Jameson76

2 hours ago, Owls_are_cool said:

We (the Key 3) meet with a unit commissioner yearly and identify areas where my troop needs to improve (maybe needs more focus?). This document points to this meeting a bit. I find this meeting benefits myself and my troop. 

2 hours ago, John-in-KC said:

This implies the Council has enough Commissioners to support this course of action.

One reason I ceased registering as a Scouter/commish was … wait for it … metric management.   I was not about to force my units to do lean six sigma data input. 

 

You guys seriously meet with commissioners? Unless there are pics, gonna call that "unproven"

We are in a large council and they seem to have professional staff all over the place (at least 5 in marketing and untold number in "development")  On paper there seem to be Commissioners; Council, assist Council. asst to the regional manager commissioner, Commissioner colleges, commissioner meetings, etc etc.  They seem to have commissioner gathering at times.

In our District on the calendar there is a monthly commissioner meeting.

In 40 years as a leader in 4 different councils, 5 different troops I have met a commissioner once.  With my current troop over the last 14 years never seen one.  Concept is great, reality is much different.

7 hours ago, RememberSchiff said:

I cannot remember the last time a present or former BSA president/CSE/CEO spoke directly about our program on network TV or to us for that matter.

 

No BSA President ever seems to speak, or be the driver for the program.  Same at the Council level.  Overall BSA Marketing is non-existent.  The very few efforts seem to be aimed at I am not sure.  They are not trying to excite young people to join, they do not seemed to be aimed at parents to entice to get their kids involved.

13 hours ago, CynicalScouter said:

Membership  Levels  –  Membership  levels  are  assumed  to  decrease  in  2021  by  13%, primarily due to the impact of COVID-19 on programing, but are forecasted to stabilize between  2023  to  2024  and  achieve  modest  growth  in  2024  and  2025  driven  by  the following factors:

This reminds me of every sales forecast meeting I have ever attended.  Yes, sales this year are down or flat, but in 4 to 5 years they will increase.  Skip forward 4 to 5 years and they basically just change the dates and use the same data and slides again.

To assume there will be modest growth in 4 to 5 years, when there has been a steady decline in membership for 40 years is at best a fantasy.  There has NOT been a concrete plan presented to change the trajectory, and my thoughts are that "increase membership fees" and "increase the burden on volunteers" is not a winning strategy.

23 hours ago, yknot said:

It depends on who is asking. HIPAA only applies in the healthcare setting and it merely protects against providers sharing your medical records against your will. An employer, school, business, or anyone who isn't affiliated with those entities can legally ask your vaccine status. They as of now can't mandate it, but they can make decisions based on whatever information you supply on whether or not they want to hire, serve, or admit you. In other threads it has been discussed that while BSA may not require a vaccine for scouting participation, a CO certainly can based on what they think their liability risks or even just unique levels of concern are. 

 

Sort of kind of - but there is the privacy rule.  It is specific but also broad.  Not sure a unit would want to go down the road of requiring something and requiring proof of said something.  Not 100% sure how this would apply to a Scout unit and I going to bet a CO would not want to have to find out

HIPAA Privacy Rule
The Privacy Rule standards address the use and disclosure of individuals’ health information (known as “protected health information”) by entities subject to the Privacy Rule. These individuals and organizations are called “covered entities.” The Privacy Rule also contains standards for individuals’ rights to understand and control how their health information is used. A major goal of the Privacy Rule is to ensure that individuals’ health information is properly protected while allowing the flow of health information needed to provide and promote high quality health care and to protect the public’s health and well-being. The Privacy Rule strikes a balance that permits important uses of information while protecting the privacy of people who seek care and healing.

Covered Entities
The following types of individuals and organizations are subject to the Privacy Rule and considered covered entities:

Healthcare providers: Every healthcare provider, regardless of size of practice, who electronically transmits health information in connection with certain transactions. These transactions include claims, benefit eligibility inquiries, referral authorization requests, and other transactions for which HHS has established standards under the HIPAA Transactions Rule.

Health plans: Entities that provide or pay the cost of medical care. Health plans include health, dental, vision, and prescription drug insurers; health maintenance organizations (HMOs); Medicare, Medicaid, Medicare+Choice, and Medicare supplement insurers; and long-term care insurers (excluding nursing home fixed-indemnity policies). Health plans also include employer-sponsored group health plans, government- and church-sponsored health plans, and multi-employer health plans.

