Eagle1993

I expect zero chance this happens. - If you are in the insurance business and threaten bankruptcy when you are asked to pay out claims, what is the value of your product? Every insurance competitor would highlight that when working with businesses. - Most of these companies are publicly traded. I could imagine the stock price impact if their lawyers are saying they plan to go bankrupt if they have to pay a settlement. - The judge doesn't care if the insurance company has to go bankrupt. I don't know of any judge that would base a settlement on if the payer has the ability

For us, Covid is having a much bigger impact than the bankruptcy. That said, I do hope the bankruptcy goes away before fall recruiting. BSA/Councils shouldn't get involved. Let's look at it from Top down. How much can BSA really provide without liquidating. Let's say National sells all land, HA bases, artwork & investments and can create a $1B victims fund. Lets say the councils pitch in $2B for a total fund of $3B. The average payout by the Catholic church has been over $700K per victim. So, with a $3B fund, BSA can afford to pay 4,285 victims. Let's say insurance

Correct, except the fitness requirements are in series. So, you cannot count the same 30 days/4 weeks of fitness for T - 2nd - 1st. The fitness is really the primary reason you can't go from cross over to 1st class in 3 - 4 weeks. I actually think its fine to allow work on the ranks in parallel. The vast majority of my scouts take 2 - 3 years to get to first class anyway (only scouts with a focus on rank can come close to the 12 - 18 months to 1st class). If this was done in series, only the truly rank focused scouts would advance at all.

Not counting how you actually squeeze in all of the outings, campouts, tracking for personal mgt and fitness. These are the time limits I am aware of. 30 Days - Tenderfoot Fitness 4 Weeks - 2nd Class Fitness 4 Weeks- 1st Class Fitness 4 Months - 1st to Star 6 Months - Star to Life 6 Months - Life to Eagle

Probably the best & only way to really consider this story. I was 15yo when I went for my EBOR and faced a crotchety old scouter who thought you should be at least 16 and preferably 17 to earn Eagle. He quizzed me on a number of knots & lashings until he relented. I think I'm becoming that crotchety old scouter.

100% agree ... anyone with a claim should be asked to provide information supporting their claim. In addition to false claims, it will be important, regardless of the final amount, to compensate claimants fairly and proportionally. Not all claims will be equal and the payouts to individuals should vary based upon the impact, timing, frequency, etc. of abuse. If someone cannot answer basic questions, they should not be able to file a claim. That said, BSA should stay out of this. They would lose on PR & financials if they get involved.

While I am pretty open to earning Eagle Scout early, I still struggle with the 12 year olds. The good news is that it appears he plans to stick with scouts, vs a 12 year old who would earn Eagle and drop. I don't believe I have met a scout, who at 12, would have the leadership I expect of an Eagle Scout ... but I guess some may be out there. https://yubanet.com/regional/local-boy-becomes-one-of-the-youngest-to-earn-boy-scouts-eagle-scout-rank/ The Eagle Scout project seemed to be a bit on the smaller side (vs what I have seen/approved in my Troop). I know the article says buying &

This is a good move. BSA should push the court to close out the bankruptcy & their portion of the funds ASAP. Let the insurance companies & coalition lawyers fight out the final list over time.

"redeployed as agreed upon by the chartered organization and local council." It looks like the CO cannot just go off on their own and they need to get agreement with the council. Are any CO's pushing back at simply writing checks to close out their accounts? I wonder how these conversations go.

I haven't seen that yet, but the push on recharter is much less than prior years. We are late, as always, but have seen almost no emails/calls/etc. (We change our COR annually which causes all sorts of issues during charter.) Technically the assets must be used for scouting (if raised for scouting). See below. Rules_Regulations_Sept20 (netdna-ssl.com) Council or Unit Assets Upon Dissolution Consistent with the Bylaws, in the event of the dissolution of a council or the revocation or lapse of its charter, the Executive Committee may, at its option, authorize the National

I don't believe AIS represents all abuse claims. My understanding is that AIS is one member of the TCC, but I could be wrong. I honestly think this is bad news for National. It may help with councils going forward if some of the claims are invalid. National is going bankrupt regardless of the numbers of claims and the BSA has been clear … they want/need this settled by summer or they risk running out of $ and liquidating. If the AIS & insurers fight back and forth, this will not be settled any time soon. I fear their fighting will end up taking months of discovery (if not y

