Eagle1993

Some of the best scouts never earn First Class let alone Eagle. They simply focused on other aspects of scouting. So before putting too much pressure on yourself, really reflect why you want to advance and if it is a goal you want to work towards. Outside of a few areas, you can participate in fully in Scouts as any rank. Scouting should be fun and not School 2.0. The reason I ask is that it sounds like you already have a lot of other areas you also feel like you need to focus in your life. It is important to prioritize and realize it’s ok if advancement in scouting doesn’t make you

Our camp had two shower houses. One had 8 individual stalls and 30 minute wait times. The other had two separate group shower areas (male youth/male adults). Those were routinely empty (Only once did I ever hear a shower going on the youth side). I even suggested to some youth who were waiting in a long line for the individual showers that the other shower house was open... thinking back now, that could have sounded a bit creepy. In any case, many youth today seem especially self conscious and have no desire to use the traditional group shower areas. I agree, I expect every camp w

I would have had more sympathy, but suing 8 and 10 year old boys because they sled into you is not excusable. It’s one thing to sue adults, he lost any sympathy from me when he named kids in his lawsuit. The lawyer that represented the Den Leader is a personal injury lawyer from Buffalo.

That is not how any Troop or Pack I have been involved with reads that statement. @RichardB May have some additional input The statement seems clear: YES NO Non-prescription medication administration is authorized with these exceptions:_______________________________________________ Administration of the above medications is approved for youth by: parent’s signature The section above this is to simply list any meds (including OTC) the scout is on. It is not to limit the OTCs. Limiting OTCs is done on the exception line.

Correct. If the parent signs that line, they are approving blanket OTC except where notes. 100% of the forms that we have received have that signed.

Interesting.... The Second page of Part B of the BSA form states “Non-prescription medication administration is authorized with these exceptions:_______________________________________________“ This would apply to the Troop leaders and these forms should be filled out in addition to any local form. https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/HealthSafety/pdf/680-001_ABC.pdf

Health forms should cover this correct? They state allergies to meds & if you are approved to give over the counter meds. Most med kits contain Benadryl in wipes or creams. We have had ER docs in our Troop and we use it all the time if med form doesn’t counterindicate on Benadryl. It is correct about use of prescription drugs without a prescription is illegal, Epipens fall into a special category. As far as Epipens, laws vary by state. California now allows organizations to get prescriptions for Epipens to use them on people without prescriptions. https://californiahealthl

I took it more as a frivolous lawsuit type story... but they did give a lot of lines to the story. I didn’t see it as a shot against scouts. Perhaps a slow news day....

If this wasn’t Troop policy before camp, then I don’t see an issue. If the PLC believes this is an issue, then it should be discussed in the PLC and policy set prior to camp.

I will echo @Cburkhardt that our linked Troop of girls had a great experience at camp. They were the only girl Troop (5 girls total) at a camp with nearly 400 attendees. My primary concern was how other Troops and scouts would treat them. Other than 1 minor comment the girls said they were treated well and loved the camp. The camp didn’t make a big deal of girls attending, other than during a leader meeting. I’m sure there will be bumps on the road, but it was a great start.

I never thought of suing 10 year olds... man, I have a long list of trauma. *picking up phone to call lawyer* https://buffalonews.com/2019/07/10/den-leader-sues-cub-scouts-after-sledding-accident-i-remember-blood-everywhere/

There may have been mid year numbers released; however, I expect those are always going to show growth for Scouts BSA. 1) They show the additional AOL crossovers 2) They don’t drop any youth until recharter at the end of the year

Many camps have some sort of First Class or First Year program. Those focus on exposing the scout to the entire camp while working on Scout through FC requirements. Outside of that, the most important aspect of a first year scout is for him to have fun and want to return. MBs are not required for advancement until Star and he will have plenty of time to work on Eagle required MBs by that time. Otherwise I agree completely with @wdfa89

We just returned from Freeland Leslie, a Patrol cooking camp. 51 scouts, 6 patrols, 23 first time summer campers. Only 5 adults present all week with 1 - 2 other adults rotating in to provide a bit more coverage. Adults stayed out of the patrol areas except to eat, check food safety in 1 instance and address a couple of breakdowns that escalated beyond SPLs ability. Our PLs, SPL and ASPL were busy all week. Nearly every PL had at least one moment where they had some sort of breakdown. One quit for a meal after dealing with patrol members that didn’t pull their wait. One designated

27! I think they made a movie about that kid...

