As a father to a new cub scout (Tiger) I would like to weigh in on this topic. As an outsider's view, I see the Den Leaders as the backbone of our pack. We have a medium ish sized pack of 80+ scouts. I feel we as a pack are asking a lot for the den leaders to shoulder. I have recently been accepted onto our committee as the Outdoor Activities Director. I could never imagine planning any programming or events without the advise of the Den Leaders. However, the committee meeting is a place to conduct pack business not to conduct den meeting programming and planning. We do have den leaders as part of our committee, but they have separate roles during the meeting and representing the committee to the pack. A clear written out structure and job duties/responsibilities goes a long way to help ease the confusion of Committee/versus Den. At least it has for me. This model probably could not work for every pack, since much smaller packs will have to adapt to lack of adult volunteers. Much larger packs, need to and should be ran more like a business, as far as structure goes. The BSA guidelines for committees is just that a guideline, and can be adapted to fit your packs needs. Our pack is going through major leadership change due to aging out of scouts, and the parents want to move with them to the troop. So far as I can tell we are on the right path, its just taking some time to get up to speed. Bright things appear on the horizon!!
Who Should Attend Committee Meetings
in Cub Scouts
Posted
Greetings,
As a father to a new cub scout (Tiger) I would like to weigh in on this topic. As an outsider's view, I see the Den Leaders as the backbone of our pack. We have a medium ish sized pack of 80+ scouts. I feel we as a pack are asking a lot for the den leaders to shoulder. I have recently been accepted onto our committee as the Outdoor Activities Director. I could never imagine planning any programming or events without the advise of the Den Leaders. However, the committee meeting is a place to conduct pack business not to conduct den meeting programming and planning. We do have den leaders as part of our committee, but they have separate roles during the meeting and representing the committee to the pack. A clear written out structure and job duties/responsibilities goes a long way to help ease the confusion of Committee/versus Den. At least it has for me. This model probably could not work for every pack, since much smaller packs will have to adapt to lack of adult volunteers. Much larger packs, need to and should be ran more like a business, as far as structure goes. The BSA guidelines for committees is just that a guideline, and can be adapted to fit your packs needs. Our pack is going through major leadership change due to aging out of scouts, and the parents want to move with them to the troop. So far as I can tell we are on the right path, its just taking some time to get up to speed. Bright things appear on the horizon!!