gpurlee

The Girl Scouts do not use the CO model, so obviously the council based model is an option. In a good CO, there can be many benefits. Our CO has provided thousands of scholarship dollars over the year, allowed us to host and has supported numerous fundraising events, been a source of merit badge counselors, has provided support for the PRAY (God and Country) program and many other things. It has provided a bus for trips in the past. We have had our own Scout meeting room since 1926. It has sponsored us for over a century, so it is in the DNA of the church and the units. The program is

The membership standards department is responsible for ensuring that youth in the program are safe and that the integrity of the BSA program is maintained. They are housed in Irving, Texas at the end of a long hallway behind closed door and a soundproofed wall I am told. The review team has a reputation of being very competent and professional from individuals who have worked with them. If there is a "credible allegation" made, membership can be revoked. The BSA has chosen to err on the side of caution, so persons may have membership terminated on the basis of an allegation that has litt

There are multiple points of contention between the chartered organizations and the BSA at the present time. Perhaps the most contentious one is a court filing a few months ago as part of the restructuring plan. It included a section that discussed insurance and chartered organizations. It is important to understand that for decades chartered organizations were told that "the BSA has your back" and would provide adequate insurance. It came as a shock to the CO's to discover that the BSA was essentially stating there was no insurance coverage for past claims. Three reasons were stated and

This letter was sent to every United Methodist conference throughout the nation a couple of days ago advising them to discontinue with the traditional charter agreement. While it is still up to the individual congregation to make this decision, this recommendation will carry a lot of weight. And will likely move other denominations to take similar action. The mediations with the denomination have clearly been contentious at times. If the BSA loses the support of the chartering organizations, it is difficult to see how it can successfully move past the impacts of the bankruptcy and the pa

Welcome to the forums SiouxRanger. Thank you for your post. You have valid points. It should be noted that established bankruptcy law dictates the priority of some of the claims such as pension funds. Unfortunately, the fallout from this situation may continue for some time.

This is a real dilemma for the United Methodist Church which has been an incredibly strong supporter of Scouting for a century. There is a desire to maintain a positive relationship with the Scouting program that has served many local communities for decades. A national legal team has been working on these issues for months now in mediation with the BSA. The United Methodist Church operates through regional conferences which cover a specific geographic area such as a state or a portion of a large state. The conference legal team headed by a "chancellor' will issue an opinion or recom

None of our three camps apparently will have to be sold. We are in a non extended SOL area. A large endowment and other reserves will be tapped, it appears as of this moment. But the winds may switch suddenly, who knows? It feels that we are momentarily in the eye of this perfect storm. Now we deal with the reality of a 70% loss of membership and perhaps the loss of many of our chartering organizations on the near horizon.

My observations from the TCC meeting tonight were (1) Focusing on body language, vocal tone and facial expressions - weariness among the TCC team was clear. This has been emotionally and physically draining. (2) Resignation - "no one is happy right now" (3) This may be the best deal we can get to avoid years of litigation. (4) More news in the next 24 hours

Pretty impressive powers of prediction - almost to the day. Any thoughts on this week's Powerball?

I have been very surprised at the number of active, long-term Scouters in our community who have little idea of what is playing out. I think that the executive board has an understanding of the potential risk but have been warned not to share information. At the district and unit level, most are (blissfully?) ignorant. This has entered the radar of some of the larger CO's but for the most part they also appear oblivious or at the very least uncertain if and how this could affect them for something that they sponsored perhaps 20, 30 or 40 years ago.

It our area, at least, it is my understanding that the many of the chartered organizations which sponsored a unit named in a bankruptcy claim have not yet been notified that there is a potential claim looming for their organization. Add to that shock, the fact the BSA has stated in court filings that there may not be any insurance coverage available or that the CO will be responsible for very high deductibles. There is a tsunami approaching for the chartered organizations that will affect even those that have no current claim or are located in a state without extended statue of limitations.

A friend of mine sits on various national mediation tables. There are apparently multiple "tables" that change composition and deal with specific issues. It is a position that he could not have imagined himself being in two years ago. We never discuss specifics because of confidentiality. Just impressions sometimes. Words like "contentious" and "mess" come up. How could this not be a mess? Tens of thousands of traumatic abuse claims. Billions of dollars at stake. Camps, councils and programs that Scouts and Scouters have poured their passion, time and energy into are

One of the things that immediately jumped out at me as I quickly skimmed the video of the national annual meeting is that the public face of Scouting, in terms of leadership, is a bunch of middle to senior aged white men (full disclosure I also fall into that group). This is one of the challenges that we face if we hope to rebrand as a 21st Century organization that values diversity.

