Jameson76

Agree. When the UMC (and still is a charter issue lookin) challenge and with lack of direction from the council staff on recharter we assumed that the council ran / modeled the numbers and figured they could still be "Scouts" and maybe not worry about the pesky units out in the woods No need to worry the donors about such trivialities

Well, they did in fact try that, and it led to multiple membership scandals and the push for "inner city" scouting where they sign up youth in large groups and many do not even realize they are in the BSA Did not end well for the councils and some of the professionals.

Pretty sure my council is a 100 level, assuming that is the larger ones. SE base compensation is maybe $362K and total compensation is $622K. That's a bunch. 4 others over $100K Also the council now has 68 staff, but only 16 appear to be directly working with districts or Scouts (DE types). 16 DE types 12 Program specialists / Scoutreach 9 Development staff 4 Middle Management 4 Camp rangers 13 Admin 3 Executive 7 Marketing Really nice office that seems to be about 25% of the budget. They continue to run the operation like a business in the 80's. Top down management, very structured. There was an issue at summer camp, the exec team was on a call, then they had another call, then they asked the camp director what he wanted to do, then they deferred and sort of left it open. Nobody wants to make a decision, classic corporate problem solving. That is they don't actually solve it and put their name on a solution. No real leadership. The council advice and direction during covid was nothing. Massive marketing staff and not sure what they may actually be doing. They continue to be successful at raising money, but their support for troops is non-existent. They seem to be able to play on the memory and cache of the BSA and not showing what the current state of affairs may be. Hardest information to find is how many youth are being served in actual units. With the recent (and ongoing) rift with the UMC there has been no direction or input from the council. Cast of many and cares of none

Could start a whole thread on the way councils spend their money. It's not pretty. All volunteers should look at their council's 990 IRS form. Gotta scroll through the pages. One section details total compensation of any staff member over $100K, Can be interesting. Also the first page shows the income and expense. Then the expense is detailed. In our council boatloads of money spent on the office expenses and occupancy (literally 23% of expenses). When you see the compensation levels, then do the math, the whole "fair share" selling point for FOS is really what they need. In our council less than 25% of the staff are unit facing. The rest are management and overhead. Maybe if they tightened things up be more receptive to that. Personally, my money stays local in the troop. Not really convinced the council are great stewards of the money.

The Fingerprinter's Union lobby is a powerful group. They are always looking for new revenue streams. Govco is paying off it's supporters 😁

We do not register our aged out HS Senior Eagles / Scouts. Same as above, the YP issues are numerous and not worth the effort. Our unit does allow them to participate as a "leader" BUT, they must complete YPT, they cannot drive anyone else to an outing, they camp in the adult leader areas. It is what it is.

Seriously. 73 folks on the board?? You need a good sized table just to meet at, one that would be larger than the one at Biltmore Estate, that only seats 38

Not sure what vespers are (other than an evening prayer). Assume they are some sort of benches, worship area? Sounds like neither Scout has gotten a project proposal developed or approved. 2 possible options. 1 - Does the work entail enough that is could be two projects? If benches or a worship area, maybe one Scout does the front X rows and the other Scout expands the project and does the back X rows? 2 - First come first serve

Focus on adventure is the KEY That is what many do not really understand. If Scouts are having fun and adventure and if THAT is your focus, everything else works out. Our troop has a lot of Eagles. Statistically 40% - 45% of Scouts that join the troop, attain the rank of Eagle. Why? Because they remain active, go on outings, and for lack of a better word, chip away at Eagle over the years and 4 to 5 summer camp weeks and other Troop activities. Many times we sit down with the 16 year old Life and assist with their plan. They are sometime surprised at how far along they are. Most still need Personal Mgt, Family Life, Cit in the Community, plus the project. Key take away is Eagle is not the goal, fun and adventure is the goal. Our high Eagle count is the result of good outdoor program that Scouts want to be participate in. No advancement outings, no push for MBU, etc. We do not burn out Scouts at 8th grade but provide them with good stuff, high adventure trips, challenging outings, and a leadership rolls.

