Jameson76

Who has time for all the record keeping and math?

Not a huge fan of massive troop "rules". Never had one, do not plan to have one. Once you have written "guidelines" one will need to follow them and then you get boxed into a corner. Sort of like the academic zero tolerance policies. Huge difference when a kid goes camping with dad and accidentally leaves an axe in the car as compared to kid who brings a knife to school to settle a score. One must look at intent and hopefully be able to judge and work with kids as individuals. We have a large troop and literally have only one written policy, and that concerns cell phones and it was written this year. Other than that, we try to follow the basic tenants of BSA policy. I mean Good Lord there are two huge tomes, the GTA and GTSS which are both 100+ pages each. If that is not enough for you, not sure an additional document will really help

Try to get a shirt that youth will actually wear outside of Scouting events. If they will wear it outside, they will wear it during We do a Class B shirt every summer, also for high adventure treks. Different color and use the dri-fit type. Over the last 10 years we have used the same front chest design. Then the back is emblems from the activities we do each summer. On outings we have multiple colors, but they are all similar design. I was pretty sure we had hit on a good overall design as I saw the shirts around town, in photos, and other places worn by our scouts. The dri-fit was a big hit

Interesting BSA registration fee is $33. Boys Life is $12 The BL is optional Personally I would find another council and tell them to bag the activity fee

I do find it interesting that a 14 year old cannot hold a full time job, cannot typically open a banking account without parental permission, is not able to enter contracts, cannot legally operate a motor vehicle in the US, is not able to consent for sexual activities, serve in the military, vote in elections, cannot purchase a gun, cannot buy liquor or beer, does not have a choice and is required to attend school, cannot fly unaccompanied without a parent or guardian authorizing, and other myriad of items they are not able to do because as a society we have deemed them not mature enough to handle these tasks and responsibilities..... YET....... This same 14 year old (or younger) determines they are transgender and everyone is supposed to be on board with this and accept that decision at face value. To question is to be genderphobic and discriminatory. Not saying there might not be reasons behind that decision, but seriously, this does call for a rational conversation and exploration and a clear understanding by the youth on the ramifications (short term and long term) of this decision.

Waaay Waaay back in the day we could do the school talks. This was for Boy Scout troops that made for a fun presentation. I was the DE and would travel to the schools with tents, backpack, etc. We would setup in the assembly area, then the classes (boys then) would come to us. It would be the local unit leaders, or their representatives, and myself. I would do the basic what is Boy Scouts, then the local unit leader would talk specifically about what the local troop actually did. Note this was early 80's so no mass crossovers, etc. We had good response because it was tangible Not sure we could do that now. Especially the axes and knives.

Best part of a conference call

Curious what you are throwing the tomahawks into? We have some, and have not found anything (other than large end cut logs) to throw into. Sort of tough to tote about. We have not found a good portable target. We have a knife throwing target, a good piece of basic 1/2" plywood on a frame works well. Easy to setup and move, load into the trailer. Rope of an area off and have at it. The light weight throw knifes are inexpensive and only need a tune-up on a grinder occasionally.

I'll take the under on that bet / expectation. Rather than 10 years, there will be "survey" and "groundswell of support" sometime in 2020 / 21 and we will be coed. The challenge will be ramping up any actual functioning girl troops or enough "linked" (wink wink) troops. BSA will need to decide how to effectively provide a good program and opportunity for the the girls coming out of cubs. Honestly it takes a minute to stand up a troop and get the institutional knowledge to have a well functioning troop. There may be some Girl troops and they will be new, then they will look over at the established boy troops in the same area with 11 outings annually, maybe 2 summer camps, high adventure, 30+ years of tradition, 10 Eagles a year etc etc. Why can't they have that now, it's not fair, yada yada. Not saying the requirement (though it might be) will be for troops to be coed, but it will be an option. Boy Troops, Girl Troops, Coed Troops will be the three flavors. Might be a hard sell to mandate coed for many years, though likely that is the way Boys Scouts...sorry Scouts BSA will be moving.

