MikeS72

I have seen that cartoon multiple times. As soon as I run across it again I will save a copy and post it here.

You are not alone. We were informed a couple of weeks ago that while the two Catholic chartered units in our district signed charter agreements for 2022, at the end of the year the diocese will cease chartering all units in the council.

I spoke with our council registrar today about all Methodist units in our council showing "on hold" in the recharter report that I access using Commissioner Tools. I was told that until this is resolved that nothing can be processed or posted for any of those units. We have both Scouts and adult leaders whose paperwork was included in charter packets who are still in limbo. We cannot enter any advancement, or input any activity logs for those folks until there is a resolution and council gets a signed charter agreement. Someone on high needs to authorize councils to process these units before we hit the timeframe where they will drop off of Scoutbook altogether.

Stay safe.

Looks like the same one I saw a few weeks ago, which makes me a little more hopeful about our situation with our CO. I am looking forward to seeing how many individual churches decide to continue chartering units; I do know of one in our district that has basically said the letter is irrelevant and they will not continue to sponsor their pack and troop.

There is a buffer, at least from what our council has told us, both to allow for units who do not get their re-charter posted in a timely manner (my district is the only one in our council to have 100% of our units submitted), and also to allow council registrars to get them all approved and submitted to national. I did not see anywhere that stated whether or not you submitted payment for the members of your unit and have just not paid the $75 re-charter fee. We are a UMC unit, and that is what we were instructed to do. I have seen posts in other online forums stating that some councils have given that guidance to units with whose CO they are still negotiating. In any case, as several others have stated, your situation does not mean you ceased to be a unit on January 1.

This could well be the first ELP lyric I have seen quoted here!😁

Every camp we have attended in recent years offers both a leader discount and gives 2 free leader slots based on the number of registered Scouts. Most are for having at least 5 registered, with additional free slots available for larger units. We take the total number of adults attending and subtract the free slots from the total adult fees, divide by the number of adults, and that is what we pay. Some years we have reimbursed leaders for gas costs, other years we have chosen to drive without being reimbursed to keep the per Scout cost down. As for attending as part of a provisional unit, every camp I have ever attended offers provisional units, which are staffed by paid camp staff, not volunteer parents. So allow parents to attend (Woodruff Scout Reservation allows parents to attend with their provisional Scouts, at $155 per adult; our local camp discourages parents but will allow them based on medical conditions but houses them away from the provisional area). You could register your son and daughter, along with your wife and yourself at your local camp as a unit of 2 & 2 and share a campsite with another unit. (unless you can fill a campsite, or come close to filling it, you will usually share that campsite anyway) Here is hoping you are able to come up with a way to make this work for your Scouts.

While I have not seen this particular reproduction, I do have at least one original uniform for each decade from 1940 to the present. P.S. - I looked at the linked website, and according to the description they stopped taking orders last September.

So when you say you have not paid for rechartering, do you mean you have not paid the $75 charter org fee, or you have not paid the fees for each individual Scout to recharter? I could see units where an entire Diocese has not committed one way or another being treated like those of us sponsored by the Methodist Church and not paying the $75, but still submitting paperwork and paying for Scouts and leaders. Without at least paying for the members of your unit, I would fear that once the grace period for submission passes you would no longer be a unit.

A good contingent of UCs is important, and as stated earlier, try to avoid using direct contact leaders to fill those positions. Strong ADCs, particularly those involved in Roundtable are important. Be sure that you have people in place who are not afraid to disagree with you when needed, and above all else, do not let it overwhelm you and become the sole driving force in your Scouting life. We have lost more than one DC who did not know how to delegate and trust his people. That just leads to an ultimatum from the spouse.

From the National Catholic Committee on Scouting: National Catholic Committee on Scouting - Home (nccs-bsa.org)

Fees are prorated, although National's new $25 joining fee is not.

