Jameson76

Agree with the need to GO and see what they need, not wait at some roundtable or meeting to tell them what they need. Most leaders could care less about a listening meeting or an input meeting or a conversation and input meeting. If truly interested plan to spend some time on the road and go see the units and talk with the leaders at their meetings. Just listen. Hear what their successes are and hear what they may be struggling with. You note you are concentrating with training, advancement, camping promotions, and civic service functions. That is a target rich environment. Also go more than once. While roundtables can play a role, scouting happens at the unit where it is meeting or going camping. That is where the answers lie. Not at an adult meeting.

Agree that it is local and at more importantly at the unit level. All else is window dressing. The divide (rift??) between National/Region/Council/District and the local units seems to be a might wider at times. There is a lot of top down directives, etc. Is the Council there to support the units or does the Council seem to think they are where it's at. With our unit we seem to be fine with little interaction from the council. Close to 100 Scouts, High adventure every year, 13 outings per year, 10+ Eagles achieved each year. Our discussion has been how can we support Scouting locally outside the unit without the morass of the district and the council. We have not been able to solve the conundrum. As a note our unit does not attend the district camporees or council encampments. Past years we did, but those were the least attended events. The Scouts asked do we have to attend these? The choice was theirs and we have moved on. The Council Commissioner spoke with me on this, they asked why we did not attend such events. I explained that the program offered at these was not engaging to our troop. They wanted to know if we had tried to get involved and get it changed. We had but the folks that ran the district ones were less than eager to look at changes. So we went backpacking. Agree that the first question that should/needs to be asked at a BOR is are you having fun. The rest is bonus material

Most are good Will go with the most recent. We were at summer camp last week, had 40+ scouts attending. Thursday night after the afternoon offsite activities we cooked cobbler and the Boy Scouts organized up a cornhole tournament. The leaders provided the stuff, Boy Scouts mixed, and cooked. It was getting dusk, the cobbler was getting close to complete. I did a head count as the leaders stood off to one side. All the scouts were there, no phones, just a group of Boy Scouts, in the woods, week coming to a close, enjoying the evening.

This has been BSA's stock answer - The research found that parents not involved with Scouting showed high interest in getting their daughters signed up for programs like Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, with 90 percent expressing interest in a program like Cub Scouts and 87 percent expressing interest in a program like Boy Scouts. Now, note the subtle wording of the results "LIKE". They did not say they would join BSA, just a program LIKE the BSA. Also as we have not seen the actual questions, it is very easy to put in questions that will generate the needed results SIDENOTE - Was at our Council Camp last week, troop had a great week. Anyway, we have a leaders dinner on Thursday, literally 200 Scout leaders that are actually involved in Scouting at an actual camp event with actual Scouts. The Scout Executive...sorry CEO of the Council was there, the Council President was there, a litany of the paid executive staff was there, some key volunteers, the CEO and Prez spoke, but ZERO mention of the program changes and updates, no mention of how these will impact camp operations next year and no time for questions or input If the changes have this groundswell of support and people clamoring to join, why not own it, let us know what plans and support are in place. You had an engaged group, but they are scared to death to mention it to actual Scouters. The divide between National, Regional, council based paid staff, key volunteers AND those of us who are merely (in their view) working with units (the great unwashed) grows each day

It's amazing isn't it that someone (gotta be gender neutral here) under 18: Cannot enter into a contract, buy a drink, own a gun, rent a car, rent a hotel room, serve in the military, vote under 16: Cannot drive a car, fly unaccompanied, must attend school, be out after certain hours alone, get married (depends on state) All of this is because we as a society have concluded that at these young ages, they may not have the needed maturity and life experience to be fully responsible for these decisions...YET when it comes to gender identity, let it roll, they can decide away. If one questions this, you are are discriminatory

Our group is still leaving and returning the same flights, but now they are going to do various 2 and 3 day hikes in Colorado. Drummed up some contacts, friends, etc but they have salvaged a trip.

But but...it's dark and scary out there, and little Timmy has a lot to do, and the cell phone reception is weak, and toilets are scarce, and there was soccer.....

It's the arms race amongst Scout groups...in this corner the not broadly understood GSUSA "Gold Award"...and in this corner the gold standard of youth awards the BSA "Eagle Scout". Which will be deemed Best In Class, which will corner the market, and more importantly, which will generate more revenue for their organization??

It can be a conundrum and if you start going down YPT and G2SS rabbit holes, second guessing yourself, and subscribing to the "McCarthyesque" YPT feeling that everyone is a predator, you may likely never leave the house and attend a scout meeting or event. The buddy thing is great and useful, but often different Scouts have different interests and class schedules at summer camp. The intent is for the boys to have a buddy, yet as many things that happen in the real world, out in the mud and the weeds, that may not be the case 100% of the time We (our unit) definitely works under the guise of doing the best we can, abiding as closely as possible to rules and regs, and working to have a fun program and develop the leadership and citizenship skills for the young men. Just last night I had a scout who wanted to review his Eagle project and also look over some merit badges. We set it up via e-mail with mom and SM in copy. He drove to the house, (wife was home at the time) we met in the driveway in clear view of by the garage (nice and shady), and completed the work. You do what is needed in the spirit and intent of the YPT and G2SS to deliver the program. Also I do have an umbrella policy. (and some nice umbrellas on the deck)

I would assume that with the wide swath of burn across the ranch, the sadly the remaining backcountry treks for 2018 (those not already cancelled) will at best be problematic

Official line is that it was the amount of visitors. As was discussed I guess it depends on the why of the museum. If to promote BSA and be visible to everyone, Dallas is good. If just another box to check from National...yeah I guess we gotta have a museum, then why not Philmont Candidly I do not think they promoted it or made it a "Destination". I did visit the Dallas one a few years back. Good mementos and items. Animatronic Baden Powell was might creepy

That DE would not be welcome any longer at any or our functions, we would be Scoutlike (as much as possible) in that communication. Sounds like you are doing fine without his help.

