malraux

I don't know about a supertroop being the right way, but I do think that scouting is better done with a larger unit than several smaller ones. We are probably better off with the goal of forming quality unit instead of a quantity of units.

Yes, key 3, Unit commissioners, some district folks, have access to the training manager. You can easily add courses like IOLS S11. to people's training records rather than trying to get it submitted to council. If your ASMs took IOLS out of council, it's unlikely that it would get entered into the electronic record. You should add those courses if you have access to the training manager. The only limitation is that you cannot add training for yourself.

The classroom training is just watching the online videos in a classroom. SM/ASM also requires IOLS and hazardous weather (if hazardous weather isn't part of the job specific online training).

Is this for Cit in the Nation, 2c? It's worth pointing out that Cit in the Nation requirement 2 has the structure of of pick two out of four requirements, so you can do the others. Also, a US embassy or consulate would qualify as would potentially US military bases (though that's tougher). I would also potentially consider a virtual visit to be acceptable within these constraints, but ask your merit badge counselor.

I have some opinions on the rollout of the merit badgem mostly because my council has continued to do a poor job of getting MBC approved and getting opportunities to do the badge. But the badge itself seems to be a very good implementation of that sort of thing.

I dunno that average tells you more than peak year to year, because the numbers stay basically static except when they go up in the fall and back down in march.

Yes, these are likely the highest numbers. A fair number of cubs will drop off with recharter. I'm not sure how to define "most accurate" in this context, and that comparing like to like is most meaningful.

I don’t feel like going down the rabbit hole of when numbers are most accurate, just that this is a year on year, Dec to Dec numbers. yes you can break up the data by a huge host of criteria.

It'll take a few years for the cub growth to really impact the troop numbers, but hopefully the worst of the storm is passed.

Yes, that is for all councils.

FWIW, membership numbers are now accessible to district committee and commissioners.

Lone Scouts would seem to be the short term answer.

Im in a similar situation to some extent. Small troop and pretty good quality but recruitment is hard. We are having pretty good success at meetings with being largely scout run. At our annual planning meeting the scouts largely came up with the yearly plan and are largely implementing that plan. my big issue is getting new youth into the program. I can’t get webelos to come visit or even respond to inquiries about how we can work together.

Certainly to me, having a larger caliber semi-auto rifle loaded and unsecured at a BSA owned rifle range to me says something has gone wrong. Sure, its an accident, but that's the sort of thing where whatever happened clearly does not comport with the official rules for BSA ranges. If we can't examine what went wrong and figure out how to prevent it in the future, then I'll agree with the position that we need to drop shooting sports. But declaring this an accident and thus we don't need to look any further is not a reasonable position.

Running a shooting range absent an RSO and in violation of BSA policy reflects choices beyond just accidental. We agree to follow the GTSS as leaders.

Freak accidents happen, as when apparently healthy trees fall onto tents unexpectedly. But bending or breaking the standard BSA rules on firearms is different. We have those rules for a reason.

My concern would be that the shooting sports rules for Scouts BSA are supposed to be limited to .22 bolt actions, as I understand them. And magazines removed from weapons when not in use. They don't mention what the rifle in question was chambered in, but even if it were chambered for a 22lr, its still not bolt action. That said, I'm not sure I trust news media reporting of court documents.

By rule, no. In practice, especially for small units, the lines can get blurry.

It’s not complicated except in scale and cost. I’m sure all the individuals who contributed don’t care about how the photos are done but if the bsa is changing the distribution method and price it might require a new release. Shutterstock will almost certainly have some fee, so changing things up with new pictures will just take time. 10 to 15 issues to address with each book times 100+ books is a pain.

Checking the books I have on hand, a fair number are done by the volunteers, but also credit government agencies, Shutterstock, and various colleges and individuals. Some of those could have complicated rights issues depending on the negotiated release.

some price per youth in your troop would make sense. $10 per youth or something. Each youth can check out up to 3 titles at a time, etc. The current electronic options for merit badges suck.

I wish the MBP were rolled into scoutbook. Even if it were something like a subscription at the troop level to have them in a reasonable check out/in format, it would be better. The paper ones made sense back in the day, but everything is moving electronic now.

Unit Commissioners are assigned from the district and in theory every unit should have a commissioner. The job involves helping out and being there to offer advice, so yes every unit probably "needs" one. Now, that role should be advice instead of lead as they are not part of the unit. They shouldn't sit in for the CC. All that said, as I recall your previous comments, you probably need a UC to address some leadership issues, though the UC might not be doing it in the best way.

last summer my unit did that. Just rented a cool camp ground site for a week and went and did their own thing. Its a fine plan if you want to take on the extra work to make it happen.

Its a lot easier to plan summer camp by picking the nearby camp, knowing that there's merit badge programs, meal plans, climbing equipment, atv equipment, paid lifeguards, etc. whereas planning an independent event requires a lot of volunteer work.