MikeS72

There is a procedure for certain waivers, which may end up being used this year as with all the covid related cancellations our council safety weekend, which is where we would provide first aid training, shooting sports certifications for CSDC, etc. went by the wayside. We are hoping to be able to get another one in before summer, but who knows what will happen as we go forward.

We have a number of students at the school I work at who had neither internet access or a device to use should access become available. Our local cable company announced that they would provide free wifi for the duration of the school year, to any home with school age students who did not already have internet access. The district also directed schools to sign out (hopefully to be returned in working order) laptops to those students who did not have computers in the home. The district also had several business donate money to provide wifi hotspots to students who needed them, as there are a lot of rural areas of the county that do not have cable access in order to take advantage of the free wifi the cable company was installing.

We used Zoom for a troop meeting. Also used Zoom for a council meeting and again for Roundtable. There are a number of articles discussing early issues with Zoom, and what they have done to mitigate the problems. One thing is putting everyone in a waiting room, and the host has to approve them. If you see a name you do not know, do not let them in. Generating random meeting ID and using a password is also a good idea. I would also recommend disabling screen sharing from scouts, as they may tend to get carried away popping 'memes' onscreen during the meeting. If you have a large group, consider asking people to turn off video, as it can chew up bandwith pretty quickly. This little chart has been posted on several scouting FB pages:

Our council camp, along with several out of council camps we attend, have a SM meeting on Friday night. That meeting is where we get the health forms returned, and have the opportunity to check on which MB's our scouts have completed and which ones they earn partials for. If I have a scout who shows a partial, I check with the counselors who are present to see what they did not complete. In one instance, the troop printout showed a scout with a partial for Rifle, which I questioned, just to be sure that he had actually done all of the 'explain/show' portions of the class. When they looked him up, it turned out that he had completed everything, and it just missed getting input before the print out was run. If the counselor had told me that he did the shooting part of the badge, but did not complete all of the discuss/demonstrate items, I would have gone back to the scout and let him know that he would have to find a counselor back home to finish up with. In another instance, I had a scout showing as complete for a couple of MB's that included requirements done after he had gone home sick. When I told the counselor, he looked at his attendance rosters, which showed the scout be present the day after he left camp. Corrections were made, and the scout finished the requirements at home a couple of months later. As a long time camp staffer in multiple councils, I understand the problems that sometimes arise when dealing with the large number of scouts in camp each week. Everyone is entitled to make a mistake, as long as they are willing to correct it and learn from it.

Parents already have that choice. ScoutsBSA is not a co-ed program, troops are either all boy or all girl. No charter organization that sponsored a troop before the introduction of all girl troops last year had to jump in and also sponsor a new girl troop. I have been involved in scouting as a youth and adult for more than 55 years, and have no problem with giving a girls troop the same opportunities as boys have had for the last 110 years.

At some point I believe that we will have co-ed scouting here as well. At this time we are not co-ed at the troop level. Everything I have seen regarding linked troops suggests that BSA understood the challenge of getting completely separate leadership and committees for both units. This was a reasonable compromise that allowed a CO to get a girl troop up and running. In my area, we have three troops within a 3 mile area, one of which meets less than a mile away from us. I would be open to joint activities between our troops, but would never expect the SPL of one of those units to be selected to serve as SPL of more than one troop. Linked troop or neighbor troop, they are still two separate units, and should have separate SPLs.

Not hard at all. Personal Management is not exactly an exciting, get out there in the wild and do it, kind of MB. At the same time, I have 2 scouts who started Archery MB at summer camp 2 years ago, and did everything except make a bowstring. As a troop, they selected archery as one of their themes this spring, and we will make bowstrings at a troop meeting, thus completing the MB for those two.

This will be a learning experience for them, and surprisingly enough was their own idea, both to reset the patrols and the method they came up with.

Not like a sports draft, but our PLC has decided to reorganize and form multi-age patrols. The initial breakdown they decided to use involves drawing names from two hats, then tinkering where necessary. This will happen tonight, so I will post how it goes.