Airline (Delta) has been responsive, they will have a credit for a year from purchase. Not sure on PSR fees (assume they will be refunded or credited), calls out to the ground transportation. Everything was fine until last Thursday....

We have (had) 2 crews that were to leave on Sunday. Not sure what the options are for them down the road. BSA has an opportunity to really make something positive out of this negative OR they can fumble the ball and alienate their most dedicated and involved youth. I hope they refund all fees AND / OR give them priority for 2019 slots, which may involve adding more slots and trek opportunities For our troop with PSR Fees, ground tours, flights, equipment the 2 crew are in this for $50,000 + Come on BSA National High Adventure bases, the ball is in your court, you did not ask for this, but you can WIN this one

Seems like a Council Commissioner trying to fill in a checkbox somewhere without actually doing anything...... "Why yes, our stalwart DC and UC teams have done XXX unit assessments, here are the forms. They are very busy out with the units" Personally, I would ignore it, what with generic e-mail and whatnot. If the UC (whatever that may be) wants to come and sit down and do an actual assessment, then engage

This pretty much cover it all....

That would depend on what you view as providing an engaging and challenging program. To be fully compliant with the G2SS is possible, but that is sort of like building something in a major city, yes you can conform to the 600 pages of building codes, but is that even something you want to do? Most of do the best we can and the goal is to safely bring home the youth in our charge

Not only G2SS but also the NEW AND IMPROVED YPT. Have any of you taken that yet? First what they present is valuable information and we as leaders should be aware and understand the potential issues. That being said, the new YPT veers heavily from "what to do" type training; if this happens do this, don't do this, etc to a very heavy and constant drumbeat of how much of a public health crisis that child exploitation is at this time. If I were a new parent volunteer, the tone of the training may make think twice, especially as the comments on being a mandatory reporter, etc As with the G2SS the YPT rules, while overall simple, can cause confusion. Most frequent is the two deep leadership and one on one contact. Two deep is required for an outing, that does not mean anytime a leader is around there has to be two of you. Same with one on one contact, you are at summer camp and come across one of your scouts walking to his next class. No reason you cannot walk with him and chat with him about camp (he is by himself as no other troop member is taking that class at that time)

I suspect they had Kool Aid by the truckload available Agree that the speak / tenor / attitude from National on down is that THIS change (the admitting girls) is the one that will really do it, this is what was needed. The FAMILY emphasis is the one that will be a challenge down the road. The law of unintended consequences. While signing up the whole family (Scouting for Dogs anyone??) may be great for the numbers, not sure of the impact to leadership and personal growth. If the youth and Family are so closely tied through 6 years (yes 6 years) of Cubbery, the move to what was traditional Boy Scouts will be quite a change. While the program elements and requirements are not changing (yet) likely in many units the delivery of that program will be substantively altered. Even now troops within the same are vary greatly. As Girl Troop and "Linked" (coed wink wink) Troop become active they will effect the landscape. LDS decision is the LDS decision. Possibly some LDS scouts will continue in non-LDS units but I am not versed in LDS family culture The old adage, follow the money. If you read and review the original Summit justification, there is no way that location can become self sustaining. From a High Adventure viewpoint the need and numbers were never there. Yes there may have been some waitlisting, but that is sort of like beach hotels on Memorial Day and the summer. Sure if you have a 200 unit building you could fill up a 600 unit building for some period, but for 9 months of the year you only need less than 100. Overall capacity was fine, there was some surge capacity that was a challenge. The financial woes of the BSA on the National level; Summit costs, bloated staff and salaries, underfunded pensions, insurance costs are where the real trouble is brewing for the future.

Agree - G2SS original intent is good, but this has evolved into nothing more than a Corporate BSA cover document. Very much like when you get a new lawnmover and it explain not to mow inside. Obviously someone at some point did that, so the legalese solution is to pretty much put the kitchen sink into the "Thou Shall Not" section and move the liability down the road

So - Looking at the G2SS Electronics are not mentioned in G2SS Phone is mentioned multiple times, no clarification or guidance except: No firm guidance from BSA

The electronics and phones are a challenge. You certainly want for the Scouts to engage with the unit and not be on their phone during meetings, outings, and summer camp. They can be a useful tool and are great for reviewing requirements, getting food costs, etc. For our troop the go to policy (actually more of a guideline) is we do not encourage or support phones and electronics on outings and meetings. If we see them during the meeting and event they will be secure for the Scout until the end of the meeting and event (would not want anything to happen to it). This can be a challenge and actually do not have great solution. So many parents want that instant access to their Scouts 24/7.