If YPT policies were followed, it should have been very difficult for something like this to have happened. When we did the Protect Yourself Rules adventure with our Cub Scouts, I emphasized repeatedly to them that they can never be alone with any adult at any Scout activity, other than their parents. Not me, not another parent, not anyone. The biggest thing YPT related that I hope comes out of this is the elimination of the 72 hour rule. I have voiced my opinion on this both here, and in my unit, district, and council. Anyone who wants to accompany us on any outing needs to be registered, take YPT training, and be background checked. When I have stated this here, I have on occasion been called out, with some stating that there could be many reasons beside CSA that could cause someone to not want to go through the background check. My view there is simple, and will not change. I do not care why someone might refuse to register due to the background check requirement. The fact that they would refuse it is sufficient to say that I do not want them around my Scouts.

Sounds like this may be something that happened quite some time ago, as Randall Stephenson has not been President of BSA since 2018. Without details, it is impossible to know whether this is something that rises to the level that would get a response from either your District, Council, or ultimately National. They are not likely to step in and get involved if it looks like internal Pack squabbles. If indeed you have been legitimately threatened, I would listen to MattR and let the police handle it.

When did you staff at Boxwell? I attended as a youth from approx. '67 - 71; and staffed at Camp Stahlman in 72, 73, & 74. Did my Ordeal, Brotherhood, & Vigil there, along with Wood Badge.

Not sure what the area is like now, but back when I attended Boxwell as a scout, and when I staffed in the early 70's, there were no high schools near enough to the camp to make that practical. My current council opened a similar facility a few years ago, which is extremely popular with scouts. I can easily see some of them going home after their first exposure to some of the trade MBs and deciding that is something they want to get more involved with, perhaps even leading to a good career. (and isn't that what the MB program should be all about)

As did I 48 years ago.

Since Cub Scouts is family scouting, I doubt that there is anywhere that would easy to find that explicitly gives the ok for parents to drop off and leave, although the fact that only Lion and Tiger require an adult with them at all activities and meeting seems to imply to parents that once they hit Wolf it is ok.

We do the Scout Oath, then the Scout Law, and then the Outdoor Code. The sign is up for all three, as they are done consecutively.

The 72 hour rule applies to any and all persons over the age of 18 who want to camp with a unit. I can see the application with Cubs, as other than the occasional Webelos Resident Camp, they are typically on one or two nights, so no need for that rule to hinder anyone there. Also, Cubs usually are required to have a parent/guardian when the camp. Where the 72 hour rule needs to be reinforced, and IMO made stricter, is at the troop level. I am all for any parent who wishes to accompany a troop camping to be welcome. However, I would really like to see the be required to register, take YPT, and be background checked. Any parent who just wants to observe what their child does on some of these campouts who does not want to register is welcome to come out and observe to their hearts content during the day.

What visible assets do you think the average pack/troop has, that they would 'hide in an instant'? Our pack assets really only consist of a pack flag and an American flag. The troop has the same by way of flags, along with 8 or 9 tents and several patrol boxes filled with yard sale cooking gear. Most of what we camp with is provided by the individual scouts. While I know that there are troops with a lot of high end gear, I feel safe in the thought that the average pack or troop could not raise more than a few hundred dollars, if that, even if they liquidated everything they own.

Unless I misunderstood something, we (UMC units) must still file the re-charter paperwork as we normally do, and must pay the registration fees for each Scout and adult leader. What we do not do is pay the $75 Charter Org fee until at least March 31, provided UMC continues as a Charter Org, in which case we would have to do so through what ever CO we may be able to find. In that case we would not see a surge of payments in April 2022.

I did the adult training module as soon as it was released, and saw nothing (at least to me) objectionable. As for the MB, I would support taking the various parts of it and integrating them into the existing Citizenship MBs rather than creating a stand alone Eagle required badge. Other than the MB counselors, most people would probably not even notice the changes. I could easily image it becoming something like the annual Cyber Chip renewals, where the scouts would watch and discuss a video once a year or once every other year.

This part seems to have gone out verbatim to every Methodist Conference. We got the same information in a letter last week, however, there are churches in our district and council who have looked at the wording "strongly recommend" and have said 'nope, this does not change anything for us'. Hoping that something gets worked out to allow the relationship between the church and BSA to continue.