HashTagScouts

Except, if we consider one angle that might become a necessity for National going forward: putting some sizable increase to the franchise fee Councils pay to put $ back into the National coffers, which for some Councils might mean having to liquidate at least some of their underutilized camp properties.

Good thought. Large companies that require maintenance, such as Home Depot, WaWa, Circle K, etc. have field maintenance employees, that travel from location to location to make repairs or do installations. The individual retail location might have janitorial staff that takes care of the daily cleaning, but the bigger maintenance is from these roving company resources. You could easily adopt a philosophy like that with camp properties, where say all of New England had a team of 3. Bigger projects, perhaps all 3 would need to be at one particular camp for a week working together. Rangers ar

Won't you be, my neighbor... Being in Mayflower Council, I think we fully expect the merger between Old Colony Council and Knox Trail Council in 2017 was a short-term strategy, and that there would at least be an Eastern MA Council by 2022- merging Spirit of Adventure Council, Mayflower Council and Cape Cod and the Islands Council (it is my understanding that the SE in Cape Cod and the Islands is due to retire in early 2021, so it would not surprise me if this occurs by Q2 2021). I agree with @Cburkhardt that change is coming- we can only hope that it comes with some improved strategic p

I would agree that there needs to be an evaluation process (though, for all we know that has been completed already in the lead up this process National began) on how many will be kept, how many are retiring by year end, etc. The quality of the personnel should dictate to a large extent just how you can allocate them.

Exactly. Any lawyer is going to make that a significant point that somehow the council chose now, this event, as the opportunity that they are trying to hide assets. My understandings from what I have seen posted on social media is that the attorneys involved with the Abused in Scouting organization are focused on liquidating the BSA, and that includes any assets held by Councils. I've seen comments on their SM over and over that "the world doesn't need the BSA", etc. My interpretation is that they believe that everyone involved in Scouting in the past, as well as those today, are all

The problem with doing it now, is going to be the optics. You can imagine the PR field day for attorneys when they see that the date the transaction occurred was within a short time of the national org filing Ch 11.

I believe it. We've had three DE's the field and two open positions for the past year and half. Sad thing is those are not the same three DE's that were in the field at the start of that 18 months.

When I evoke an image of what a "professional" is and what I hope it to be, is a person with knowledge gained through education and life experience. If we took the membership gorilla off our DE's backs, stopped treating them like they are endowment fundraisers, and let them have the time to get out into the real thick of what Scouting is, I could see them being able to lead (or at least be the coordinator for the volunteers who will be leading) training sessions several times a year, at different parts of their territory. The better pros I have got to know relish being able to go to a campou

I'm with you. If the trademarks and copyrights get frozen, just rename things in the "new BSA"- Eagle Scout would be say "Patriot Scout".

I wasn't involved directly with Scouting at the time they began the Summit project, but I recall reading articles on it and what a "world class facility" it would be. I wish had those articles now, because at the time it sure sounded like it was majority through corporate/private donation that the place was being built. How terribly wrong that assumption was... Jambos are nice. They are not worth this price tag.

I'm on the distribution list for 4 councils here in MA. Every council sent the same notice, they are all cookie-cutter template. It is the argument that National will use and maintain for as long as possible through this process.

Don't disagree with you - just that a lot of people's mindset is that "starting over" means starting over, from scratch. A lot of people like to think the Catholic Church should be selling assets to settle abuse claims. How many people you know are in the market for a massive Basilica in the Vatican and are going to pay market value for it?

The decision by National is most definitely intended to throw themselves on the sword here, and be a shield to keep councils and COs as protected as possible. Are their councils already involved in legal action? Undoubtedly. I know a lot of people are upset today that the BSA has tarnished the image and the youth with this decision- simply because they see it as a cop out to staying the course as an organization, that though flawed, was viewed as a moral organization fighting to instill moral character into the youth we serve and is now hiding in the court to avoid paying victims.

Concerns on fee increase: families are going to have a tough time with increases to annual membership fees, though it seems likely it will go up. I am more concerned that National is going to think they can raise the Chartering fee, and assume that that fee is paid by the CO each year (for us, nope- it is coming from our bank account, and I see that as the norm in our area). Assets: I would argue that as lovely and wonderful as Philmont, Sea Base, Summit are, they are not essential for program delivery. We made do without them, and sooo few Scouts ever actually visit them. The problem

We should hope that a Scout wears their handbook out from usage- but all the carrying them around and throwing on the floor when its game time, etc. takes its toll. The cover of my handbook as a Scout was more duct tape than paper by the time I was 14, and I'm sure I had half-missing pages from disintegration of stuffing it in my backpack, handling it with half-dried hands after KP duty and the like. I made a pamphlet version using Word of just the rank requirement grids so that we could print those and give them to the Scouts to transfer info from their handbook if necessary, so that they h

We got your meaning I felt like the change what, two years ago (or was it three now) to officially classify "Scout" as a rank was odd. Prior to this change it was a joining award, and Tenderfoot being the first true rank and that made the world right in terms of how BP had described it.

