HashTagScouts

A lot can be explained by troop programming. If most troops put their first year summer campers in a "flight to First Class" program, along with swimming MB, those scouts get all their aquatic requirements for their ranks knocked out, and an Eagle MB to boot. E Sci is probably the suggestion most troops make to their 2nd/3rd year summer campers. As there are not a huge number of scouts who have earned Sustainability in the few years it has been a round, then you would have to assume that means there are few scout summer camp staffers that have it, and can not easily then teach it. Plus, let's be honest with ourselves, there are a number of summer camps out there that basically spoon feed E Sci. E Prep is easier for many scouts to obtain at an earlier age, and as others mentioned, it can be offered at any time of year.

Being that it is one Wednesday (which hopefully is not your meeting day?), I'd do the cost/benefit analysis of whether you would make more money for the unit if you kept the profits from the events than the $1,000 annual payment. I'm not saying that means you commit to it, but I would use that as part of my rationale to the CO on why the arrangement doesn't make the most fiscal sense. By the same token, if the expected profits are less than a $1,000, the math then works to your favor on why not to do it. if @Jameson76 's math is close to the real picture, you can find fundraisers that will bring in more than that level of funds with that time investment.

Definitely could be a better design. for my son, i took a small length of paracord and created a loop that went around the metal piece, and the epaulet went through that loop.

https://oa-bsa.org/uploads/publications/OA-Cub-Crossover-Ceremony-2018.pdf https://oa-bsa.org/uploads/publications/OA-Arrow-of-Light-Ceremony-2018.pdf

Or be labelled as the troublemaker. Most adults, even a great number of those were in scouting as youth, either don't want to really know how the cake is made, or would rather just let someone else make it and stay out of the kitchen. And so, if you begin to question the method, you just might find yourself as the one who looks to be disruption what is, in their eyes, "working". I'm sure since the inception in 1910 there have been those units that just took the requirements and rattled through them in the easiest, fastest way possible. i see way to much of it today though, and that might just be I am using adult eyes and not youth eyes... National makes that grandiose statement in the GTA- but, do they actually give you anything on repercussions? Or, how they are going to get to the bottom of what your unit is doing? As far as moving troops- in all respects we should want our youth to find themselves, and not simply be followers. But, as a parent, use your own judgement on how you talk to your kids about what they want. My son changed troops, and he did so because he had learned for himself the right way to do things, and when he wasn't getting anywhere trying to get the adults (let alone the youth, who just modeled what they saw from the adults) to change, he left.

There was a symposium at NOAC that was to talk about best practices, and potential to create some norms while allowing local customs/traditions to co-exist. I have not actually had a conversation with anyone that went to that symposium on what was discussed. By all measures though, everything I have heard was to ensure that any regalia used at these ceremonies are appropriate for the region. Chapter ceremony teams also have different roles based on the Lodge. For some lodges, Ordeal weekends and/or Brotherhood conversions are the responsibility of the Chapter, not the Lodge itself, to organize and carry out. In my home Lodge, call-out only occurs at summer camp- the Lodge will send election teams for those who do not attend council camp, but these teams only read out the names at the end of the election, they do not do any set ceremony.

My sons first year at summer camp, I told him he would be on his own, I would not be there. I did, however volunteer to be there the second half of the week (troop had a few adults that could be there the whole week, but others that couldn't commit to the whole week, so we had a rotation to give additional adult coverage during the week). That gave my son the ability to adjust on his own without me there, and by the time I got there he had adjusted enough to not need me or spend much of any time with me when I was. That could be a consideration for you to talk tot he troop about.

Or attend another troops meeting before 2/1. The requirement doesn't state "while a member of a Scouts BSA troop" or "attend a meeting of your Scouts BSA troop".

I've never met a scouting unit that requires the scouts to wear a Class A while on an outdoor activity, other than for a formal parade or flag presentation. At that, being in New England, the weather is often at a level where being outdoors is going to require wearing a coat, so you wouldn't see the uniform anyway. Additionally, that's often quite a lot to ask parents to have two uniforms for their kid, a short sleeve and a long sleeve. Especially when they are young and may only get a year out them before thy need to size up. Maybe look into getting troop sweatshirts as opposed to just t-shirts- or, get long sleeve t-shirts that they can wear under the short sleeve uniform, which is what I see most scouts doing.

One unit I have spent time visiting with also meets in a church basement with similar height restriction. They had flag stands made (some one knew someone that had welding equipment), such that the stand is a roughly 18" x 18" piece of 1/4" steel that has a 2 inch diameter pipe welded to it at about a 60 degree angle to the base. That allows them to use a regular length pole.

Also look at what the "rewards" are for completing the survey- Scout Shop gift cards. That's your National office funding those...

