InquisitiveScouter

Recommend you choose tongue twisters that do not twist into profanity Example of a naughty: "I saw Susie sitting in a shoeshine shop" Example of a nice: "Rubber baby buggy bumpers" --------------- Preview the jokes... make sure they are Scout appropriate. I know some ditties on dirty underwear that I learned in Scouts as a kid Not to be told in polite company...

There is a mechanism already in place... 1. Scout tells parents they would like a new Scoutmaster, and articulates GOOD reasons for it. Parents tell committee: committee evaluates and takes action, with advice and consent of COR. 2. Scout tells Boards of Review they think they'd like a new Scoutmaster, and articulates GOOD reasons for it. (BoR is made of Committee Members and parents.) Committee evaluates and takes action, with advice and consent of COR. Although I understand the sentiment, youth must not make the decision of who should be Scoutmaster. (Inmates running the asylum and all ) To implement this would mean an abdication of responsibility by COR and Troop Committee. Unfortunately, reality is often that the Scoutmaster is simply the person with a pulse who said they'd do the job. In 45+ years of Scouting, I've never seen a unit with a decent succession plan. Still looking for that unicorn. (Yes, I have failed to get this accomplished in many a unit. If I was allowed to be the benevolent dictator, things would have been different.)

Your council is "supposed" to have an Enterprise Risk Management Committee that should review this... Good Luck, https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/healthsafety/pdf/680-026.pdf

At the camp I grew up in (1980's, LOL!), our Camp Director got fed up with shenanigans, and went to a system where, when units arrived in the main parking lot, they loaded all their gear into a camp trailer, and Ranger or Asst Ranger drove it to their campsite, with staff members assisting on loading and unloading. The issues then were too many cars in camp, drivers far exceeding safe speeds on camp roads with campers running everywhere, and people not getting their vehicles out expeditiously. So, about my third year on staff, the Camp Director instituted that procedure, and it worked well for the next five years I was on that staff...

Go to a different camp Easy, peasy

For us, anyone driving camp (council) vehicles must be listed on the council's insurance policy. Units move and park their own trailers, and those vehicle operators assume liability risk on their own insurance policies per the G2SS, Transportation section: https://www.scouting.org/health-and-safety/gss/gss11/ 13. All vehicles must be covered by automobile liability insurance with limits that meet or exceed the requirements of the state in which the vehicle is licensed. It is recommended, however, that coverage limits are at least $100,000 combined single limit. Any vehicle designed to carry ten or more passengers should have limit of $1,000,000. For insurance information refer to the Insurance section in the Guide to Safe Scouting. 14. When towing the tow vehicle driver has the knowledge, skills, and abilities to operate the vehicle with the attached unit. That your council is having "...adult staff using their personal vehicles tow all troop trailers..." is troubling. Council cannot require any staff member to use their personal vehicle for camp requirements, without remuneration and ensuring adequate liability coverage. If they make this some sort of condition for employment, or otherwise require employees (which camp staff are) to use their personal vehicles in this way, they are asking for trouble. Good luck convincing them

I am an advocate for returning to no age limit on earning ranks. (BSA instituted the age limit in 1952.) Want a good chance to see a return of Scouting skills? Allow adults to earn their ranks as well... Want to have a good chance at restoring some integrity into the Merit Badge program? Allow adults to earn them as well... Removing age limit would also pave the way for bringing back testing for a Board of Review, thus reinforcing Scout skills. Adults would be in a "Rover"-type patrol... Add some additional awards for them for mentoring and teaching youth under 18...

Yes, the 31 December 2025 number of "Total Unit-Based" is 877,403. If you included Learning for Life numbers, then the total youth served by Scouting America programs on 31 Dec 2025 was 907,950. The 31 Dec 2024 Unit-Based number was 956,541. So, that one year period change was a loss of 79,138 Scouts, or an 8.27% loss from the Dec 2024 numbers. Current number reporting today (Unit-Based only) is 837,145. There have been numerous problems with online registrations, particularly if families delayed... If the unit charter lapsed, families were blocked from renewing registrations. I imagine we will be seeing a cleanup of that boondoggle through March. So, my gut tells me the 837K number is low. If accurate, it would mean a loss 40K Scouts since end of 2025. (Another loss of 4.56% of membership.)

It is always best to go to the source: https://www.scouting.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2026-NCAP-Standards-v2.pdf Standard number SA-001, pages 25 - 29.