IF GSUSA believes scouts, scouting is confusing and BSA has tarnished scouting, they can feel free to change their name to Girl Guides. In general, it seems like GSUSA does a pretty good job up until 5th grade. After that, we have heard from many girls who have seen their GSUSA Troops fold. Those girls and families know they are signing up for a BSA program, there is no confusion. I wonder if GSUSA is stoking the fires of this lawsuit and they are seeing news articles all over the place of the first group of female Eagle Scouts and are terrified of its impacts on their recruitin

BSA is quoted as saying they are deeply sorry for the abuse and expects that any irregularities among claims will be addressed as it works toward a settlement to compensate survivors. My guess is they take the path as #1 as I don't see the settlement changing at all. Basically, BSA will give everything it can (or is forced to) regardless of the numbers we are talking about.

The average payout of Catholic Church bankruptcies is ~$680K per plaintiff. Using that average, it would be a $65B settlement if 95,000 claims or $3.4B settlement if 5,000 claims. Either number far exceeds the total assets of the BSA, even if insurance companies pay half.. For the BSA, they are in much better shape with option 2 above. They should offer their best offer they can while still existing and fighting to hold as many assets as possible … but should stay out of fighting individual claims. Why waste legal fees and add to bad press when the end results will likely remain the same.

At first I thought this might be good news for the BSA, but my fear is that it simply drags out the bankruptcy. It almost doesn’t matter if it is 15,000 or 85,000 ... the BSA only has a fixed amount of assets and most will be lost with either number The big money might be with the insurance companies. They historically have paid 20 - 80% of the total claims. BSA won’t have billions, even after selling HA based, but the insurance companies will. I expect they the insurance companies will also see this case as the first of many coming from the look back law changes. So they w

Agreed ... This article, with only 5,000 claims, was estimating the fund would be on the order of $5B. Assuming insurance would have to cover 70%, BSA would need to come up with $1.5B. I can't imagine BSA not liquidating with 95,000 (or 85,000) claims. It's over for National. I fully expect 100% liquidation. Sell everything, including trademarks (good bye Eagle Scout). The lawyers will collect their fees and move on to COs & Councils. At Stake in Boy Scouts’ Bankruptcy: $1 Billion in Assets, or Much More - The New York Times (nytimes.com) Very sad .... I hope I'm w

I'm not sure this is true. My understanding is that the pensions would go to the PBGC who would then be an unsecured creditor, competing with all of the remaining unsecured creditors. Treatment of Pension Plans When an Employer Is in Bankruptcy (friedfrank.com)

I love this idea. Allows Scouts to find their own path, but make sure they balance between the various scout skills, oath & law.

Does anyone know if abuse lawsuits against a CO have succeeded in the past or have they been successful with BSA providing coverage? I haven't heard any; however, even the cost of litigation is extremely expensive. The CO model has been weak for a long time. These lawsuits will likely be the death of the traditional CO.

Pretty cool way to introduce Scout Life. I wasn't expecting it until I saw it open.

I went to a college with a NA mascot. Before school started, I attended an orientation day. The student leaders brought us to the football stadium and there were NA protestors outside. We walked past and inside the stadium the student leaders said that our mascot was fully supported by most NAs and only a small group protests. They said that our NA symbol (not mascot) performed a dance and in a costume that was authentic. I was disappointed by the protestors and believed in the university. Fast forward to half time at the first football game I attended. Out comes our mascot. I loo

Our Troop is down the past two years; however, I think part of that is losing low/no attendance scouts from our roster. In the past, our Troop meeting attendance was around 40 - 50%. Yesterday it was well over 80%. We used to have some 1 campout only scouts … they are dropping. So, I'm not too concerned with Covid impacts on our Troop, we have been able to manage and I see the light at the end of the tunnel. The pack is a disaster. We are still going through recharter, but I expect we will end up down 75%. I just talked with a den leader who is dropping. Eagle scout, energized but

I probably should have stated "there is a rumor that …". @gpurlee started the thread and if there are questions, I would recommend posting in that thread as he/she is more likely to be able to answer them.

I think BSA can and should remain volunteer led, but will be much smaller than the past. I think the BSA organization will need to resize (shrink) as I think society changes are a major headwind. I do wonder if there is a place for a paid staff led outdoor leadership "scouting" type program. I'm not sure, but do wonder. A program that would charge large per year fees + fees for trips, etc. It would be led by professionally trained staff (perhaps former scouts who were college grads with expertise in outdoor education, forestry, citizenship, etc.). They would run Troops/Packs/etc.