Wow..I read the web page on Scouting.org. Looks a good deal like some cobbled together Lean presentation. Wonder what BSA has paid for this expertise. Not sure why it starts with Roundtables (FB) and ends up talking about employees (Scouting.org) First the FB announcement was 5 paragraphs and literally said nothing The link to Scouting.org So..we have the mission statement The Polaris Method Making the BSA more Effective, Efficient, and Empowered Then we define the group(s) / key terms Stakeholder: the end user; the one who needs or uses our service or products. Value: determined from the point of view of the stakeholder. An activity that adds value transforms BSA service in a way that benefits the stakeholder. Efficiency: the single most important focus of the Polaris Method.Any part of the process not adding value to the stakeholder’s experience, is inefficient. We are always looking for WASTE to reduce! Empowerment: is key to sustaining The Polaris Method into the newly adapted culture of continuous improvement. Autonomy to make recommendations and changes drive this effort. Then we go FULL consultant and drop in the elevator pitch (which as has been noted, not a lot of elevators out in the woods)...honestly would have been more entertaining if they had called it the cracker barrel pitch or something The Polaris Method Elevator Pitch: The Polaris Method is a way of thinking and operating designed for efficiency, effectiveness, and empowerment. The Polaris Method is rooted in Change Management and Lean Management blended together with a Scouting twist for the BSA. Lastly we get some of the neat stuff Polaris will yield, but then I get confused as it refers to employees?? high employee trust, engagement, and satisfaction at the workplace employee mindset of proactively seeking positive and gainful improvements in all areas of work and customer service by modifying current standard operating procedures a streamlined approach to project implementations with consistent clarity, alignment, and collaboration ability to align the entire team to focus on bottom line goals and being okay letting go of non-high priority items, projects, properties, events, etc. new language and terminology that will make issues feel more solvable and less daunting Basically, looks like the DE's and professionals will be tied up over the next 18 - 24 months implementing POLARIS and that will be why they cannot be at meeting or helping units

Yep - Had a parent e-mail about some items, several e-mails. We copied them but directed the inquiry back to the Scout. Parent was main one asking again, sent a note just to parent reminding them that the advancement is owned by the Scout, they need to drive it. We want them to copy the parents, but we want to enable the scout to handle his needs. They backed off and the Scout is doing it now.

Sometimes you have to let the process work. We are in the southeast and going on an outing. Saturday looks good for weather, a little windy, but good. Conditions will deteriorate (maybe) early Sunday morning. Adults were communicating back and forth about options We had a group text with our SPL and ASPL for the weekend to consider options. Honestly they came up with different options than we had bandied about. Our thought was a day trip to do the activities (kayaking), then head back to the ranch. They determined to go and then make the decision about staying when we clear the river. They are considering the data provided, looking at weather channel, etc Their decision, so that's what we are doing.

When I started working with my current troop (now on 10+ years ago) the go to attitude was can't go down and interfere with the Scouts, they have to figure it out. I had (on my first campout) a good discussion with active troop leaders, explained sure you can. We are to observe and mentor. They explained the long time SM (who did not attend outings regularly) direct that. I knew him and felt it was a misinterpretation. Guess what, it was. They took "don't do things for a scout he can do for himself" as Hands Off. Take for example setting up a tarp. If they have never really set one up, how do Scouts know how to do it properly, tricks, etc. You can mentor and advise the PL on what maybe the next steps should be without impinging on their leadership. Again, observe and mentor. Same with tent placements, cooking, etc. Patrols can clearly function with leaders around, the leader needs to clearly understand their role. It is the Scouts patrol and not the leaderts. They are not in fact a "leader", they are are in fact an advisor or mentor.

Don't know much about the GS groups. There are some that meet at / are attached to the CO. We see them at Scout Sunday. It's hard to figure out who is a Girl Scout, then they put on the sash (maybe vest) and bam...Girl Scout.

So being British and all, maybe have them be sort of magical and then they are broken up into houses and have them hang out in a castle. That may have been done before...you should check

We do our best. The PLC (or Greenbar) meets monthly to plan the meetings, they cycle through activities by patrol at the meetings. For campouts the patrols cook and work together. They setup patrol areas (tarp / table / cooking) and all the Scouts meals are together. The leaders camp hopefully out of sight, but sometimes that is not possible. At worst well away. On campouts they do tent with friends or hammock in groups, not necessarily patrols. At summer camp they function in patrols for waiter duty, campsite duties, etc. The Scouts plan the outings and determine at the annual meeting what and where we will be going for outings. Yes the leaders make the actual reservations. At the outings they run the weekends, leaders sort of function as timekeepers. They handle openings, campfires, any issues, Scout's own service, police lines for cleanup, gear setup, take down, and loading. Not 100% perfect, but the patrol method is our underlying effort. If you come at dinner you will see 6 distinct patrol areas and 6 stoves cooking differing meals with Scouts working within their groups to do different tasks. No leaders involved, we just amble by and watch

