MikeS72

I guess that means my younger brother was also a sister when he was one of my niece's GS leaders.🤣

Probably not the smartest decision MTC ever made. I hope it does not come back to bite them in the posterior. I spent all but the first 7.5 months of my time as a youth in scouting in Middle Tennessee Council, and while I have not lived there in almost 50 years, I still look back on those years as among the best of my life.

Sounds like some folks are 'doing their own thing' up there. As far as I am aware, there is no nationally sanctioned 'test out' option. As a matter of fact, my council was one of a couple a year or so ago that wanted to do IOLS/BALOO online rather than in person, and national was all over them when they got wind of the plans. When I moved from Webelos Den Leader to ASM, I registered for the next available IOLS course. When I arrived, our district training chair looked at me, and said 'what are you doing here'. When I replied that I was there for IOLS, he responded 'why, you probably know more about this than I do'. During my last stint as an ASM in the 80's IOLS was not around. Since it is required for SM/ASM to be position trained, I registered and attended. I never considered asking to 'test out' due to being an Eagle, being WB trained (way back in 1972), being on WB staff, or having more years than I care to count as an adult leader. I sat and listened, and when we got into practical skills, I stepped in and helped those who had never been scouts as youth (along with a couple of recent Eagles who had forgotten most of their knots). There is always value in actually taking part in IOLS, even if the value is you stepping up and helping those with less experience.

By default all parents have full control over there scouts in Scoutbook. As a key 3 member, you should have full control over everyone in the pack. I would recommend clearing your cache or logging in with incognito mode, and see if that helps. If not, I would post that question on the Scoutbook forums page, one of the SAC folks may have a solution for you. Also, as far as being part of the key 3, double check your positions under my.scouting. While parents can enter things they have done with their scout at home, it must still be approved by a leader. (As a side note, we tried to turn off full control for parents at the troop level, and were unable to do so. That can then cause issues when parents are marking merit badge requirements as complete when they are not merit badge counselors. We had that happen recently, when a scout was awarded a MB that is usually only done at summer camp, yet he did not attend this summer or last summer. When I looked at him in Scoutbook, mom had marked off several requirements that were not completed 3 summers ago, and our advancement chair evidently did not look at it before awarding the MB.)

That could be funny indeed! By the time that 8 foot stack burns down to 1, it will be time to do swimming merit badge.🤣

That link comes directly from scouting.org. Search inspection sheets on scouting.org and it will take you to that page. You will also find the 2018 inspection sheet at the link below, also from scouting.org. https://www.scouting.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/510-75018-WebelosInspection_WEB-1.pdf

If you look at my earlier response to this thread, you will note that while I am a big fan of wearing the uniform properly, I am more concerned with scouts being able to participate regardless of the ability to afford or obtain a uniform. As any uniform, regardless of time period used, is still official and can be worn, I would not be concerned at all if the Webelos in any pack decides to get a little more use out of the blue uniform. (in the packs I work with, I find that the Webelos usually look forward to changing uniforms) Several people have responded by linking out of date versions of Webelos Inspection Sheets. The link below is the current version. https://i9peu1ikn3a16vg4e45rqi17-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/510-75018-WebelosInspection_WEB-1.pdf

Very true. I will admit that I like seeing a unit where everyone is properly uniformed, but if I have to choose between a scout being in uniform, or being in attendance, I will take being in attendance. I had an Assistant Cubmaster approach me at a pack event asking for me to step in as a commissioner. His opinion was that several boys should not be allowed to take part in the first pack activity of the new scouting year (rain gutter regatta) because they were not in uniform, and being in uniform should be required to participate. He was not happy to hear that BSA policy does not allow exclusion based on being in uniform. As to the inspection sheet 2008 & 2015 printing stating that Webelos choose the uniform they want to wear, that is out of date. The 2018 inspection sheet is clear that the tan shirt is the official Webelos uniform. That being said, as has been stated before, all previous uniforms are acceptable for wear, so I would not sweat it.

Love it! I wonder if we can outfit our students like this when we return to class at the end of August. We were just notified yesterday that masks are mandatory when classes resume.

Don't have to worry about that, never possessed anything above a Franklin, although I did hide one of those in an old metal 35mm metal film canister while on camp staff back in 74. End of summer rolled around, and for the life of me, I could not remember where I hid it. 🙁🙁