Exception: A group health plan with fewer than 50 participants that is administered solely by the employer that established and maintains the plan is not a covered entity.

Healthcare clearinghouses: Entities that process nonstandard information they receive from another entity into a standard (i.e., standard format or data content), or vice versa. In most instances, healthcare clearinghouses will receive individually identifiable health information only when they are providing these processing services to a health plan or healthcare provider as a business associate.
Business associates: A person or organization (other than a member of a covered entity’s workforce) using or disclosing individually identifiable health information to perform or provide functions, activities, or services for a covered entity. These functions, activities, or services include claims processing, data analysis, utilization review, and billing.

2 hours ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

I had never heard of troops taking the summer off until I moved to NC. That's when I encountered my first troop that took a summer break except for summer camp and high adventure. No meetings, activities, other camp outs occur during the summer. IT BLEW MY MIND! (emphasis) Troop I grew up in not only met year-round,  but summer was when we were more active because we didn't have to deal with school.

As for being inactive for 3 months and it counts, I do not like it one bit.

We have tried to have meetings in the summer, but with local swim teams in June, vacations, holidays, other camps, etc etc it just did not work.  We are somewhat active in the summer with week long camps in June and July.  We have meetings prior to the camps and do HA each year.  

Basically from the end of school (Memorial Day) to First week of August (when school starts) we do not have regular meetings.  

For reference our troop has +/- 60 registered Scouts and +/- 20 leaders

We restarted out troop activities in July of 2020 holding our own weeklong summer camp.  35 Scouts and Leaders, we did not require masks, but you could wear one if wanted.  We were 100% outside, 1 Scout / Leader per tent, no carpooling.  

The troop started meeting in person in August, again 100% outside, at a park pavilion near the CO, masks not required.  Also we started outings in August and have since then had 8 outdoor events; aquatics, kayaking, backpacking, AOL / Webelos visit, Winter trip to coast, more backpacking, wide game, and a ropes course.  The unit averaged about 30 Scouts per event.  Again, all 100% outside and we have done carpooling but limited the number in cars, (no middle seats).  Again no masks required.  One scout per tent and no hammock stacking.

Our weekly meetings are 100% outside (we are in the south) and fortunately our troop even before the pandemic utilized a large outdoor meeting area behind the CO, so that part was easy.  If it rains we may call the meeting and do virtual.

While this is anecdotal, looking back over the last 10 months, to our knowledge, we have not had any transmissions or COVID issues.  Parents do sign a COVID release.  The troop is 100% outside.  

Each unit needs to do what is right for them and their Scouts and families.  We have been very clear to the families what we are doing and what our plans have been.  The potential transmission while outside is very low.

On 4/11/2021 at 10:12 AM, Rock Doc said:

This weekend, a local council held a merit badge college where scouts were able to earn the Cooking Merit Badge in half a day! Apparently they followed some "Nationally-sanctioned" program. Anyone heard of this?

We held our own summer camp last year (don't know if you heard but there was some sort of pandemic or somesuch) and I did the Cooking merit badge.  Prerequisite was the home cooking, or they did it after camp and we reviewed.  The class planned the meals, good discussion ensued.  Then we loaded up the Scouts and headed to the store, shopped for the goods from a list, looked at budgets, and secured the food.

They cooked some of the meals for the camp (35 Scouts and leaders).  For the backpacking part we looked at stoves we took a hike and cooked meals.  

There is a lot to cooking.  Just the discussions on jobs, meals, safety, etc can take a couple of hours.  The cooking and cleaning, getting feedback takes time.  It can be fun and not onerous, but it does take time.

12 minutes ago, gpurlee said:

(6) There has been a marked shift from 16 to 17 year old Eagles to 13 to 15 year old Eagle Scouts.  Eagle rank is seen more as a destination rather than a part of a longer journey in Scouting. Young people are encouraged to move onto the next achievement. At the same time, by achieving the rank of Eagle Scout at an earlier age, fewer Scouts are being thrown off course by jobs, cars, dating, etc.