Correct. Camping nights can be combined from amongst the programs, but the youth has to hold the rank appropriate to the unit that is electing them as a candidate: Scouts BSA = First Class rank Venturing = Discovery Award Sea Scouts = Ordinary rank

I'd actually like to see some of the elements of the Scouts BSA program better integrated into Venturing. Discovery Award- why wouldn't the First Aid MB satisfy the requirements of this award? Is it we are concerned that the MB isn't being taught quite as it should be? The personal growth requirements for "Development of Faith"- why wouldn't the religious emblem program suffice? Why not have some basics such as Cooking MB/Camping MB as required?

In an article just last summer, Sydney commented she was preparing to work on her project, the last step of to earning her Venturing Summit Award. Yes, right now it does feel to me as this has become a total "me first" statement, sadly. Troubling piece for me is the father commenting that she shouldn't be expected to work on this into college- uh, the Scouts Canada program is also for college age youth, and Venturing is as well- so, we have someone who wants to be an Eagle Scout and is also signalling that they want to be "done" with scouting as soon as they have it? Life is not about handouts...

It is a real position, and the photo is of the official BSA patch. You would need to go through your lodge to get it though, it is restricted and cannot be purchased through a scout shop.

Also bear in mind- a 13 or 14 year old doing Scout-First class is probably going to go a whole lot faster and smoother than a 10 1/2 year old doing it.

I would say that @qwazse is on the right track of "how we got here". The Explorer program was really set about as one of many attempts by BSA to have an older scout program, and at various times in its existence advancement was allowable in similar fashion as it is in Venturing today, at others times it wasn't. Eventually that was all spun off and became Exploring, and the concept of "Venture Patrol" within a troop began. I was around for those later days of Explorer program, and my CO chartered both a troop and a post. Heck, the spruce green shirts for Venturing came from the Explorer BSA program. For our crew, our CO also charters a troop and a pack. We haven't yet had anyone that came from outside of that particular troop who wanted to work on Eagle solely as a Venturer, but the Advisor and I both are in agreement that we have the experience that we would absolutely do so (I am the CC). For those that are dual registered with our crew and that troop, we do talk with their leaders to keep them apprised when we do activities that would be counted towards Scouts BSA advancement, and they are good with it. Venturing to me is just so misunderstood by a number of folks within BSA, let alone outside of BSA. I've lamented in previous posts how much I wish BSA would have blitzed the living heck out of marketing Venturing, especially when the current advancement tract was added. The Summitt Award is really no joke, and it deserves it's due from both within the organization and by those outside scouting. If any crew wanted to use MBs to give recognition to a Venturer or Sea Scout for their skill mastery, I say let them. Some individuals just really like to have that moment where it's about them and the pat on the back, and it would be worth the couple bucks IMO to give them that little round patch if it is the confidence builder they need. That those outside of those programs would be that obtuse as to not at least ask a female at that camp what her experiences were in boating (obviously at that time, it would not have been possible for her to have earned a MB) before passing judgement would tick me off. My son had hit his ranks just so in regards to his age that he never had to earn CyberChip for any advancement requirements. When he expressed interest in working on Digital Technology MB, his advancement coordinator at the time gave him a bunch of guff about getting CyberChip done first but they "weren't ready to start a group yet"- my son is in a technical high school, in the computer info tech program. Earning CyberChip should have been about a 3 minute conversation, not sit around and wait for a group mentality. As a MB counselor, I'm always willing to talk to a scout and see what experiences they have from school or life, and if it meets a requirement, I am fine with signing off on that (unless the MB requirement explicitly states do this first, or do this while working on...).

The 2017 GTA states "All merit badge requirements must be met while a registered Boy Scout or Varsity Scout, or a qualified Venturer or Sea Scout. Accomplishments before joining, or while a Cub Scout, do not apply." The "qualified" item, while not explicitly stated directly alongside it, would be those who had earned First Class as a member of a troop/team. Venturing awards don't explicitly state "earn" any MB - and my read of Sea Scouting is similar. The Sea Scout Ordinary rank requirement states "Pass all requirements for the BSA's swimming merit badge", but it does not say "earn the BSA's swimming merit badge".

