Jameson76

Interesting Op Ed piece by Sylvia Acevedo, a rocket scientist, entrepreneur, executive and lifelong Girl Scout, is CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA https://www.jsonline.com/story/opinion/2017/10/24/girls-star-in-girl-scouts-supporting-players-again-in-boy-scouts-sylvia-acevedo-column/790244001/ Some quotes - "We believe strongly in the importance of the safe, all-girl, girl-led and girl-friendly environment that Girl Scouts provides. " "At Girl Scouts, girls aren’t the ancillary tag-along or supporting player — they are the central character." "strong female role models s

We had a ghost troop at the camp I worked at, typically only heard it on weekends. We were doing the basic movement of tents, etc on a Saturday. We heard a troop swimming etc at the waterfront, walked down there, nothing. Many of us heard it over the years. You never saw anything, just voices, splashing, etc. On another note there was the the ghosts of dining hall pizza that came around later in the evenings after it was served, but that is another whole tale.

And you have summed up the issues, the Professional and Board Room of Scouting versus (sadly that is the case) the front line Scouters providing program at the unit level to the youth. - One group feels we needs Scouts so that money can be raised - One group feels we need to raise money so there can be programs delivered to Scouts

Do hope you are correct, but then I thought providing programs for boys was also an important part of the brand This will be entertaining, especially as they roll out the (soon to be shortlived) Girl only troops and the calendar works against some of them. In order to be "fair" and "inclusive" the 18th birthday will no doubt be on the table in order to work with and validate the prior underserved girls as the rush to the apparent real purpose of Scouts (Boy omitted by design) the Holy Grail of the Eagle Scout award (cue the trumpets)

My son was on staff at council summer camp, they designated levels for leaders (yes Helicopter leaders) and parents in the camp - Simple over involved oversight: Helicopter - More involved, checking on scout, asking questions on their behalf: Blackhawk - Even more involved, direct involvement during classes, scout is two steps behind: Chinook - Highest level, it's all about their scout, involves Camp Director in any perceived slight: Sea Stallion You could almost hear their eyes roll when one of these leaders/parents would take up residence in a program area

The Co-Ed question will become codified in policy in less than 3 years. In 2018 there will be Cubs with 3 options and 2019 there will be Girl Troops and Boy Troops. Then (put on your shocked face) there will be surveys and listening events and for the enhancement of the program ALL units will be co-ed. Perhaps this will be the line in the sand for some, those of us considered conditional. Also the Duty to God will be optional, can't offend anyone and the listening events showed that was not fully inclusive. No doubt there will be program changes on time requirements, camping, swimming,

That term came up as I discussed this, and my concerns, with our local SE. He said that if people chose to leave, or not donate, perhaps they were conditional scouters. I did not press that issue or comment. My position is that Scouting has changed (is changing) and it will be significant. Conditions have changed. Other parts of the conversation seemed to be that this is a good thing, we just need to listen and accept. Also delved into coed troops, Duty to God, changes to requirements and of course none of that is being considered, my counter to that was how can you say that with t

Be reminded, this is NOT about serving girls, or other altruistic pursuits. This is purely about numbers and fee paying participants and ultimately money. BSA is down in numbers and thus money to National. Each scout paid in 2017 $24 in annual membership fees, that is jumping to $33 for 2018. Much of that is driven by liability insurance, but also the BSA endowment fund drying up. 10 years ago that fund was at $350MM. Now it is at $160MM. Much of that is result of lawsuits and legal issues. Untold in all of this is the money that BSA National has poured into the Summit operat

We engaged with our local council as we had questions, as the old Radio Shack slogan went, "you've got questions, we've got blank stares" was in full force. Some of the questions we had went to what is next. Uniforms, Duty to God, Outdoor, family camping for Scouts, and the first answer was "No, none of that is changing" and we asked "How do you know if you claim to not have known about this?" Best engagement went when they advised "I think we can all agree that Girls and leadership is important and BSA can do yada yada". Our input was that no we may not all agree on that. We feel

Agree - @John-in-KC thank you for posting the video. https://livestream.c...ideos/164161163 That is the most revealing thing I have seen. Listen to the justification, listen to the comment "if you don't want controversy, just say no...can we grow another way, I just don't know". Listen to the arrogance. This was a done deal, short on specifics and how it might work, but who cares. Basically CSE Michael Surbaugh is out of ideas. This is the Hail Mary (in his mind) to grow. Obviously his compensation is tied to growth. If we see a bump, he gets a bonus, and walks away. He sees thi