I grew up with JLT as an expectation within our troop we would complete it before we took the step to Star. We also had a very well run Council-level JLT training weekend program that happened every spring. I learned a ton from that program. Leadership Corps was also something that was highly regarded around me, and most troops implemented it, some keeping the green shirts for several years after they had been discontinued. While I do like NYLT, I feel some of it is better suited for 16+ aged youth, and some of those things that were in the JLT syllabus just don't exist in NYLT, or are not

Do we need NS telling us where to go to get custom patches for events, custom neckerchiefs, custom t-shirts? No, there are numerous options out there that can do this, and for better pricing to us. Do I need a Scout Shop to carry sleeping bags, tents, etc.? No, I probably have brick-and-mortar as well as online options where I can get quality items at a better price. Do I need to buy my Lodge cookware from a Scout Shop? The DO lid looks nice with the embossed Scouting scene on it, but I'd rather save my unit $15 buying the generic Lodge DO from Walmart. The philosophy on $ spills ove

Most clothing items, whether buying from your local Walmart or Macys, has at least a 50% markup over wholesale. The whole model with National Supply is slated toward max return (it is completely a business for BSA, not a service). Our council shut down running a "trading post" at the council office- we have two NS run stores that are outside the borders of our council, but are just conveniently located in adjacent towns from either end of the council. If a council wants to carry items, NS sells to them at a price point they create, such that they are making $, and also controls the retail p

It amazes me how many people I encounter that love to gripe at how far it is to drive to our council office . In 6 years, I have had to go the council office on only two occasions: 1) for a training that my son was attending to maintain our Lodge website, and 2) to drive my son to drop off his Eagle application and workbook. Anything else, I mail or wait until Rt to hand off to my DE. What all these other people I hear griping are doing in all that time driving back and forth is beyond me. Spending a $1 on postage is far more reasonable to me than wasting that $1 on the drive it takes to g

For the now long gone council in my area that got merged up in the 60s, the first Council Executives (as apparently many were called in those days) was a retired school principal. That is life experiences that would make them a good choice in my opinion. Considering that you could retire from such a profession before the age of 55, I'd give serious thought to hire anyone in that position than several of the SE's I have met.

Let's all take it a step further, and think back to those earliest days of the BSA. The first slate of "Council professional"' were hired by the Council's themselves. National had nothing to do with it. These people had no longstanding experience as a professional in the BSA (some may have been volunteers at first but as the BSA was still so young, everyone was a novice). Why can't we go back to those days? Realistically, most everything can be done online. Some current processes could be modified to make it more effective as online transactions, but the cost is the most likely culprit as

Regarding Council activity fees, having had this model in my council for a few years now, it's still polarizing even after all this time. Our activity fee is $30 per youth (Venturers/Sea Scouts age 18-21 are considered "adults" for this purpose, and are not charged the $30) per year. There was some perceived benefits, namely that the Council no longer charges for adult training, but when we used to charge $25/participant for IOLS, we actually spent the $25 to have supplies and about ~$18 of that went towards food. That $18 was a lot, but we went all out to have the participants cook b

Allowing the CO to truly fully designate the Committee Chair to serve as the voting member could be one avenue to improve the system. Our CO in general is supportive of us, and wants to have the affiliation for their Legion post to the youth. However, their bylaws call for annual election and the current Post Commander becomes the defacto IH and COR. That person may not be the most connected person to the unit. If they want to designate the CC or even the SM to serve their interests as well as the units, let them do so. Otherwise for us, as i feel it is for many if not most, I have to cha

I recommend this quick read: https://www.outdoors.org/articles/amc-outdoors/a-wilderness-first-aid-kit-checklist For the most part, it's a basic first aid kit you might bring on a day hike (adhesive bandages of different sizes, a few gauze pads, some antiseptic wipes, an ace bandage or two, a set of tweezers, something that can be used as a cravat, a small package of moleskin). Probably items you already have in a home first aid kit. Additions I'd recommend is a roll of athletic tape, a tube of cortisone/rash cream, and a SAM splint- these might be a few bucks, but I always carry mine o