Thunderbird

3 hours ago, MattR said:

I'd say training. Think of all the most fun scouting activities and most of them require specialized, certified trainers. Aquatics, shooting, climbing .... Our most important goal is getting scouts to take care of themselves. That's what makes scouting unique to all other youth activities. Shouldn't it involve learning the best ways to reach that goal? I don't want to start another WB argument so let's call it Scouter's Peak, where adults are taught how to develop youth. Not SM specific training, which is really an introduction to scouts. Not woodbadge, which is trying to teach adults how to lead. But something to teach adults how to develop the youth. i.e., give us the tools to reach our aims. Spend an entire day on the nuts and bolts of patrol method. A day for the rest of the methods as well as turning any skill development into a game. A day or two using those skills to learn more in-depth outdoor skills. A day for developing high adventure trips. This is what I thought, or hoped, WB would be.

I'm going to help teach IOLS this weekend. The I stands for Introduction. There should be training for that one person in a troop that really want to excel at these skills. They will be the ones that develop the scout's skills. How to do it. How to teach it. How to make it fun. How to encourage using it. I have an hour to do all the knife and axe skills for both Baloo and Scouts. It's going to be a very brief introduction. "This is what it looks like. If you want to learn more, please call me."

As for policies, I have no qualms with saying your scouts can't do anything on their own if you don't have an adult that is fully trained.

Are you teaching IOLS and BALOO together?

Boys' Life online:

https://boyslife.org/

9 minutes ago, Cleveland Rocks said:

Merit Badge counselor registrations have always been no charge. There are no fees to pay out of a unit's budget for a Merit Badge Counselor registration, because they are considered district-level positions, not unit-level positions.

Merit Badge Counselor (position code 42 on the application), Unit Scouter Reserve (code 91) and College Scouter Reserve (code 92) are all no-fee registrations.

Merit Badge Counselors, Nova Counselors, and Supernova Mentors are all no fee positions.

Unit Scouter Reserve and Unit College Scouter Reserve adults do have to pay a fee at the unit level.  Executive Officer is a no fee position at the unit level.

Summer camp where I am at is around $400 per Scout.  The cost for adults varies, but can be around $275 per adult.

Scouting Wire: BSA Membership Fee Increase Details and FAQ

https://scoutingwire.org/bsa-membership-fee-increase-details-and-faq/

The unit recharter fee is kind of hidden in the FAQ section:

Q:     Does this apply to youth members and volunteers?
A:     Yes, the new fees apply for youth and adult members. Effective January 1, 2020, the new fees are:

• $60 for youth members in Cub Scouts, Scouts BSA, Venturing and Sea Scouts,
• $36 for youth members in Exploring, and
• $36 for adult members (includes cost of background check and Scouting Magazine)
• $60 for unit charter fees

Just now, MikeS72 said:

Unless I am mistaken, there was already a re-charter fee for the unit of $40.

Yes, I just looked up our recharter documents from last year, and there was a $40 Unit Liability Insurance Fee.

So is there also a recharter fee of $60 per unit?  Is this new / different?

I did not see this mentioned in the communication from my council.

2 minutes ago, MikeS72 said:

That is likely where your $24 goes.  We can spend quite a bit of money at CoH time, particularly after summer camp, when the number of merit badges earned can be significant.

Each merit badge your scout earns is $2.49, each rank patch is $1.99, we also give parent rank pins which are $2.49.  Position patches are $2.99.  It adds up quickly.

And every rank and merit badge also has a pocket certificate.  Plus, there are blue cards, etc.

OK, I see that my council has posted the info. to the council website.

@Jameson76  Did they post it on a BSA website?  Or send it out via e-mail?  I have not received anything yet.

Has the national BSA (not Circle 10) posted the new fees yet?

3 minutes ago, MattR said:

Just a guess, but maybe the Circle 10 council is a long way from the sea? Like in the panhandle?

 

LOL!  Circle 10 does have some Sea Scout ships, though.  Here is an article about one:

https://seascout.org/news/2015-national-flagship-named/

4 hours ago, swilliams said:

Unfortunately, no.  Because we don't use Scoutbook (we use Troopmaster), I can only view items on Scoutbook.  The good thing is that the MC for the COH is a super bright kid who understood my instructions to ignore the merit badges with an 'R' next to them when creating the program, and add in the list of merit badges and awards I emailed him last night.

My daughter asked me this morning if fixing the BSA software would be considered an Eagle project.    The project of the century, haha. 

OK.  I use both Troopmaster and Scoutbook without any problems.  It does make for double-entry, though.  We are not a large troop, so it's usually not a problem (except after summer camp  LOL).  If you are able to access things in Internet Advancement (when it works), then you should also be able to access your troop in Scoutbook as a Troop Admin.

22 minutes ago, mashmaster said:

Sea Scouts are free?

They probably forgot that Sea Scouting is a separate program from Venturing.

1 hour ago, swilliams said:

AGAIN!  The software is doing it again. I can’t even.  I work 50+ hours a week. I don’t have time for this nonsense. 

