yknot

That's a perception issue that the child sexual abuse history has obscured: public perceptions of overall competence and program safety is not great. For example, this summer, some camps were desperately advertising for volunteers at their shooting ranges by stating 'no training needed, we'll train you'. Did not instill confidence in the program overall no matter how good the RSO might have been.

Kid fundraising is indeed out of control and I have also become increasingly sensitive to the financial and time challenges faced by some families. There is a lot of free stuff out there and sometimes it helps to get off the unit/district/roundtable/council/BSA bandwagon/herd and scout around for random stuff you can find on your own. I don't know what level you are, cubs or troop, but there is a 4th grade free national parks pass that can be used to get 4th graders and several family members into most national properties, not just parks, for free. Many YMCA's offer free year long trial member

Parenting methods have changed a lot in the past decade or so but the pandemic didn't help and many of these parents who were juggling kids and working at home short circuited right alongside the kids to some degree. That's not an excuse, but it is another challenge. A little household destruction was considered the price of staying employed while parents locked themselves in the closet for zoom meetings. Normally in scout led you would let scouts come up with the meeting programing but in this case I might try to actively schedule some cool things and speakers to hold their attention for aw

The pandemic has had a noticeable effect on child development and what might have been reasonable expectations before are not at present for some of these kids. There has been a lot of discussion about this in the educational community because teachers are continuing to deal with it in the classroom and that would be a good place to look. In general, these kids need more social intervention, not less, so suspension might not be productive. Expecting peers to be able to manage this along old youth led models also may not be productive because they are experiencng some of the same deficits. From

I'm not kidding. All the scouting images are of his stunt double except for the weenie roast with Odie. He did that one because there was food.

I don't think it's out there I think some councils already do a version of that type of thing. One of the ones here runs short session summer camps that seem to rotate around the council at different park facilities for a week at a time. I don't think councils are going to have the wherewithal to buy property, I think they are going to have to look for partnerships and facility usage agreements. I think the traditional chartering organization model is dying and councils are going to fulfill more of that role without investing in real estate.

I think owning and managing a site would be difficult today for most units. There are a couple former scout "huts" in my area that are either nonfunctional or in other hands with some continued scout access. We had a lot of luck working with private land trusts or municipalities to gain camping sites and access. We were also to develop relationships to use several private camps for local off season camping. We camped several times midweek when our school districts had random days off for professional development, parent conferences, etc.

Just so you know, I interviewed Garfield and he was only in scouting for the lasagna.

I'm glad to see this because he's largely been a cipher after more than 6 months in the role. He said more changes are coming and if so that's good and I'll take him at his word.

I'm not sure BSA did that directly but since University of Colorado Boulder is one of the leading universities concerned with NA issues it's an appropriate place to hold NOAC but an unlikely place to host AIA type events. UCB's NA center basically led the fight with the NFL to change team names.

Anyone know what that means? Was that anticipated when the trust was established?

Scouting is only a bargain when other people volunteer.

Costs and relative value for any youth activity are pretty dependent on where you are, what kind of council and unit you are in, and how involved your scout and family want to be in it. You can spend thousands on a couple seasons of a travel sport; you can spend thousands on a HA trip or jambo type events. One of the initial sticker shock problems with scouting is that there is no gradual on ramp; you pretty much pay the same to try it out as a cub scout as you do to rejoin as a seasoned troop level scout. That's not the case with most other youth activities geared for the elementary level age

You're welcome. Migration is often thought of as a daytime event, which it is for many species, especially the very visible raptors, or because of what is seen during local fallouts and daytime feeder visits. Songbird migration, though, at least on the wing, is largely a nighttime phenomenon. Hopefully things like Birdcast will help build an appreciation for what is overhead on many nights in the spring and fall. The recent full moons in the northeast have been great for showing this to kids.

If we're talking biggest impact on migratory songbird species overall, it's habitat loss, degradation, and human intrusion up and down their flyways, migration routes, and at breeding and wintering sites. Migration as a species survival mechanism is struggling to navigate the modern world. All these things play into that. Don't get me started on turbines...

Thank you. Nice piece. Lots of stuff gets blown around this time of year. Glad to hear of some things making it back on course. This article noted nocturnal migration. For anyone who isn't aware of Birdcast, this is a second/third generation radar mapping resource run by Cornell and Colorado. It tracks noctural songbird migration and weather begining about three hours after sunset during peak periods, like now, and is a great visual to use for kids--kind of like Norad's Santa tracker for the little guys except it's real. If the forecast is good and there is a bit of a moon, have them aim

Many of our oaks apparently didn't cross pollinate this year due to weather conditions earilier in the year. Sterile acorn husks started dropping over the summer and we're getting' next to nuttin' now...

I believe it's fairly amorphous right now. My understanding is that it is part of the settlement, but no real description was given or any kind of timeline. It could start to materialize in one year or ten from what I read. Would be interested to know if anyone else has more complete information. if it's limited to convictions, it will be pretty useless.

Are you sure about that? I know the Narragansett tribe once did.

At least the land will not fall to development and should still have public access.

It's seems like its been pretty standard in most places for a long time. Edit: In fact I would say in general a lot of security measures have been very robust in schools and other youth settings, such as security cameras, the presence of LEOs, adults and staff also having to wear photo ID badges, anonymous threat reporting systems, etc.

Things don't always show up on background checks. Parental searches have turned up convictions, charges, and headlines that have resulted in people being removed from kid facing roles despite having passed recent checks. I don't know what to make of that except maybe one of the youth protection guidelines should be for parents to also do searches. People who repeatedly slide out of accusations reported in headlines without charges or convictions should be a red flag but not sure if they are picked up on these checks.

I've volunteered in several youth organizations and the only thing I've had to pay for was $12 for fingerprinting to be a coach and then an overnight chaperone. In return, I've gotten discount fees for my kids, free food, and had things like identifying shirts provided free or at a discount. I'm not aware of anything BSA does. Some units, if they have the money, pay for their key adult registrations but that is not something that the national BSA has a provision for.

Presenting a driver's license in order to gain access to areas that kids are in, for example a school, has been SOP in a lot of places for a long time. As an adult overnight chaperone, I have had to wear a photo ID lanyard and present a DL whenever accessing areas where kids were present. I imagine for someone like Johnson, coming from mainstream law enforcement, that would have seemed like an eggs and toast issue.

Most kids today have plenty of opportunities to speak to and interact with unrelated adults. It's no longer a scenario or a role that is that unique to scouting. In the school setting and beyond, they are taught to self advocate from early ages. It might not matter that much if the associated costs wind up shifting it to being more of an in-unit role. Many units already do this with the Eagle required badges. I'm not sure, in today's liability environment, whether trying to maintain an unregulated extra-BSA corps of MBCs is worth the risk anyway.