😂🤣

We had a small group of scouts attend Camp Rainey Mountain in Northeast Georgia Council. Everyone was required to take a Covid test prior to attending, so we knew that at least a week prior to camp everyone in attendance was ok. That could have changed with someone being infected after testing, but it appeared that everything went well in that regard, on one sent home during the week after becoming ill or not being cleared during twice a day temperature checks. There were things that were either modified or deleted from the program, such as shutting down ga-ga ball (although I am sure that the scouts would have all maintained social distancing in the pit 😁), no blob at the waterfront, no mile swim, area campfires with only a couple of units, no sharing of campsites (we had more than enough tents for individual tenting). Programming was modified to only offer 4 blocks of instruction during the day, and there were things that were not offered that are usually available, but the scouts went from program area to program area pretty much the same as always. Dining hall seemed to be normal operation, other than splitting into shifts to keep numbers low. It looked to me as if we had maybe 30% capacity during meals. Staff was tested weekly, and wore masks at all times when out of the staff area. We were told on Friday that they had a couple of asymptomatic positive tests last week, who were isolated and then sent to the health department for retesting (they have evidently had this occur a couple of times, and after retesting found (hopefully) that they were false positives. My scouts were happy with the trip, and everything about the camp other than the intense rain we had just about every afternoon.

I was a young Assistant Scoutmaster when the ISP and skill awards came to be. While things like camping, cooking, swimming and lifesaving were no longer required, the scouts in my troop, and I suspect many others, continued to earn them just because we did not change the way we operated our program. We were big on camping and hiking regardless of time of year, and if you were active in the troop those no longer required skills were developed and honed as a result. I did like the fact that for a while First Aid MB was required for First Class.

The slogan during that time period was Boypower/Manpower. It was during that program that I transitioned from being a scout to being a scouter. I do have several items from back then with the slogan on them, including this old patch, a bolo tie, and more.

Good advice, with the exception of no smores! That combination of puffed sugar, melted onto a chunk of sugar, and sandwiched between two wafers of sugar is every Scoutmaster's favorite thing for his/her scouts to consume just before bedtime! 😂

I guess I must be a millipede also then, since I hit 29, started over from scratch, hit 29 a second time, and am now about to hit 9 for the third time.

The age restriction could have been a SM thing. As to two scouts per year, that would have depended on the size of your troop at the time, and whether it was prior to the elimination of the old quota system.

We have several scouts attending Camp Rainey Mountain in Georgia next month. One of the covid related precautions they are taking is that every scout and scouter must bring proof of a negative covid-19 test, dated within 7 days of arrival at camp. No negative test, no admission to camp.

My 1990 handbook does not even list the membership requirements, instead spending a lot of time on the Ten Induction Principals. As I mentioned above in my response to Mrjeff, the first requirement for election has always been the approval of your unit leader. It is entirely possible that some unit leaders would not approve anyone under the age of 14. Back in the days when there were unit quotas, we did tend to elect older scouts, but not because we could not elect a 12 or 13 year old. If you were in a small troop, you may have had 4 or 5 eligible scouts, but could only elect one. That one scout elected was, if other factors were equal, most likely to be the older of those eligible. In addition to going back through a number of my older handbooks, I have also scoured online resources, and have found nothing from at least 1968 on that restricted membership to those 14 and above.

I am a little older as well, having been inducted in 1969. If you had to be 14 to be elected, someone somewhere was doing it wrong. Since requirement #1 is and has been, unit leader approval, perhaps your unit leader at the time simply did not give his approval to anyone under the age of 14. I have the 1968, 1973, and 1975 handbooks in front of me. Requirements for election in the '68 handbook state: 1. Unit leader approval; 2. Camping requirement; 3. Unit quota; 4. Who may vote; 5. First class requirement (at that time a scout could be elected PRIOR to achieving First Class, provided he reached that rank within 6 months and it was also achieved PRIOR to induction). There were a few changes to election procedures noted in the '73 handbook, most notably the ability to complete First Class after election but prior to induction, and the change in the quota. Instead of the number of scouts in a troop determining the maximum number of those who could be elected, the number of scout in the troop determined how many of those eligible you could vote for. Everyone who received at least 50% of the votes cast was elected. The only election procedure that is currently in place that I would consider changing would be to bring back the unit quota. I am convinced that if we went back to making it a bit tougher to be elected it would mean more to those scouts when they do receive the honor, and they may be more inclined to be active members.

We are told here that units may meet, based on CO approval. In my troop's case, we may end up mid August before we are allowed back into the church for in person meetings. Looking at the possibility of some troop outdoor meetings until then.

Makes more sense, but that seems like an awfully high insurance fee. Even if your council activity fee matches the new $66, that leaves $48 for insurance. Ouch indeed!

What happened to the pronouncement last year that councils could establish an activity fee, but at no more than the amount of the national registration fee?? Or is that $180 the total cost of registration, activity fee, and troop dues for your individual unit?

While our council has not put anything out, and likely will not until after the vote, I have alerted my unit leadership, so we can plan now for how to cover the additional cost.

Which makes absolutely no sense at all. I have to provide a new copy of YPT every time I send in a adult app OR even to add a MB to my list that I counsel. This despite the fact that as an ADC, I can pull a YPT report for every unit in my district, and know within seconds if anyone in that unit has expired. I know that a council registrar has that ability for every unit in the council.