On top of that, all of the merit badges listed in the file from our last COH have disappeared. I double- checked in June, after uploading the file, and everything seemed fine. I can only see which merit badges a scout has from the Scoutbook site. IA won’t load the scouts’ approved/pending/started info. 

So o now I can’t update flags in Troopmaster, and can’t manually enter the missing merit badges. What a mess (which is not what I really want to call it).

Are you able to put the items in using Scoutbook?  Scoutbook seems more reliable (overall) than Internet Advancement.

If it jumps from $33 to $100, I see a lot of folks dropping.  Lots of families (and units) simply cannot handle that much of an increase.

Battery operated "candles" might be an option, although they would pretty much need to be turned on at the beginning of the ceremony (the Scouts wouldn't have the fun part of lighting the candles).

Another version I have seen is where each Scout has his or her own candle (like a votive candle).  And as the Scout earns a new rank, the Scout moves his / her candle up a ladder (each ladder rung represents a rank).

A very simple candle candelabra could be made out of a small log kind of like this:

I think they no longer sell the Troop Resources Book (or maybe they sell it under a different name) at Scout shops.  It looks like they put at least some of it online at:

BSA Troop Program Resources
https://troopresources.scouting.org

Troop Courts of Honor
https://troopresources.scouting.org/troop-courts-of-honor/

There are a bunch of scripts online.  One word of caution: a lot of scripts have old / outdated information in them (for example: some scripts still have the "First Class-First Year" concept in them, but FCFY no longer matches up with the current Scout Handbook.  JMO, I think it would be better to just say that Scouts advance at their own pace and not include a timeframe.)

I agree with @Eagle94-A1 , have the SPL assign a Scout to do research and maybe also be the Scout in charge of the court of honor.  This Scout could use this as an opportunity to complete Communication MB requirement #8.  You could assign an adults to serve as coach (Advancement Chair, Communication MBC, ASM, or whoever you think is appropriate).

Some things the Scout / PLC might want to consider:

• Do they want refreshments?  If so, what kind?  Before / after the COH?
• Do they want a slide show?  If so, what kind? (pictures of what the troop has done since the last COH or over the past year.  Or slideshows of what the badges / ranks look like.)
• Do they want a ceremony involving candles?  (I have seen a few different ceremonies with candles.  Sometimes a candle represents each rank, or each point of the Scout Law, or one candle for each Scout as the Scout moves up in ranks.  Lots of variations here if this is something they want to do.)
• How long do they want the COH to last?

3 hours ago, qwazse said:

Taking a 1st Aid Course now. The EMT and nurse teaching it swears by q-tips dipped in dishwashing liquid for tick removal.

How does this work?  Does the tick suffocate or something?

I am sure that the rule is all about insurance and risk mitigation.  If someone is helping a Scout on an Eagle service project and gets hurt, then they could sue the BSA.  It doesn't matter if the person who gets hurt is a member of the BSA or not.

The Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook (screenshot below) and the Guide to Advancement both say that Eagle Scout projects are Scouting activities and all Guide to Safe Scouting rules apply (including YPT, two-deep leadership, etc.).
 

This is really good, but I would say that 1. and 2. really need to go together.  Maybe you want to start a boy / girl / co-ed unit (pick one) and you find a chartering organization.  But then you find out that they want to sponsor a boy / girl / co-ed unit (something different than what you were hoping to form), then there could be some issues that might need to be worked out.  Ultimately, the chartering organization "owns" the unit, so they get to choose.  But if you want something in particular, it's best to be up front about it and hopefully the chartering organization wants the same thing (or else you need to keep looking).

Most of the time, just setting them out to air dry for a couple days is good enough.

For tech fabrics, I wash in the washing machine using a detergent called HEX Performance.  Then I put in the dryer using the no heat / air dry setting with a tennis ball or two to fluff it up again.  Afterwards, can hang it up for a couple days to make sure it is completely dry before putting it away.

10 hours ago, RichardB said:

To the best of my knowledge there has been no policy change related to Cub camping.   Cub "overnight" camping by program design is limited to Council Organized Family Camps OR Pack Overnighters (At Council appraised and designated locations).    

BALOO training covers this.    There is a requirement for BALOO trained leaders on Cub campouts.   Have you been to BALOO?  Did the course follow the syllabus?  

Webelos may camp as a den outside the Pack structure.    If the Scouts BSA Camporee is being run / conducted as designed, it would not be age appropriate for Cubs to do anything but observe.  Again, this is not a change.     

Source:   https://www.scouting.org/health-and-safety/gss/gss03/ - which has been previously linked but you all might wish to review again.   

Please do not put yourself or youth at risk.   

RichardB

 

@RichardB  Are pack overnighters limited to one night at a time (example: Saturday-Sunday)?  Or can they be two nights (Friday-Sunday)?

This is where people are confused.

They have also made the Program Features for Troops and Crews (volumes 1-3) available online here:

https://troopleader.scouting.org/program-features/

They include troop meeting plans and ideas.