ago IMO that Scouts BSA is not just a s

Agree with @5thGenTexan that trying to get youth of today to accept a program from thirty years ago is only going to work in limited fashion, and we're at that level. Accessibility to all those outdoor fun activities is an area we need to focus on. In the northeast, pretty much every council now runs a "base camp" program to make shooting/pioneering/orienteering and such available at least once a month, so that units/patrols/individuals can do them. Once a month may not be enough though. With all the other things kids/families have going on, the "once a month" opportunity may not fit the

Another observation you can take from Scouts Canada- outdoor opportunities abound, and families don't necessarily need an outdoor focused organization to enjoy the outdoors. If we look at Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, where there are numerous open spaces and outdoor opportunities abound, BSA numbers have been exceptional low. BSA policies that can hinder the outdoor experience do not help either. A childhood friend lives in Maine and was taking his daughter deer hunting when she was 9 years old. She wouldn't have been allowed to handle anything other than a BB gun in a BSA setting. Safety

I do think programs will take more of a look of other associations around the globe. Structurally speaking was more what i was getting after. I think we are headed to changes akin to what you see in other countries as well- as more retirements occur, BSA will more centralize operational aspects like recharters, etc. Councils will lose their "franchise" and there will be a more "service area" structure. They'll get out of the business of Councils being business entities in their own right. Initially, I think it will look a bit like the OA section strucure, but over a few more years will break d

The scuttlebutt in the pro ranks is that Mosby will be stepping down this year, and announcement will come this spring. I feel this is credible. The other thing I am hearing is that they anticipate that his replacement will once again be from outside the pro ranks, in favor of another person that has experience from the volunteer side, but preferably much younger. The rumor mill is that a more planned phase in of the CO-less model will be coming by the time of 2025 re-charters. CO model still an option, but the IH/COR would be expected to also be the Committee Chair as requirement

In our town (and I heard similar from parent of one of our girls that lives in a neighboring town), the existing GSUSA units are not exactly the most welcoming to newbies. The council contact basically told parent they should go and start their own unit, which this is a single mom who really truly is going in ten different directions all the time, so being the unit leader was not what she was looking for.

No disagreement from me on that. Stated long ago, Spirit of Adventure Council was the source of the "metrics" BSA stated as the evaluation that all parts of their programs were a fit for girls the same as boys, and that there was a large interest for girls to participate. The outside consultant the BSA used to make that evaluation also lived here in MA. Girls from that Council involved in Venturing sat in focus groups. Never once did I ever hear an actual statistic, only generalities. However, all of that is now in the past. It is a reflection on the BSA today what happens today, and tro

Terrible if you have interest, and still cannot get anyone from your Council to make the effort to help. Sometimes it's just networking and finding someone who can assist with an intro to help to get a CO partnership.

Terrible. The struggle I find myself in with our units- people seem gung ho to try to move mountains to save the boys troop that has been around for 60+ years, but for the girls troop that doesn't have that longevity, its all shrugs.

Hope for the best for you. I hope for those units that have been successful to this point they have continued success. I really hope that Councils at the least have real, practical conversations with the units that are limping along (packs and troops) to engage in productive decisions on what is best for the youth they have to be successful, and we aren't just "keeping units around" for the sake of a few $'s in the Council/National pocket (which often translates to an awful amount of $ and energy spent by the unit/parents to keep something going until it hits critical mass).

Well, actually even "worse" - they are chartered as a Council program. Thy don't have an independent CO that factors into their decision-making, the Council SE is effectively the IH and COR.

I don't disagree with some of your ideas, I just have significant pause when solutions are "Council, Council, Council". To me, Councils will respond in kind with the need to raise registration fees, summer camp fees, and activity fees to pay for more staff if we expect them to lead this. Volunteers- District Chairs, for example- can't make outreach for requests of units that have gear that they don't need and field connecting them to the units in need. Every OA lodge has all the contact info for every SM/Advisor/Skipper and unit committee chair, as well as Cubmasters, in their Council at their

MBCs are not considered a registered adult leader for any purpose other than for MBs. They are not expected to be trained on any other part of the program and serve a role in the outdoor program or troop/patrol meetings. Units do use it to avoid paying fees, but that is not at all appropriate (a Scout is trustworthy). MBCs especially should have nothing to do with the Cub program.

