malraux

Yes, everyone has to recharter/renew every year. It would be nice if there were a better way to do that.

The new troop should have the list of current merit badge counselors. I would think that most MBC would accept previous work, especially in being understanding of the turmoil you're experience because of the shakeup.

Your son should talk with the scoutmaster about fixing this.

41 minutes ago, Jameson76 said:

It's a tough sell, but really.  Also if the discussion is membership and units, they all talk about how the year ended, adding girls, good growth..but no detail about how things shook out after recharter.

At least for my district/council, the paperwork is really due on feb 29th, so we don't have real numbers until then

Quote

I think rage about the actions of Ernest Thompson Seton and other early advocates for the American Indian is misplaced.  I do not, however, have a problem with Native Americans working for change when they see insensitive treatment of their culture and beliefs.  Many things have changed in the last one hundred-plus years.  We all may have seen things differently if we had been present then.  Just don’t recast the intentions of deeply honorable people or ask us to forget an important part of our heritage.

I would mostly agree with that. I'm less concerned with if those actions wrong way back when than I am with if we should reconsider what we do today or tomorrow. I also think theres a reasonable question to ask of if our current traditions are accomplishing their goal.

My scout shop has had them in stock. But that might just be a local thing. 

1 hour ago, Cburkhardt said:

What a day, and what a couple of years it is going to be as we go through this.

Yeah, I’d offer to buy my DE an unscout-like beverage for getting through today, but she’s expecting, so it’s probably maximally inappropriate. 

8 minutes ago, MattR said:

Well, that just stuck a pin in my friend's argument

It’s makes it less likely for the court to do so, but not impossible. I’m not a lawyer but my understanding is that the court is able to make pretty big changes if it feels it is justified. But even there, as I said, I would imagine the court might say to sell off one of the bases, but even then philmont would be the last. 

think of the current loan like this: it’s a way for one creditor to say dibs on a particular asset. Yes the court can say no but then has to also deal with that creditor arguing that they really should have dibs. 

29 minutes ago, ParkMan said:

I think Philmont will be interesting.  I believe it could very likely be a casualty here.  Let's face it - it's not essential to what we do.  Yes, it enriches the program for many, but it's not essential.

 

I would assume that philmont would be the last of the 4 to be sold off though.

On 2/15/2020 at 12:27 PM, Beccachap said:

I'm type A, extremely organized, introverted, and run a large metro Cub Scout Pack as Committee Chair (large for our district, but not large compared to rural areas). I run it because my kind, Eagle Scout, extroverted, procrastinating, mild mannered, and wildly optimistic husband is magnificent as a magical Cubmaster but significantly less magnificent with logistics.

Just one comment on this, because I've seen it go wrong a lot. You need to be really careful when immediate family members are two of the three in the key 3. (especially if you are also functioning as treasurer as well). A big part of have 3 different people in the key 3 is so that there is different perspectives and accountability.

Thats not to say you are doing a bad job, but it can be hard to take criticism of your choices as CM/CC (and there will be criticisms of you choices, and some will even be valid) as separate from criticisms of your family. Its something to be aware of and another reason to get another family involved in running the unit, though I do know how hard it is to get volunteers.

I suspect also that UC end up spending time on troubled units, but troubled units are kinda by definition the units that are going to be hardest to help. 

12 minutes ago, Beccachap said:

We've attempted this process a few times with months in between, but the process fails before it completes. Have you been able to get it to complete? If so, any tips?

I made friends with my registrar and de so paper works better for us. I’ve also learned that my council is less disfunctional than most. 

48 minutes ago, qwazse said:

fact, a lot of times they're fine left on the shelf 'cause sometimes you just need to go out with your uniform and a smile.

Points at uniform inspection sheet thread

20 minutes ago, Beccachap said:

transfer applications without using my council

As I recall, you can process transfer applications online, but you have to know the scout’s bsa member id. Most people don’t. 

5 minutes ago, desertrat77 said:

Hopefully things will rebound.  Units have long memories.

I’m coming in after some bad day camp years. It’s taking several year to rebuild and Cub Scout units are gonna have shorter memories than troops. 

8 hours ago, Beccachap said:

Also, what exactly is the value - if any - to a Commissioner?

I am curious about the answer to this. My unit doesn’t have one, so I have no idea what we are missing.

17 minutes ago, Eagledad said:

I know you asked Malraux, but I'm trying to understand your question. Doesn't the national structure mandate implementation of all the ages groups in every council? Are you suggesting councils be given a choice to structure units to fit the demographics?

Barry

I mean, not every council offers stem scouts as I understand it.

3 minutes ago, Cburkhardt said:

Malraux:  Do you think the national structure should have the authority to mandate that every aspect of Cub Scouts be implemented in every Council?  For example, should councils have the option to choose whether it will offer program to the youngest age-tier?