Sadly I recall the Improved Scouting Program. Lived it and watched troops get smaller and go away. I got my Eagle right before the ISP was put in place. No new ISP for me. You had to file paperwork by 12/31/73. Couple of years later while on camp staff, council Philmont, etc there were definitely two groups of Eagles. Those of us "Old" requirement Eagles and those that were "New" requirement Eagles. There was cache to wear the old Eagle patch as opposed to the new groovy one they put out in 74 Those who think the Scouts (and I was one) don't really care about the rigor of the requirements are really off base. YOUR adventure, YOU working with peers, YOU making things happen, YOU realizing mistakes and how to correct...That's what Scouting is. Certainly not hanging out on a community college campus on a Saturday at an MBU.

We continue with dodgeball (or extreme catch) and vegetable cannons. But we're sort of rogue sometimes

Remember, the G2SS is written and updated by lawyers, professional staff, and volunteers who have not been involved at the actual unit level for many many (if ever) years. The goal of G2SS is not actual safety, but legal mitigation. Most of it is common sense, but many of the details are at best mind numbing. The wizards of the G2SS do not understand the patrol method and the promise of Scouting (Scouts BSA at least) is to have youth leading and handling their own adventures, being independent, being responsible. If it was up to the G2SS folks the whole thing would be Family Camping, no youth allowed without the adult partner, thus moving any risk away from BSA. The current track of the BSA seems to be focused on Cub Scouts and the Family camping. Also to make Scouts BSA more book centered, less outdoor adventure and make sure each Scout has a caretaker. If they can figure a way to do away with the Scout troops out doing risky things in the wilderness, that is the path forward.

We had a leader who got beaded (is that a verb??) at a regular meeting. Supposedly was going to be a 5 minute portion of the meeting. Actually was about 45 minutes. To our Scouts credit they sat through it. Bets comment was one of our leaders who stage voiced to the other guys in the back "this is why I never want to go to WB" At the end of the day it is training. There are many things in Scouts that take at least as much (or more) time commitment as WB. This is ADULT training, and should be awarded, if wanted, in a setting where those that can appreciate it are in attendance. Saw one going on at a the local camp one weekend where it was other WB disciples and they were beading folks. Keep it in-house.

This is in fact a serious question. If Non Binary is an umbrella term for gender identities that are neither male nor female‍; identities that are outside the gender binary, how could they also be gay as they do not identify as male of female? Just curious as I would think they would identify as one (gay) or the other (non-binary).

A good bit of "document and discuss" "research" "consider". Very much a classroom exercise Requirement 6 will be interesting: Interesting it could be a Scout With your parent’s or guardian’s approval, connect with another Scout or youth your own age who has an identity that’s different from yours. (This means a trait, belief, or characteristic different from you.) Requirement 7 could be also interesting. The historical figure will be the path many will choose Identify and interview an individual in your community, school, and/or Scouting who has had a significant positive impact in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. If you feel your community, school, or local Scouting group does not have such an individual, then research a historical figure who meets these criteria,and discuss that person with your counselor

"Some requirements may need parents permission" Oh...do tell..

So....like next month??

Great - another sit in a class and try to stay awake merit badge. Boy Scouts, in order to differentiate the program in the market place, needs to be action and activity oriented, not more schooling. News flash, there is a ton of sit in class stuff available to youth these days. As has been noted, better solution would have been to work some changes in to the EXISTING Citizenship MB's and move on

Some observations (Similar to what others have noted) - BSA National laid off tons of staff and continues to eliminate actual program facing staff, but they are going to add staff for DEI. Assuming basic expected pay and benefits this will be likely over $3 MM annually in expenses - Note that there are 5 workforce resource groups. I guess if you are disabled, indigenous persons, or white you are pretty much not welcomed. Interesting that the DEI head would support exclusionary and segregated groups within the workforce. I guess my definition of inclusion must be different