Would the Havre De Grace on the flag happen to be Havre De Grace MD??

Yes. As long as that leader is not the only one present at the camp out, he/she is fine. We had a situation last summer with a unit whose second registered leader cancelled as they were on the way to pick him up to go to an out of state summer camp. That remaining leader had a choice of cancelling the trip without notice (NO REFUND POLICY at the camp we attended), or going ahead and driving all day, knowing that they were sharing a campsite with another troop (us). They were within YPT guidelines in the car, as there was no one on one contact, 1 adult and 4 scouts. We had 4 adults with us for the week, so there was technically no violation at camp (YPT does not state that the second registered leader be from your unit, just be registered and present at the activity). They made sure that there were no times that he was alone in the campsite with just one scout, there was always at least one of us present with him. Not the ideal situation, but considering the circumstances, it was a workable one.

My only hesitation with letting our scouts do that on their own is the fact that we seem to be snake magnets. We have not had a trek in the past few years without at least one or two on the trail, usually of the rattlesnake variety. When the trail gets a little muddy, the pygmy rattlers we have in our area can be tough to spot before you are right on top of them.

Pretty much all of our hiking is on the Florida Trail, some sections of which are pretty simple, others are challenging. While we are rarely faced with changes in elevation, hitting sections of sugar sand or trekking through water can be tough. We dealt with both several times on that particular 20 mile stretch.

We had three scouts do the 20 miler for hiking MB last year at this time (can still get pretty warm in FL at this time of year). Due to several unforeseen circumstances, we were faced with either cancelling the hike, or one other ASM and I (65 years old at the time) doing the whole 20 with them. They still bring up the fact (jokingly of course) that they almost killed me that day!🤣

I picked up several at our local shop for our January pack meeting, and will do so again this month.

All of our scouts (mine included) who use hammocks have a fly that goes with it to protect them from both heavy Florida dew and frequent Florida rain.

We do a lot of backpacking with our troop. I have 2 sleeping bags, one that is very small and lightweight that I use most of the year (Florida), and one that I break out once in awhile at this time of year when it may get what we consider cold at night. For a sleeping pad, I carry a klymet static v; easy to inflate quickly, rolls up small and light (18 oz), and has a decent enough R value for this part of the country.

Based on what we were told a week and a half ago, Philmont is only part of the guarantee for a $75 million dollar recurring line of credit, which includes ALL BSA national assets, including national headquarters

While I certainly cannot say what other councils may or may not do, I can speak to what we are doing in my own. We spent quite a while at our recent leadership summit discussing what at the time was the upcoming chapter 11 filing, along with an explanation from our CE concerning the application of a council program fee for the 2021 re-charter year. We have written lists of what that fee will do for us and our families. Just as few of those benefits families will see include: No cost to scouts and families to attend district Cub family camp; no cost for scouts and leaders to attend district camporees; no cost for leaders to attend BALOO or IOLS training; no cost to attend University of Scouting; other possibilities are being looked at as to how we can better serve the scouts in our council. I mentioned a few days ago that I am fortunate to be in the council I am a part of, and the more I read some of the comments here, the more true that statement becomes.

Councils may choose (and most probably will) to set a council program/activity fee. That fee may not exceed the $60 national registration fee. We have been told that as part of the recent increase, there would be no more last minute changes to the fee structure. Any changes must be announced early, nothing to come after May.

Any off us who get that are showing our age. We were the first in my circle of family and friends to get a color tv in 1964, and the first thing my uncle wanted to know was what color car did Agent 86 drive.

I'll do it for 2 boxes of Caramel Delights! 😉

Every time I read about this kind of thing happening to districts and councils I am thankful that I am in what I consider to be the best district in one of the best councils in the country. While every council has issues from time to time, we have a strong, vibrant program; and are experiencing steady growth in both the Cub and Scouts BSA programs.

We are one of 2 districts in our council that still has a Scoutreach program. We currently have 15 Scoutreach units, most of which are in schools with a high 'at risk' population.