Average age for Eagle Scouts is (I think) 17.2 years of age, and that has been fairly consistent

52 minutes ago, CynicalScouter said:

Every change always results in some people walking away. Allowing homosexual scouts. Allowing homosexual scout leaders. Allowing girls into Scouts, BSA and Cubs.

The question is how many?

What I suspect is: not that many,

 

Agree, likely not that many, but, how many times can there be not that many?  Sort of death by a thousand cuts?

At the end of the day, the BSA is an organization that "sells" the program to the "customers" who are adults and youth.  If a business puts in a change that may alienate some current customers, that is weighed against how many new customers will come and what will the net change to the customer base be.  Also will the change improve the profitability of the customer base, helping the health of the business.

Change and updates are inevitable and necessary.  How they are handled, communicated, and embraced is what defines the success of an organization.  The BSA track record is poor at best.  BoyPower Manpower in the 70's; Improved Scout Program in 74, reversed in 81; Flip Flopping on the homosexual acceptance that was handled poorly; Opening the program to girls, where the rollout was poor and survey justification thin to name a few.

Bottom line is membership, for many many reasons, is likely less than 1,000,000 youth members right now.  Official numbers show that from 2017 to 2020 (4 years) the membership of Cubs, Scouts, Ventures, and Explorers DROPPED 47%.  That is over 1,083,177 youth (and their families) no longer involved with the program.

Every action that BSA and the "High Level" volunteers take should be laser focused on how is that trend altered or changed.  Without that focus, the DEI Merit Badge rollout will be a moot point and if ever presented, it will be to an empty hall.

23 minutes ago, Eagledad said:

YPT is already doing as much as it can. I don't see how it can be more "It's mostly just some common place best practices coupled with some awareness of what to look for" than it already is. You don't even see this level of YPT in schools.. We just allowed fearmongers to have too much voice without enough defensive reasoning.

Barry

Agree.  I continue to state that the BSA's reason for being in business cannot be solely to protect youth.  It is vital and it is important.  YPT is a critical component and as you noted it needs to be common place best practices.  Our reason or "mission" is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.

We do this with experiential learning, a game with a purpose, letting them fail and letting them figure it out.  That is what we need to go to market with.  If our "Go To Market" is we provide youth protection, likely families will determine / decide that their kids can be safe or maybe safer by being at home.  Now we can state and cite statistics that may indicate that is not the case, but that will be the decision.

To get to the next chapter of the BSA movement the organization needs to clearly state WHY the BSA is around and WHY it is important and WHY youth can benefit.  That message cannot be YPT,  That is part of what and how we do programs, not the reason we do programs.

8 hours ago, Eagle1993 said:

Well, it should be easier to get our desired Treks at Philmont going forward.... assuming we still own it. 

Don't worry, there's always room at The Summit (do we capitalize The??).  It's on the books for $345 million...and a bargain at that no doubt 😀

8 hours ago, CynicalScouter said:

And this was just 2020 (first year of major LDS impact)

2021 charter year data (units rechartering in late fall 2020 to December 2020) is going to reflect the COVID hits and be a disaster.

I'm betting Cubs go below 1 million.

Cubs were at 649,284 for 2020

I'm sadly thinking overall BSA will be under 1 million

Not good update on the BSA Membership numbers

1 hour ago, The Latin Scot said:

WARNING - LONG POST. DO NOT ATTEMPT WITHOUT REGULAR INTERVALS FOR REST, NOURISHMENT, AND MILD PAINKILLERS. GET PLENTY OF EXERCIZE BEFORE READING.

A STORY OF WOE, WARNING, AND WEEPING

 

We had a WB beading ceremony (??) that was done at a troop meeting.  Ran, I kid you not, 45 minutes.  I too felt like we were hostages.   Most leaders input was "and that's why I will never go to WB"

1 hour ago, qwazse said:

Thanks for clipping the full text of the article. It's interesting to note that the reporters do not identify external pressures, such as NOW of NYC.

I continue to find it interesting that organizations, such as NOW, at various times called upon the BSA (as was an organization's free speech perogative) to open the membership to girls.  The press release article qwazse noted was headlined - "Boy Scouts of America Denies Equal Opportunity Access for Girls"

Yet, I am not able to find the same organizations, then or now, calling for the Girl Scouts to admit males.

