Cburkhardt

When will changes be communicated? Remember the way national decision making works is that the Executive Committee (about 12 people) gets the research, "recommends" a decision to the Executive Board (about 120 people, including the National Advisory Council), which then adopts the decision. The Executive Board will meet privately in in early June. So the key changes are officially public then. However, all of this is going to be swept through the media by the plaintiff attorneys and somehow used to encourage additional men to file claims. NYLT seems to have a core of Scouts but

Sentinel: Yes. 18 is the end of youth programming. There was no mistaking what was said. I think that it probably goes to focusing the organization on fewer things and doing them well. I was an active OA member and Explorer in the 70s-80s (back when Exploring was the "Venturing" program of the time). I don't think the change will gut either program. Venturing membership is imploding for reasons I am not entirely aware of. Freshman/sophomore Girls in my Troop want to earn Eagle and be Scouts. They are not particularly drawn to Venturing. I think the losses in Venturing are a

PACAN: I think aspects of the program will change. They said there will be a national "re-branding" of the organization coming out of bankruptcy. A re-branding after what we will have gone through by then (and the previous 5 years) does not take the form of a new logo. I have no inside information, but I'll predict that we will drop "Boy Scouts of America" or "BSA" for a new name, and this might be influenced by the GSUSA trademark litigation that I believe the bankruptcy judge will allow to go forward this summer. If we abandon the BSA name and the GSUSA litigation prevent us from u

I summarized about 45 minutes into two brief paragraphs and admittedly left out a number of things. Gone will be the "legacy" electronic system we have. It will be scrapped and replaced with a modern cloud system for everything. All program books and materials would go electronic. They stated that everyone will be "adult" at 18, so I think OA is included in that. As to the size of national, I think they will do only program and have maybe 20 professionals operating a simple structure to maintain contact with councils. Maybe 100 volunteers to support them. Stem was not mentioned, b

Tomorrow: There is a Zoom video for the Council Key Threes tomorrow afternoon from 3:30 to 4:30 (Central), during which there will be a lot more specifics discussed. Much of what will be shared are the recommendations of the Executive Committee to the Executive Board. However, an accurate way to look at this is that we are no longer really in charge of our own destiny. The bankruptcy court and the litigants before it will decide what happens.

More: This is information that came directly from a widely-viewed general session at the virtual national meeting. The content was delivered directly by the National President/CEO, General Counsel and both the incoming and outgoing volunteer National Chairman. The news was delivered very directly. Readers of this site will perhaps be most interested in knowing that the program won't change, except for the ending of Venturing and Exploring program after age 17. The big impact of the way the bankruptcy has trended after the virus is that it has dragged and the plaintiff attorneys have exper

Friends, The initial announcements portend that we will be a different organization very soon. No more youth program past age 18. National will limit its activity to council services only. We will have a single "onboarding" membership platform. The regions and areas will be discontinued in favor of a downsized system. The organization will be rebranded after the bankruptcy is completed. Local councils will be significantly impacted, as the plaintiffs are primarily aiming at council assets. This includes camps, offices, everything. The BSA has had a very difficult time with the bankruptc

Summit is huge. They have vast camping sites, program areas and bath facilities because they can serve up to 50,000 during jamborees. Having up to a few thousand wound be easy to handle. If there is any place that could do this, it would be the Summit.

Great. We have that circumstance in some of our local all-girl Scouts BSA Troops. The new web site apparently carries-over some "legacy" language from the old relationships web site which implies that all Packs and Troop are all-male. Ambiguity that will surely get ironed-out.

Dear Latin Scot: Will a female in a all-girl Scouts BSA Troop or all-girl Den be able to earn its awards?

The CoJCoLDS chose to cut its ties with the BSA in an absolute and very public manner. I certainly disappointed me, but every faith has its right to offer programs if it choosing, and we are no longer an approved part of their church program offerings. Church members played an outsized role at all levels of the BSA and they will be missed. I wished them well with their effort to establish a substitute program for Scouting. I think it is fine that some Church members have chosen to individually continue with the BSA in units whose chartered partners are not related to their church. I

You have the option to educate others that requiring families to over-subsidize a camp (especially if it is of marginal quality) is not a worthy request. Urge its closure and consequent reduction of council operational costs. Go to a different council camp of distinction. The cash has run out and there will be no suddenly-appearing pot of gold.