Patrol Advisor should be doing just that, advising. We put the crossovers in a new patrol for the spring, but come fall they roll up into the existing patrols. The older scouts are more than happy to pass on the meal planning and cooking

Shockingly National BSA may not in fact know what is best

Possibly, and most likely if the leaders at the BOR let it develop. The scout may be nervous for many reasons. Sitting in an unfamiliar area and talking with adults they are not really familiar with may be well out of their comfort zone. Good probability they will have similar instances occurring in their life as they grow older. Having the Scout confront that, deal with it, be successful in their BOR will be some personal growth. It does become a balance. I have been on some with really nervous scouts. With one as we asked some basic questions, he got flustered, stumbled through, sort of started to panic. We stopped the BOR, told him to take a breath, go grab some water (we were at an outing) and come back in 5 minutes so we could start again. He did and was much better, gained some confidence.

That would lead to a somewhat interesting EBOR. I guess the discussion would be "why?". Not sure as a member of the EBOR that would preclude passing them on the EBOR. I guess if the Scout chose to refuse to say the pledge, one or more of the EBOR members could at that point decline to continue to participate in the board if they so chose. One form of protest is as good as another. At that point the district could determine if there were enough members to continue, give the unit an opportunity to source more members, or reschedule.

There is a lot going on here. The interrogation alone in the tent, if just a Scout and the leader could be another whole issue. Obviously there were some bad decisions made by the Scouts. That in and of itself is not shocking. Key is your son needs to take responsibility for his actions. Whether he learns and grows from this is purely on him, sounds like he does understand their actions were not correct. Key is to make sure he is truly sorry and willing to make amends, not just sorry for being caught Separate issue 1, and this in no way excuses what happened, is the concern over "special privileges" for one scout. In general this can lead to bad feelings and the Scout being ostracized by his peers. Unless there the Scout has special needs. Not sure how to best approach that challenge in light of what seems to have occurred Separate issue 2, and in no way does this mitigate what happened, is possibly the handling by the unit. That may take some deeper discussion. If as you indicated the Scout who was the victim in the issue had his parent, or parents at camp, they may have had influence in the tenor of the investigation. This may be a calm meeting to be had and bring the concern to troop committee. The unit seems to have needed to address the issue. The question may be was it handled correctly and with concern for all parties. Your final question is but is this the procedure to punish boys in this situation? For half a year? Could be yes to both questions. Certainly it appears that Scouts were doing something and it possibly escalated beyond the original intention. That needs to be addresses so there should be some consequences. The six months does not seem at the surface to be out of proportion to the events Last advice as noted may be to have a calm and wide ranging conversation with the SM, committee, leaders at camp, etc.

Well...technically we don't either, I was being kind. Honestly that was our lowest attended events. We dropped the Spring camporee about 8 years ago, during planning the Scouts asked if they had to go, we said it's up to you guys. The district has a winter event we would do, but honestly has not changed, or been revised, since it started. Has a really cool 20 page guide. The update seems to be changing the date on the cover. During planning last year they asked if we had to attend that, we again said nope, so we went backpacking. Bottom line Scouts were not interested Changing from Camporee to other events - Attendance in that month is up 400% Changing from winter event to backpacking - We doubled the attendance Now...before you comment..."Well maybe if you guys helped plan them, they would be better". That is a valid point. We have discussed that option. Challenge is you have the double edged sword of the OA Cabal and the WB Cult that run these things in our district. I am here to tell you, just the safety overview for the weekend was 30 minutes. It's not like we don't do maybe 30 nights of camping each year, we've got this. So we decided life is too short to fight that battle and went our own way.

That is the truth. We had one leader who had the beading ceremony, took an excruciating 45 minutes. Go get trained, enjoy, but WB is not in fact why we (leaders) are around. But so many adults are involved doing purely adult things and consider that Scouting. Which it is in some cases. Some non unit facing work is needed, like District EBOR, recharter, training, large fundraising, etc. There is however a good deal of adult involvement that merely begets more adult involvement. The rocket thing is a great example of adults who simply do not get it. They are not really there for development of Scouts, they are there to run things RIGHT dang it. We had a camporee where troops handled/manned events. In this case expectation was leaders staffed the events, scouts went and did stuff. Our unit did a station with three events, we gave minimal direction, Scouts figured out what to do, they did stuff, we watched from afar and tallied. Our guys went to some where their feedback to us was, we did , in this case lashing, for 20 minutes, then some old guys yelled at how wrong we were for 20 minutes and made us watch him do it right. We don't do a lot of camporees

Well...they tend to weigh down my speedo...but I'll give it a try