Please do not perceive this observation as being against the inclusion of Girls into Cubs and Scouts, it is what it is and honestly has not effected our unit at all.  I hope the girls have great adventures and grow as youth in leadership and skills.  Just wonder why the obvious hypocrisy is not even mentioned in any way in the media.

I work with our Life Scouts.  They know who the SM is (title and name) but reference him only as Mr (name).  I refer to getting the CC signature, they say who it that, it's Mr CC.  Oh

Adult to Adult is first name.  Youth to adult is Mr (last name).  Agree with others, if I am conversing with a Scout and they need something from another leader, it's see Mr (last name)

If we're being smart alecky (which is often) it's title and first name - Scoutmaster Bob...ASM Pete

We ran our own summer camp and had monthly outings AUG through NOV.  Maybe average of 24 Scouts and 6 leaders per outing.  Did aquatics, kayaking, backpacking, and AOL visit.  We did have our annual 3 day Winter trip last weekend, to the swamp, visit to a National Seashore Island, and some other side trips.  We have been meeting outside since August, but we always met outside so no difference.  Been some challenge due to CO (church) being closed at times so went to park across the street.  They close at dark, so winter is iffy.

We have picked up some additional High School aged Scouts.  Basically we are the only group active.  The challenge may be the Cub packs and their activities.  We have tried to support but they have not been meeting and we have no idea how many we may get from crossover.

It is a struggle to keep things moving forward.

1 hour ago, CynicalScouter said:

IF this is accurate, the last time there was any kind of major overhaul was 1999? 1972?

http://usscouts.org/usscouts/eagle/EagleHistory.asp

 

1972 was the BIG change.  Many of the core badges (swimming / camping / cooking) were part of the group that could or could not be earned.  That was the change wherein one could become Eagle and not have camped at all and basically not have gone outside at all

9 minutes ago, mashmaster said:

When I ask scouts at their EBOR what merit badges they think are the most important ones it surprises me when they say Personal Management or the Citizenship MB's.  But this answer happens a lot.  I never get the answer of Swimming or Camping.

Maybe they have learned to give the expected answers, please the questioner.  I typically get they feel first aid, the shooting sports, climbing, and camping as important.

My hope would be (though not likely) is that they actually take one of 2 paths for this new set of requirements.  Whether one thinks the DEI initiative is a good thing or a bad thing, it is likely not going away.  BSA National has opened the door, so they will not be able to close that door

2 Hopeful Paths

• Restructure the Citizenship Merit Badges to include some new items.  Some of the DEI requirements could relate to community, nation, or world.
• Remove the Citizenship in the World MB from Eagle required and insert the (obviously reworked) DEI merit badge in it's place

Doubt that will happen, but it would be a good path

My thought is everyone read the floated proposed requirements and said WTH, this is worthless.  Must have been a lot of pushback. 

The language was suspect at best and agenda driven at worst.

They decided to punt.

3 hours ago, yknot said:

 

I think BSA does have something to answer for here regarding its real intentions on why it opened scouting to girls. 

If you recall Surbagh's Town Hall video, he as much admitted they (National gang) was pretty much out of ideas on how to add members to the program.  The adding girls was a hail Mary.  

In reality they did not want to do the hard work of figuring out why some units succeed and others fail, that would require maybe a real reflective look at the program.  Nope, it was the easy route they took "let's add girls".  Not saying it was a bad idea, just need to be honest on WHY.

10 hours ago, ParkMan said:

.....the BSA wants to get kids thinking about how they conduct themselves and in act in a country where different races, genders, sexual preferences, and gender identities are the norm.

I had one of my Scouts ask me about some of the musicians (that they all seem to listen to now) from the late 70's and 80's.  Specifically Bowie, Elton John, and Freddie Mercury.  Did we care they were bi or gay, was that an issue, what did we think of them.

My answer was that (and this sort of shocked them), they were more defined by their talent and what they actually did than their persona.  Did not recall if they were openly out or swinging at the time, but everyone sort of knew it, but we accepted that they were talented, that is what mattered.

I see the challenge today is that many are defining people NOT by their talents BUT more by their races, genders, sexual preferences, and gender identities.  It seems more important WHO you are and identify as than WHAT you can actually do.

We as a society seem to have gone backward to almost the days of who you were being defined by your family (replace family for whatever group(s) people may want to be identified as) and their place in society, not what YOU individually can do and bring to a group.