None of the script is taken from any actual Lenape lore, it is all entirely made up. While I don't have issue with the scripts themselves, I do think dropping the association to the Lenni Lenape specifically is appropriate.

To me, if you simply concede ground then you are letting the Order become the very thing you don't want. My son certainly had some opinions, and still does, on some of the youth that were in the Lodge with him. He's rolled his eyes a few times on who was elected as officers or for Vigil. But, he considered it to be motivation to do better himself. Part of the outside motivation for him was his former SM who very much was a "poo poo on the OA and everything else to do with Council" individual who also never was willing to take any constructive feedback from my son as SPL or any other previous S

The current options for attire aside from regalia is either field uniform or to wear all black, and the all black is what our youth have chosen if regalia is taken away. We did one ceremony this year with the ceremonialists in all black. IMO the current Ordeal and Brotherhood ceremony texts don't need significant change- I think if you just dropped trying to associate the text to the Lenni Lenape, you're just representing a generic legend and legends are by nature not factual historical recitations. The Order itself can endure in a manner that Goodman and Edson envisioned. It's not

The National Planning Meeting took place in December, where the new National Chief & Vice Chief, as well as the two Region Chiefs, were elected. The overall business of the Order is discussed at the NPM, and any changes that impact the coming year are announced. They held a FB Live "Fireside Chat" on the final night to give highlights. It's been anticipated that the end of regalia is not a question of if, but when, so many were waiting for this NPM. Today, they sent an email out with summary:: https://oa-bsa.org/article/order-arrow-national-updates-2023?utm_medium=email&utm_campai

To being the Scout Law into it - obedient. If the organization moves to strike regalia, going rogue is not exactly keeping to that point of the SL. At the end of the day, the AIA issue is one where we have to see it from the perspective of Native Americans, and Native Americans only. If we put a bunch of teens in clerical collars and had them start reciting a Mass, we'd have quite a few Catholics who would be up in arms. The breadth of what the OA was attempting with the "localized regalia" was a step in the right direction. Seeing just the comments in this thread make me recognize how necessa

It's not the government so 1st A has no bearing at all. National can do whatever it wants with the OA, they own it (literally), just as they can do whatever they want with any other part of the BSA. The "should they" is always what will be up for debate. Right now, the only change that is certain is the length of time for an individual to complete their Ordeal from their election date is now 18 months. it was a "temporary change" since 2020 that it was extended from the normal 12 months to 24 months. Made sense while camps were shuttered, but not so sure why it was deemed as necessary now

Sad day for sure. Expected announcements tonight that regalia of any kind will no longer be permissible. Also that the 24 month window to complete Ordeal from election date will be permanent. A lot of us are questioning exactly what it is we are trying to keep alive at this point. I'm interested to see if they make any comment on the proposed idea of eliminating the Ordeal overnight - that's pretty much the deal breaker for me.

This is not helped at all by the "linked unit" option. As others have stated, there are far too many (and really, only 1 is more than enough) units that on paper claim to be separate units, but just have the girls as a patrol within the single troop. Our council has 28 girl troops, and as of mid-November, about 1/3 were slated to not be able to re-charter because they had less than the five active youth.. Of those girl troops that I have some level of interaction beyond just knowing what town they are from- most of my interaction is from within those also involved in Venturing or OA, either f

Keep in mind, Family Life used to be Citizenship in the Home, so really you can just roll that in as well

The BSA HA have age requirements for most of their adventures, so you do want to research that. Philmont, for example, your 11-12 year old scouts are not going on the treks with your 16 year old scouts, so be prepared for that. If the troop has never done an excursion, my first advice to you is start planning now for 2024, not 2023. You need to know you have solid commitment before you start trying to get into a Philmont lottery. Also, watch the "crew size" on the HA bases- those do generally also have to include two adults- so, if you thought about Out Island Adventure at Seabase, for example

Same here. Charters were extended, but the annual participant registration fee was not given extension.

If you are a member of the OA, check out the opportunities available to only OA members at each of the HA bases. Special pricing, and special programs available only to youth OA members.