malraux

1 hour ago, carebear3895 said:

District Associates are the only Professionals who are hourly. 

Wait, theres a position under DE in the org chart? How many people work in some of these councils?

Just now, T2Eagle said:

I'm willing to triple your pay , now hop to it.

Someone got the joke

15 minutes ago, Treflienne said:

That is,  could the lack of specific dates in scoutbook cause trouble when a scout is trying to become an eagle scout?

By the guide to advancement, you can't look back through an eagle applicant's record for minor errors like this. You have to assume that all previous ranks were completed correctly.

14 minutes ago, Cburkhardt said:

If you have a poor or non-existent relationship with your CO you can change that by involving them in Troop decision making and governance— which is supposed to be their job.  We are a successful Troop in good part because of their support and our recognizing their value and taking their advice.  

We went through this about 2 years ago. We're a pack with 70+ youth, but no troop, which is a bit unique. We looked around for a CO that would take us and be able to provide meeting space. Can't find one. The churches in our area are getting slammed in membership by the megachurch nearby, and the megachurch wants nothing to do with the bsa. So even if our CO isn't interested in helping out, we haven't identified one any better. And our CO is acting as CO as a favor to the group, not because they want another meeting to attend. 

1 hour ago, scoutldr said:

Then they are not fulfilling the terms of their Charter agreement.  To me, this is one of the biggest failures of the current model. 

Agreed, but what are we to do? 

I do agree that the current charter model is flawed. The idea behind it is that a youth serving organization would seek out the scouting program to become a franchise of the BSA as one of their elements. In practice, what happens is that a group of people say they want a scout group, and then find a chartering partner. The CO really doesn't care about scouting in particular. Not a good system. Not sure how to replace it, as my impression of the GSUSA system wherein the council owns all the units is even worse.

7 minutes ago, SSScout said:

Blessed are the Scout Units who have CORs that take their  defined roles seriously, they are few and far between.  BSA defines the CORs as the voting members of the Council legal corporation.   Remind yours and shake their hands along the way.  

We're doing good if we can find our COR to sign adult applications. Expecting them to attend regular scout board meetings is beyond what they would ever do.

I'm on the cub scout side. Cub scouts especially have a lot of do a or b or 3 of 4, etc. If I'm logging that my scouts have completed the loop, I'm not going to take the time to fill in each of those sub things for each scout (or care about the quick entry). Unless they want to double or triple my pay, its not happening.

Its not like the current oath and law hasn't changed from their original wordings though.

The LDS would also represent deeper pockets than the BSA.

Top scout for a pack seems incredibly problematic. At least for a troop, I could see the youth able to have a say.

My beading was a 5 minute thing. It was with kids, but it was as much about talking about bsa history as wb coolaid. No song or dance or fox party. 

57 minutes ago, Protoclete said:

I think it is overhyped at times

OMG yes. I like wood bodge and will recommend it if asked, or if its a logical next step (ie at the end of either job specific or baloo) but not after every single presentation regardless of topic.

On 1/18/2020 at 5:05 PM, PACAN said:

@carebear3895  the communication flow or lack there of has always amazed me. The fact the professionals do not (or claim to not know) about things before the volunteers is amazing.  The last fiasco on the rate increase where the councils feigned ignorance was ridiculous.   I was told that all the SEs have a weekly conference call with national and they didn't know anything until the press released it is either incompetence or dishonest.    

Or if this is how national runs the organization, Mr. mosby has lots of work to do.

JMHO.

The internet is really good at distributing information to people who want it quickly, whereas staff meetings are going to be better at making sure that everyone gets the information, but it'll take more time. So unless every SE has their staff meeting simultaneously, what happens is that one SE informs his staff, who then share the info, and then that gets picked up by all volunteers everywhere, ahead of the rest of the other councils. I don't know how to get ahead of such a phenomenon without greatly limiting the flow of information to councils.

57 minutes ago, Cburkhardt said:

 

Now, how about talking about how you are going to help form and grow some all-girl troops?

Give me a few years. Daughter is only in tigers now. 

9 hours ago, ParkMan said:

JTE needs to improve the program related goals and make them things that count.  It's not a question of how often you camp, it's a question of where yo go, who selects the location, and who plans the event.  Holding PLC meetings is good, but how the PLC leads the troop is even better.

Not that I disagree, but there is a tradeoff in making JTE more comprehensive such that it becomes too cumbersome to track. 

I see JTE as at best a way for poorly performing units to get some insights into why they aren't performing well. 

2 hours ago, Eagledad said:

Right? Isn't that dictated by the parents. The GSUSA is sending a message to their scouts to fear their families.  If anything, the GSUSA is adding confusion because they are ejecting fears into personal intimate family situation. Parents are the social teachers of our youth, not some cold impersonal national organization that paints the world under one color. I grow tired of institutions thinking they are at parenting than parents.

That seems to be massively over reading the GSUSA statement.

Quote

Give your girl the space to decide when and how she wants to show affection. Of course, many children may naturally want to hug and kiss family members, friends, and neighbors, and that’s lovely—but if your daughter is reticent, consider letting her choose what to do. Of course, this doesn’t give her license to be rude! There are many other ways to show appreciation, thankfulness, and love that don’t require physical contact. Saying how much she’s missed someone or thank you with a smile, a high-five, or even an air kiss are all ways she can express herself, and it’s important that she knows she gets to choose which feels most comfortable to her.

The earlier stuff is about why teaching about consent is important, not that grandpa is to be feared but that if you teach that someone must give physical affection even if it make you uncomfortable, it can be taken advantage of. This is no more saying families aren't to be trusted than the BSA requiring YPT is saying that all scoutmasters are abusers.

56 minutes ago, mrkstvns said:

In yet another example of irresponsible overreaction, Girls Scouts USA is telling parents to back off on hugging this holiday season

But they are right in this case. Don't make your kids show more physical affection than they are comfortable with people who are basically strangers. Its not "Don't hug" instead its "don't force your kids to hug."

Which one likes chips and salsa, cuz thats the one I've been feeding?

4 minutes ago, TAHAWK said:

Our resident atheist , of the non-religious variety, has not been here lately.  He takes care of deriding all religious beliefs with a vengeance.

Certainly theres no shortage denigration both ways.

15 hours ago, The Latin Scot said:

I have not seen anybody here deride Catholics, Baptists, Jews, Muslims ... the list goes on and on.

1 minute ago, TAHAWK said:

 

"progressive ideas"  

 

I can accept that the BSA and the LDS have drifted apart. The little bits of their new program I've understood seem like a bunch of priorities that just won't fit with the BSA program. 

The denial of gay scouts didn't affect membership much. But what it did affect was corporate donations.

21 minutes ago, 5thGenTexan said:

He straight up asked if I could take his kid too.

That wouldn't violate 1 on 1 and presumably there were 2 registered leaders at the event.

8 hours ago, Treflienne said:

None of our scouts are first class yet,  but different scouts have different skills.

 

It might get too hard to administer something like what you detail, or too nitpicky. I might start slow. What's the hardest thing to sign off for from a time perspective (ie the holdup is seeing it demonstrated because you can't find the time to see it). Figure out a rule for that.