Don't have an issue with the concepts of coed- I am a Venturing leader myself. What I am speaking of in regards to the "marketing" is mostly internal- within district/council social media pages. By all means, go and recruit for your unit for sure. My angst on the perceived coed from some of these units is that the youth in the unit didn't want that- which isn't to say they are against females in Scouting- yet the adults were not listening to them. I've posted on this in the past- my son has no issue with female Scouts, he has worked with female Venturers/Sea Scouts on NYLT staff and camp staff. What he wanted was to stay in a male only troop, and let his Venturing be coed. It was just yet one of a multitude of ways that the troop was not going to let the youth make the decision, so he left and he is dual registered with his Crew and another troop that at least for this year will be male only. My biggest lament on trying to have two troops, but yet functioning 100% alongside each other in perpetuity, is that the youth leaders of both units really cannot get 100% of the leadership experience growth that should be allowed to have. Prior to this point, you wouldn't have taken two troops and stuck them together but yet still try and call them two troops- just would not have been any reason to do it. So, something has got to give there and if the answer is fully coed is going to be an option, then it should have been an option from the start. Truthfully, I'm actually encouraged in many respects of females being in the other programs for what it will mean for Venturing in my area down the road. We may possibly see some smaller numbers for the next two years, but then I can see a potential upswing on the horizon. It has been my experience with Venturing that today many of the male members in our crews are dual registered (or at least were at the start of their Venturing experience). Venturing gave them avenues that many troops just could not, which is attributed to their troops were spending so much time on the younger scouts and advancement, and the programs were revolving around that. If they attended those programs, they felt there was nothing specifically geared to just give them their liberty and their own activities. Those troops were not really doing anything wrong per se- the trail-to-first-class advancement tract takes a lot of investment (been there). So, I see an opportunity for crews to grow with more youth that have had their experience with Scouts BSA, and now want to find a way to stay in Scouting as they age up, but with a different level of activity.

I'm really not saying this to be negative and get everyone's ire, but 95% of the units in my area that are starting (or, as of today, have started) a "girls troop", it is going to be at the same meetings/same outings, SMs/ASMs dual registered to "both units". I would love to say that the practical, sensible thing is to have the established boy troop be helpful in getting the girls troop going (teaching skills, showing them how to use the patrol method) for a short period of time- however, leaders from these units have been very vocal that they intend to keep it they way they have it. Effectively, they have made a coed troop despite the stumping that this isn't what this change was intended to be.

If you know any of the history, the wives of several of the BSA founders were the first supporters that turned the Camp Fire program into a national, then international, organization. They went in a similar trajectory as GSUSA, removing principles of faith from the program, outdoor programming became optional. They eventually went coed to help their numbers, but they are only in a small number of areas now. Up to a few years ago they had a presence here in Eastern MA, but no longer have an active council here.

If you read some of @Eagle94-A1's post about what "family" can do to a program, that I would say is a concern. I have posted similar experiences, so I have that concern. It isn't really related to females in our programs, so I don't want to place blame on that. Personally, I am very glad the hype will dwindle. Mostly because I wish national had put half as much effort over the past 3 decades promoting the program as a whole than they have for the past 18 months. Before now, you were fortunate you got yard signs, and a sentiment that YOU were the reason that numbers were dropping, because YOU were not doing enough recruiting...

Like many things, our individual discretion can be tested with such broad brush strokes that these reporting "guidelines" suggest. Two scouts getting into a verbal spar, with or without vulgar language, may be a simple disciplinary situation handled by the SPL/PL(s). Some may say otherwise. To me, the moment that the discipline is punitive to the point you are banning a scout, whether it is for one meeting, one outing (or more), take the side of caution and evaluate giving notice to council.

A deck of Uno cards is usually a hit. Most of the younger kids can pick up the rules quickly, so it is easily something that all the youth can play together. A parent donated an outdoor checkers game (similar to this: https://www.amazon.com/Checkers-Reversible-Classic-Indoor-Outdoor/dp/B07H8XSD5H/ref=sr_1_12_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1548951238&sr=8-12-spons&keywords=outdoor+checkers&psc=1) which is good, and if they leave it out when it rains it isn't ruined. As far as desserts in-site, I would suggest looking at what the camp you are attending has scheduled. If they have an ice cream social one night (a pretty common thing that the OA lodges put on up here at camps in New England), obviously you want to plan around that or it's just sugar overload if you do yet another dessert (and leaders dealing with kids with bellyaches or being wired when it comes to lights out time). Also can be about timing in general of program. If the evening program goes until dusk/9:00 PM, you probably will not find a lot of scouts hanging around the campsite until then. for us, the gaga ball court is usually forcibly shut down by the camp staff- the kids will stay up there and play by flashlight otherwise.

Regarding incident reporting, yes, I am with Ranman that the BSA does want any incident that involves violation of BSA guidelines or policies (such as those outlined in the GTSS), or inappropriate behavior by a Scout/adult, to be reported through your local council. You can find the resource info at https://www.scouting.org/health-and-safety/incident-report/ In terms of 'disciplinary action', that is very much with the involvement of the CO. It is my opinion that it is essential to have a great relationship with the CO and that the COR have actual involvement in the unit. I have had knowledge (and was personally too much knowledge that I wish I did not have) of an incident where the SM and CC made a disciplinary decision, that later resulted in a lawsuit by the parents of the youth that these individuals deemed to have been the perpetrator. The council was named as well, and was able to be dropped as a defendant when the statements were made that the COR was not involved and the unit did not follow BSA policy of reporting the incident to council. Like it or not, we live in a CYA world today.