Jameson76

Quick question - For the EBOR typically this is made up of members from the troop and members from the District / Council. Curious who felt their own definition of "leadership" has not been met? The EBOR while not a review can look at and could bring up any factual errors that may have been missed prior (number of merit badges, dates in rank, age at time of completion). That is unlikely as the dates are reviewed by the council against the BSA system records prior to the EBOR Additionally the Eagle candidate had the project reviewed by the unit (SM and CC both signed off on proposal) and then the project was approved by the District or Council (depending on size). Any concerns with the leadership portion would have been brought up at that point. I would engage with the District Commissioner and the Council Commissioner for the appeal process and politely request that the Scouter (Scouters??) who questioned the leadership portion not be on the next EBOR.

First - lots of adult drama seems to be in play, but let's power through that Scouts are the best recruits for Scouts. The best way to get boys who are not involved is PROGRAM. Not advancement, not meetings, not citizenship, etc etc, it's PROGRAM. Get your 3 active scouts to clearly set a calendar of OUTDOOR PROGRAMMING. That is the selling point for other boys to engage, what will THEY be doing, what is in it for them. Go Do Stuff. Get the dates set and get a plan to go do things. Not sure where you are but that is what will get the boys to show up. Canoeing, kayaking. hiking, wide games, biking, etc etc. PROGRAM brings in Scouts. The other key items like advancement, citizenship, and leadership can be built once you get them engaged

BRO SCOUTS OF AMERICA..."it's all good"

A common misconception and good resolution. Had a scout talk with me recently that he wanted to complete cooking but he had missed the troop backpacking outing. Reminded him that the requirements did not specify the cooking had to be done with the troop, could be a patrol outing or he and some friends could be backpacking. Cooking is a life skill, going to be needing it 2 to 3 times a day for a long long time, in and out of Scouts.

Great. Now the capitalization police will be all over us.....

Maybe there will be a patch...

The International Scouts at the summer camps we attend have always been a positive. Our guys have met and talked with Scouts / had merit badge sessions with Scouts from Morroco, Egypt, Poland, England, China, Syria, Malaysia and many others I have cannot recall.

This is the official BSA pocket knife The hooked blade on the far right is fact the can opener Not a bad video on how this works on a can. Can take a while

This will be interesting. I foresee some additional training as part of some consent decree in our future Maybe a 30 page Powerpoint

Why the quest for efficiency? it can be done in under 2 years based on time in rank requirements. But as has and no doubt will be noted, Eagle Scout is not the goal. The rank is merely a stop along the scouting journey. If attaining the Eagle rank is all that matters, the Scout is missing the point Enjoy the trip and experiences along the way

Agree that too much focus on NS can be a killer. We run year round (Seabase / Philmont / 2 summer camps summer of 2019) and while we have activities, not formal meetings in the summer, basically June and July. But during those months we have pre-camp meetings and summer camps. Our planning runs August to July. The PLC meets in late April for planning the next 12 months of outings and general calendar. The PLC meets monthly for planning the next 4 weeks. For the new scouts we run a parallel program in the spring. New Scouts with their NS patrols, they do things, and have a specific NS outing. For that outing we have upped to adventure quotient to get older Scouts to come along. We also have a regular troop outing that month. None of our outings are advancement focused, that is a real attendance/interest killer

Scouts Unfazed Camping Kayaking Intending To Go Strongly Until Simply Amazed

The hope for the scholarship has never made financial sense Scenario 1 - You pay for kid to be in travel ball for 7 years and pay maybe $60K in fees and expenses (that is low I think) hoping for a scholarship, low chance of success Scenario 2 - You put that same $60k in a qualified 529 plan and for the same period, and when kid graduates may have $70k which can pay for a good chunk of college with the sure thing

What if you're XX but identify as XY??

Yeah...like we didn't see this coming. And I was hoping all of the Scout organizations would gather at some to be determined site and sing kumbayah while all mocking those who still wear red epaulettes on their uniforms (or sashes??) and making jokes about the various professionals in each organization

The real question is do you feel strongly and are you ready to make the decision that this a beach you want to die on? Seems like the answer is probably a resounding no. This seems solid advice. Be ready to just do the proverbial "whatever" to the lawnmower mom, wish them well, and send them on their way

Wait...you sullied the sacred grounds of a Woodbadge course with actual youth? They will possibly gain the secrets of WB; critters, coffee making, silly songs, woggles, handshakes, holy ticket items, tartan plaid, kilts, and other secret whatnot!! (actually a great idea, some Woodbadgers I have met seem to begin to feel Scouting would be great if not for all the kids hanging around all the time)

What!!! Numbers fudging in the BSA??? Sort of like this.....

Question would obviously be: What did the council do with and/or about the complaint. Was it investigated and could not be substantiated? Was it properly handled? That is (I hope) being worked on and investigated now. There should be no "happened again" in these cases, most need to be treated as one strike and you're out or in jail (after due process)

That is so true. A troop is not all things to all people. Do what you can but also recognize the limitations of what you can assist with and where you can provide support for within the troop.

Yep...you got played We had that happen a few months ago, called parents, no answer, no parents at the pickup, etc. One of the leaders took the Scout home and left message for parents where they were. Leader had a productive conversation on Sunday outing returns with the parent that afternoon. Challenge is how does one manage the parents while offering the program to the Scout. And that is a tough road to travel down. For our unit the majority live under 5 miles from the church. Some live walking distance and after the trailer is unloaded quite literally strap on the pack and walk home. We are very very clear on rally time to start an outing and when we will return from an outing. The clear expectation is that you as a parent OR your designated person will be there to collect them at the appointed time. When we depart for the church from an outing there is an e-mail sent to the troop reminding them we expect to be there by X:XX o'clock and also Scouts call on the way. This needs to be a frank conversation with the parent, yourself, the CC, and maybe another leader to make sure they are understanding of the expectations

When Worf in Next Generation Star Trek started wearing the sash I always thought it looked like he had joined the Girl Scouts...(Today is a good day to sell cookies) On Scout Sunday we have Cubs, Boy Scouts, and the Girl Scouts at the church. The Girl Scouts always look a little random, vest, sashes, not sure.. The uniform is part of the identity of the Boy Scouts. Wearing the uniform is an outward and visible sign of the membership in the organization

Seems appropriate for this discussion https://www.nuvo.net/voices/guest_voices/your-kid-and-my-kid-are-not-playing-in-the/article_768c0500-0f5b-5b63-961d-b2be73b3d7f3.html

Absolutely agree. We actually schedule some of our fall campouts (if possible) to depart early on Saturday mornings. This enables some of the HS Scouts to do the football Friday night, march, whatever and still do the outing. This small change has increased the participation. Scouts should be well rounded and do many different things. Some of ours play football and we do not see them in the fall. Our current SPL plays baseball and he took the fall SPL slot to accommodate Spring ball. His Eagle project is focused on some aspect of the HS Baseball stadium. Some swim, soccer, marching band, water polo, lacrosse, advanced math stuff, church commitments, rugby (yeah we had one of them play that), tennis, golf, AP classes, etc etc. We welcome them when they can be there and figure some participation is better than none. Attendance / participation is not about percentages and checkmarks. Our unit is large, the only written policy we have is about cell phones (single page). Other than that, it is all situational and we follow the Guide to Advancement as best possible. Full disclosure we sort of skim the Guide to Safe Scouting and try our best with that one (is it all applicable??)

The scene where the Scouts go camping by themselves and they rescue themselves is very timely for your discussion. Also when they take on the army to get their SM out of the stockade during war games shows a good level of personal initiative