The Summit has been a dining hall operation. First in elaborate tents and now in a proper inside dining facility. For this summer I do not know if they will offer patrol cooking or "hot pack". I will know I a few days and will share that information.

I hope the Summit becomes the preferred Scouts BSA summer camp for a large territory. Council camp property closures during the BSA financial meltdown amid the virus crisis can cause this to happen. As long as we do not lose it in the bankruptcy, the Summit will be there to operate every single year and will become increasingly nicer, generally known and popular with he Scouts. Many long-time adults do not like the Summit because it is new, the construction scars (until a year ago) looked raw, and its development caused a BSA financial crisis. However, I have yet to meet a Scout who did no

Good information to know. As for the range arrangements, they are larger than those on military bases, with hundreds of shooting positions. I guess they need that when 40,000 scouts are there and all want to shoot.

Troops in the Northeast and Southeast should give serious consideration to the Summit for summer camp. It will run for all weeks in July and the first week of August. $415/week and you get the experience of being at the Jamboree site. Advanced medical facilities, plenty of open room to distance single tents, huge program areas (designed for thousands but used by hundreds during summer camp) to accommodate social distancing and a very mature program staff. If summer camp is going to take place anywhere, it will be at the Summit.

The Summit will open. It is a good bet because the BSA has a great and trusting relationship with the state and local governments there. It also has very advanced medical clinical facilities and emergency transport capabilities because of the Jamboree physical arrangements. Single tenting of Scouts is easy given the broad fields to camp in and program facilities (such as shooting range and rock climbing faces) are massively over-built for a summer camp. They can easily spread the Scouts by using every third or fourth program position. If there is any facility that can handle it and any po

National Capital Area Council has closed Goshen Scout Reservation for the summer, as will as all of its other properties and camp activities.

Now is the time to look back at all of the suggestions made on this site earlier in the year to focus the councils on the units and districts. The PPP loan/grant infusions should be used to preserve our field and program staff. Councils should act now to make permanent many of the furloughs of personnel who are not essential to provide unit service and program. The virus circumstance will allow councils to sort who is and who is not necessary to support units. Residential camping properties that are big revenue losers will be extreme revenue losers this year, because there will be no camp

Every healthy NFP organization has regular and significant turnover on its Executive Board. It just keeps things fresh and inserts a form of natural transparency because newer board members usually enjoy polling their friends on important issues being considered. It also allows for the most successful volunteers to bring their top council experience to the decision-making. The BSA national structure includes many fine scouters with great council experience -- many have been council presidents. However, too many in the key positions have served in national roles for over 20 years and have n

What is your most-important recommendation to members of national BSA committees, who will gather next week to consider changes in response to the bankruptcy and COVID-19 virus? Make a one-sentence proposal, and support it with a 5-6 sentence paragraph. Please keep it to a single subject. Here is mine: Proposal: Spin-off the BSA National Foundation into an independent organization that supports local and national BSA organizations. Support: Donors want to support the BSA but fear new contributions will be used to pay post-bankruptcy claims against the local councils or the natio

General Session is on May 20 from 4-5 PM (Central). Business Meeting is May 22 from 3-4 PM (Central). Many opinions expressed on this site over the past several months have been reviewed by national decision makers.

The Annual General Session and Business Meeting will include significant announcements and you should view it, if possible. When the National Annual Meeting (NAM) is held in the "normal" format, any scouter can register and attend, but has to be approved by the local Scout Executive. I have never heard of someone wanting to go that was not approved by the local SE. Each council sends a group and it is fun to pal around for a few days. These meetings are three-day conventions, held at a major convention center and usually attract about 3,000 people. The cost to attend is reasonable, b

The National Executive Board, National Advisory Council, standing committees and other committees (which number about 40) will have closed meetings. Those schedules are not generally published and non-member guests are not permitted. These meetings take place first, so that decisions made can be announced at the large general business meetings. Look for significant structural decisions on the national structure to be announced during the general session.

Governors will need to more-directly address camping programs at large summer camps before the insurance companies are going to go along with liability coverage. I agree with PACAN that the Maryland governor has not yet gone far enough. A betting person would probably go along with my earlier prediction that we are going to lose the entire summer season almost everywhere. I do note the exception that the high adventure bases are apparently intending to open on July 1.