Had the start of a conversation during our annual planning meeting (adults only, but SPL and a few other senior scouts were invited). Overall it went well, but I can see this could take several years to get a really strong patrol method Troop. The issues go back years where a previous adult intentionally broke up groups of friends between patrols. This came up when I asked if patrols go on their own outings. One of the other leaders said his son would hate that as none of his friends are in his patrol. I asked about camping arrangements and they never tent with Patrol members. I as

Follow up... sounds like the drop off was due to elimination of some inactive ScoutReach groups and very late rechartering by many units. Those units didn’t charter until the numbers had to be set.

The BSA said in their letter this week that they are going to formally announce in the coming days a new youth protection education initiative. "Through animated lessons and age-appropriate learning materials developed specifically for younger audiences, the 'Protect Yourself Rules' program will educate children on recognizing inappropriate conduct...," Surbaugh wrote. He also described a multi-layer screening process for all applicants 18 years or older, which has recently been enhanced, and said BSA has recently expanded its background check policy. https://thehill.com/

The CSE just stated in a letter to Congress that they have discovered instances where the BSA reinstated leaders after creditable claims of sexual abuse allegations. Now this is decades ago, but if they did I have a hard time defending the BSA in those specific instances. Most of this does sound like simply a race to money and they only ones hurt are those who never were involved in the program when the majority of the instances occurred.

https://www.scribd.com/document/412383206/Letter-Representative-Jackie-Speier-5-28-19 New letter to Rep Speier from CSE. It goes on to state that the BSA has hired a law firm to investigate further. “... I have the highest respect for this organization and the vital role that it plays in American life. When I sent my response to your November 20, 2018 letter, I believed in good faith, and with deeply felt conviction, that BSA would never have knowingly allowed a sexual predator to work with youth. I told you that in my response. Since then, I have learned that my response was incor

Mr. Kosnoff said the abusers they have identified victimized more than 400 boys or men, who are now aged 14- to 97-years-old, while they were members of the Boy Scouts. The abuse took place in 49 states and Puerto Rico from the 1950s to 2017, the lawyers said. The lawyers said they were taking as many as 30 intake calls a day from potential new clients who say they were abused. “Nine out of 10 are identifying perpetrators who do not appear in the perversion files,” Mr. Kosnoff said, referring to the ineligible-volunteer files. On Wednesday, during the Boy Scouts’ annual meeting

Sad story. I have fairly good knowledge of the river in my area and can tell you when I would and wouldn’t take scouts out based on flow rate. I know my river can go from canoes scrapping the bottom to life threatening rapids after a heavy overnight rain. I don’t know this river nor what was done to prepare for the trip. Water levels across Wisconsin rivers are high, flow at this river seems nearly 3 times historical average. https://waterdata.usgs.gov/wi/nwis/uv?site_no=05429500 Regardless, it is a very sad story and even if mistakes in planning were made it is a horrible

Great feedback, thanks! I will need to plan working with both the parents/adult leaders and PLC. My first conversation with adult leaders about patrols was interesting. I asked how leaders are selected and they said annually by the adults. I asked about having the patrols vote for their own leaders and the reaction of was mixed. One parent in particular was not a fan (“we don’t want this to be a popularity contest and the boys never asked for this anyway”). A very active ASM who was a prior SM (a great leader) was more reserved, indicating that it was discussed and decided previously ..