Probably national should be able to dictate that its offered, though I could see leaving the option to not offer it as part of a unit decision. I would kind of envision something like a structure wherein a pack has two elements in it (the younger and old elementary), in the same way that it seems like a lot of troops kinda have a venture crew around, though more formally. I'd be open to refinement though, as I suspect that it would take specific experimentation to find the right answer.

My scout shop still doesn't have the Scouts BSA Handbook for boys yet, (still just the old edition of the Boy Scout Handbook) so I guess no one can go buy a full uniform now

So I can mainly speak to the cub half of the program as we haven't hit the troop yet. (1 year to go for the first)

I would like cub scouts broken into two halves. I've mentioned this here before, so it should be familiar. Regardless, my idea would be that you have two different levels of K-2 grade youth and 3-5 grade youth. Make the K-2 level program more like the old tiger cub program, where you meet less frequently, have a few more guidelines on what you can do, etc. Then you move to a 3-5 grade program where you get a bit more freedom because you don't have to accommodate the K-2 aged kids, but also don't need the volunteer efforts quite as much.

This would simplify things quite a bit in some ways. First, uniforms and handbooks: you have a t-shirt for the k-2 program, and a single handbook. Then for the 3-5 program, the traditional blue (or just go with the tan for everything with blue loops), and a single book. The current thing where K has a uniform, 1-3 has a different uniform, and 4-5 is another one is kinda silly, along with a new necker and book every year.

I also think it would strengthen the program and support the adults as well. As I said, it would help to avoid overworking the volunteers for the youngest, which has a huge burnout rate. It should also help with youth burnout as well. For a kid who joins in kindergarten year, he will end up seeing a lot of the same program over and over for the 6 years. How many pinewood derby cars does one need anyway? You can do different things in the two age groups. (maybe we make rain gutter regatta the tradition of the k-2 and pwd the tradition of the 3-5.

1 hour ago, Jackdaws said:

But they would not medicate their son during the outings thus creating constant chaos in our troop even during the week at troop meetings(no evening booster dose).  I

One recommendation on this is to be clear with parents in advance that if a scout becomes a distraction or problem the parents will be called regardless of time or distance, so do they really want him on a medication holiday?

1 hour ago, RainShine said:

The other two affected fellows are highly functional but kind of hyperactive, personality disorder, "on the spectrum" type stuff. Everyone in the room is doing this activity, folding flags or lashing poles. The two of them are sword fighting with pencils or whatever.

Thats, obviously, AHDH type behavior, though of course it could be something else that just looks like adhd. Do you know if either of them have a DX, and as importantly are they normally taking medication to help manage such behaviors? There are ways to encourage parents to give a booster dose before scouts if needed.

1 hour ago, Eagledad said:

Reduce the program to a manageable level for the "Average" volunteer. Tigers alone requires more adults than the rest of the program. The maturity of the Tiger age youth is closer to toddler than elementary youth. If National believes they can raise membership with TIger age scouts, then create a new program for 4 and 5 year olds that doesn't come under the responsibility of the Pack.

Looking at other countries, it seems like they do lots of stuff in 3ish year blocks. I could easily see cub scouts broken into 2 age groups of k-2 and 3-5. The k-2 grade group could meet regularly, but do less camping (because camping is more difficult with that age), have a less intense program because it requires more volunteers and adults, then move to the 3-5 grade program which would look more like a webelos program now, with a bit more camping, loosening of those tight safety rules, etc. But because that age group is more independent, it would take a bit less adult/volunteer effort. 

I've been hearing rumors that the official bankruptcy announcement will hit next week. This seems to be in line with getting things ready. (ie here's how we want to fund compensation, here is what we are doing as counseling, and here are the assets we want to protect)

That said, moving the counseling to an outside group is good, 

6 hours ago, FireStone said:

At the last Pack function I wore a BSA sweatshirt and neckerchief

As a Day Camp Program Director I get to set whatever I want as the uniform for day camp, which means that I can declare whatever I'm wearing as uniform as part of promoting day camp. I love minor loopholes.

On 2/9/2020 at 2:33 PM, Cburkhardt said:

Districts should have a full volunteer District Committee with equally-full subcommittees. 

I guess my question is how do we get that. It’s hard to get scouters to look beyond their own unit to the larger district, especially if a district is in a volunteer death spiral. (Ie not enough volunteers means the ones who are there are extra busy, which leads more to quit or not start, which means few volunteers.) that’s the largest issue my district has is getting people to look beyond their own units. 

6 minutes ago, Jameson76 said:

Of the (on the website) 74 staff noted only 20 have District Executive in the their title (27%).  There are many directors / ect - not sure what they all do

I count 34 employees on role at my council. 11 DEs, 3 camp staff with 3 camps(ie 1 per camp).

That's for a council touching 5 states and including ~15,000 youth involved.