Sorry, I put this in the wrong thread... ------------------------------------ The biggest unadvertised cost of Scouting is the amount of volunteer adult support it takes to make a good unit level program happen. No "pitch" that I have ever heard (outside of our unit) tells parents that "We welcome your kids, but you have to come along, too, to help us put on the program." When you do get them to agree to help, then explain that "help" means a variety of getting trained, learning Scout skills so that you know what 'right' looks like, being a merit badge counselor, serving on the committee to help with budget, managing adult training, onboarding, advancement, uniforming, equipment, fundraising, etc, etc, etc, Oh, and we need drivers and adults for camping, too. Once they learn those needs, many are out. They want to take their kids to programs where they can dump and run, or show up occasionally with a tray of orange slices and some juice boxes. Once upon a time, when I served Uncle Sam, our mantra in the Air Force was "We recruit Airmen, but we retain families." And we did PR, ads, benefits, and programs to support that. Attract individuals, but make our environment such that, as they start a family while serving (which many do), we make it comfortable for their family to have the service member stay in. (This mindset varies across the services, though many of the family programs and benefits are duplicated in all services. Health care, base housing, commissary and exchange, MWR [morale, welfare, and recreation], etc. ) Scouting should be, "We recruit families, but we retain the Scout." Get the family on board, and give them benefits for their Scouts (a program of adventure) , and the youth will stay, keeping the parents involved.

The biggest unadvertised cost of Scouting is the amount of volunteer adult support it takes to make a good unit level program happen. No "pitch" that I have ever heard (outside of our unit) tells parents that "We welcome your kids, but you have to come along, too, to help us put on the program." When you do get them to agree to help, then explain that "help" means a variety of getting trained, learning Scout skills so that you know what 'right' looks like, being a merit badge counselor, serving on the committee to help with budget, managing adult training, onboarding, advancement, uniforming, equipment, fundraising, etc, etc, etc, Oh, and we need drivers and adults for camping, too. Once they learn those needs, many are out. They want to take their kids to programs where they can dump and run, or show up occasionally with a tray of orange slices and some juice boxes. Once upon a time, when I served Uncle Sam, our mantra in the Air Force was "We recruit Airmen, but we retain families." And we did PR, ads, benefits, and programs to support that. Attract individuals, but make our environment such that, as they start a family while serving (which many do), we make it comfortable for their family to have the service member stay in. (This mindset varies across the services, though many of the family programs and benefits are duplicated in all services. Health care, base housing, commissary and exchange, MWR [morale, welfare, and recreation], etc. ) Scouting should be, "We recruit families, but we retain the Scout." Get the family on board, and give them benefits for their Scouts (a program of adventure) , and the youth will stay, keeping the parents involved.

The 01 Jan 2026 number is real time... today's number. The Jan 2025 number looks to be the close out number for 31 Jan 2025.

Another facet of this that may arise under the new registration system... We have several units who cannot be renewed because the leaders have not renewed. Yet, those units have Scouts who renewed online for 2026. I hope the number will be small, but for a time, we are going to have Scouts with current registrations whose units have shuttered. They'll need to find new homes.

The system numbers I see tell a different story. As promised, 01 Jan numbers, pulled moments ago... Total Current Youth: 855,685 (Jan 2026) a 14.22% drop from Jan 2025 Same Month Last Year: 997,529 (Jan 2025) Last Year End: 907,949 (This is the 31 Dec 2025 number in the system.) Dec 2024 End of Year number was: 986,520 So, Dec 2025 year end compared to Dec 2024, is a 7.96% drop, year to year. These numbers include Learning for Life...about 27K on the books now. And, um, how is hiring an Executive VP of Membership (LOL) going stop the losses? Or hiring "unit growth executives" at the council level??? Explain it to me like I was a ten year old (who might be looking to join Scouting), please

Hey man, we only get to work when things become a Crisis. So, until it becomes a crisis, we ain't doin' nothin'. If you follow our philosophy, then all you have to do is Crisis Management. And when it becomes a Crisis, if you don't want to deal with it, then dump it on someone else and find a new position elsewhere. We just pray there are plenty of fat paychecks in the bank before the Crisis rears its ugly head, and we have to leave. (not having done the Crisis Management we have said we would do 😜 ) Now, pay us your fees and go have fun!!