If asked we advise that BSA National is in litigation, the landscape is fluid. There were abuses in the past and BSA continues to strive to correct. Locally with our unit, to our knowledge, there are not any cases. The goal is to keep it that way and be aware that not being aware can lead to problems. On YPT out unit does adhere to the standards and all leaders understand the why of the standards. If someone is meeting with a Scout prior to a meeting for some reason, we have another leader there and the meeting is out in the open. After the troop meeting we always have 2 leaders stay until all Scouts are picked up. Same for outings. For outings leaders camp a distance from youth, when we wander the site to check on things, usually it is two of us. For communications we attempt to include others, challenge is on e-mails most youth have no idea how to Reply all. Easier with text. Our Social Media platforms are open, no tagging, and any comments are public as are any questions. Multiple leaders have admin access. We have the families review the pamphlet in the Scout handbook and advise they have covered this with their Scouts.

It means someone spilled a cocktail in the server room Smoke, sparks, general mayhem, weird red x's appearing in the lower right corner, the forum is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions, Old Testament real wrath-of-God type stuff; Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling; Forty years of darkness. Earthquakes, volcanoes…The dead rising from the grave; Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together – mass hysteria.

We sometimes have the conversation with our Scouts "Why do we camp in the rain?" Their first responses are we're dumb, we can't read the weather maps, etc etc. The discussion leads to that if you are planning to have an outing, and if you wait for all the conditions to be perfect, you will likely never leave the porch. It is sort of like that in life; not the perfect time to attend that school, not the best time to start that business, maybe a better time to take that job, make that investment, marry that spouse, take that trip; etc etc. Rather than look for reasons NOT do something, look for reason TO DO something. It may not be perfect, you may have to change or update plans, but action is better than no action. At the end of the day, you may end up camping in the rain (or snow, or heat, or ice)...and having a great and memorable time.

There was a call this week for our council area on UMC and Scouting. To say that the input was muddled would be kind. UMC has very real concerns and will not commit to anything until there is clarity from the BSA. The BSA, at least locally, has no real plan. Maybe units go find another CO, maybe not, maybe it will work out, whatever. Sad truth is, at least in our council, the concern for the actual units that are doing Scouting does not exist. Our feeling is they would be fine if we all just faded away, they could run the Scout units in the inner city neighborhoods (which are good thing and service that area), with the hired leaders (Scouting Program Specialist) and drive on. They can still raise money, still have Scouts, but don't have to worry about the pesky troops out in the woods. Do you have Scouts to be able to raise money OR do you raise money to have Scouts? In our council it is definitely option 1. Looks good on paper When asked about what our next steps for recharter, no real input. Maybe don't have any outings in January until this shakes out. What a joke

I fixed that for you Lions and Tigers...oh my

Boypower 76 - Heralded by CSE Alden Barber. Big old Crash and Burn. The resignation is sort of underscored in the following article snippet. Left the profession "to pursue other interests" The plan was for 1/3 of all boys to be in Scouting by the Bicentennial (1976). This led to widespread phantom units. The epicenter was Chicago, but the impact was in all councils.. Took many years to shake out. Sort of rinse lather and repeat with Scouting for Life issues in the Early 2000's In October 1967, he was appointed by the BSA National Executive Board as Chief Scout Executive. During his tenure, there was a strong membership development emphasis called "Boypower 76" which stressed the goal of reaching a representative one third of all boys in the country by serving more minority youth and urban youth. He worked with volunteers and staff to reshape program elements for the core Boy Scouting program during a major 1972 revision. These major changes included a completely new Scout Handbook, complete revision for Boy Scout rank advancement requirements, addition of "skill awards", and multiple uniform options (including the introduction of the visor cap and beret). Some of the program changes were well received, but other changes, particularly those that emphasized urban activities over camping and out-of-town trips, were criticized. He resigned his position before the normal retirement age, due in part to BSA experiencing membership declines and internal issues.