The Michigan Crossroads council was the second largest council in the nation. If I recall, it is a merger of several Michigan councils a few years ago. I think that the number one council in size was Utah National Parks and the third largest was Great Salt lake Council, both of those two are in heavily LDS areas. I suspect that the Michigan Crossroads Council is probably now the largest council in America, probably by several thousand Scouts. Just because of sheer membership numbers, it would not be unexpected that they would have a large number of claims.

As I glanced at Crossroad's Promise to Parents, several random thoughts flickered across my mind: (1) We continue to deal with the same issues on providing quality Scouting as we did fifty years ago when I was a (very) young Scout leader. Only with a lot more issues and distractions today. (2) Quality Scouting is hard! It takes a lot of time, commitment and other resources over a prolonged period of time. (3) There are very few chartering organizations that view Scouting as more than a community group housed in their facility. And this has really affected the consistency of the

Welcome to the forum 100thEagleScout. We are glad to have you here.

I agree with many of the previous posts. The BSA has sustained a record setting loss in membership in the past 12 months. In our council, the Cub Scout program has suffered an 80 percent loss in membership. Many Cub Packs have ceased to meet in any form for a full year now. This pack leadership which is critical to the success of a unit is no longer there. In addition, many previous sponsors are hesitant to welcome Scouting back into their organization. The traditional recruitment method of back to school nights has been disrupted, Last year's local efforts to use social media for recru

Muttsy - welcome to the forum. There are some very good, diverse and spirited discussions here. We are glad to have you as a part of them.

Buried on page fifty-two of document 4108 in the court filings is a series of statements that have the potential to shake the relationship between the BSA and the chartered organizations, both past and present, to the core. Historically, the relationship between the BSA and the chartered partners has rested upon the assumption that each party would uphold its commitments. For decades most chartered organizations have had the understanding (or at least the strong belief) that the BSA would provide legal defense and BSA provided insurance coverage in the event that a lawsuit was brought

I attended a national conference on youth protection with the top experts in the field present. In terms of Scouting, it was reported that the number one category of abuse is now youth on youth. I would anticipate that any revisions in youth protection training would see an increased emphasis in this area. Already several scouting units have apparently implemented single person tenting only among youth.

I would agree with the other moderators that we need everyone's help to: (1) Be respectful of each other and to value diverse opinions. This is one topic that not all of us will share the same perspective. And that is the value of this forum. (2) Take a moment to reread what you have just written and make sure that it says what you intend it to say (and refer back to point one) (3) Try to avoid reposting the same point over and over again. After a while it really detracts from the forum. A lot of us are emotionally very invested in the Scouting program and wish for the be

You could build an argument that the growth of the BSA was in significant part a Boomer phenomena. The following generations have not gravitated toward Scouting or longer term activities nearly to the same degree. You can see that also with Rotary, Lion's Clubs as well as churches. Our Cub Pack (at least when it was meeting before the pandemic) still has a lot of Boomers who are the primary parents even though in reality they are the grandparents. Without that group of Boomer grandparents, the pack would be half the size it is. My daughter who is in her 30's and her peers seem to se

In the early 1980's we had a leading church consultant work with our congregation. Lyle Schaller, the consultant, had worked with hundreds of churches across the nation and was a prolific writer, authoring almost fifty books. I remember his comment regarding Scouting programs. He stated that the vast majority of congregations whom he had visited, treated Scouting programs as an outside group housed by the church rather than an active part of the church's ministry, even if they proudly called it "our troop." A Scout Sunday service and an annual chili supper fund-raiser often were the only fac

Welcome to the forum. Hope you can find some peace in the knowledge of the positive contributions that you made in the lives of youth and adults served through Scouting.

This drone camp looks like a lot of fun. Our troop's experience has been that Scouts are really engaged in these STEM projects and they provide great hands on experiences. They also provide very positive public relations opportunities and are a valuable recruitment tool. Our troop has work to integrate STEM activities into our troop program on several occasions. Some of our activities have included: Launching a camera equipped weather balloon during a total solar eclipse Sending a balloon to an altitude of over 100,000 feet. You can clearly see the curvature of the Earth.