Tron

This is really easy to neutralize. Units can plan multiple unit activities. The Lone Scout just plans her identical activity at the same time and place as the Troop. We just need to go full co-ed.

These family camps are really popular in my area with families that have Cub aged Scouts and BSA Scouts as you get to camp as a family and the camping nights count for the BSA Scout.

Not sure how accurate that is. With BSA in this lawsuit there might be an emphasis to overestimate the value of the lands owned. Additionally, until you look into the deeds and land grants you really don't know what the BSA really owns, or owns and has the right to sell. I've seen land grants owned by non-profits where the land was donated with clauses that if the non-profit attempts to sell/liquidate that the land ownership reverts back to the decedents of the donators.

False, SM cannot refuse a blue card. Page 70 of the GTA makes it very clear that the decision to pursue the MB is the Scouts decision. The Scout has approached the SM about the MB which is the only requirement to get the blue card from the SM.

So if the judge who is supposedly the expert on this sort of stuff, is making the case that these are not related ...

This absolutely absurd; the private owners of Purdue Pharma are the target of the third party waivers. Are you attempting to say that Councils and Charter Organizations own BSA national?

Yeah I get that, I know that Scoutreach like your council has exists. I am just saying the Scoutreach in my council doesn't seem to work, or more accurately, even when asked about the information on how to leverage it is not being released.

I don't see the connection. The third party releases Purdue Pharma are about protecting the doctors and administrators who were making money off of Purdue Pharma and are the literal perpetrators of the crime. The third party releases in the BSA lawsuit do not protect the literal perpetrators of the sexual assaults or the people who covered up those assaults; the BSA third party releases are to protect ancillary entities. There is also a huge contrast between coordinated bribing operations perpetrated by Purdue Pharma to get doctors and administrators pulling a paycheck to commit illegal acts. No such comparable act was perpetrated by BSA.

What does your post have to do with the BSA bankruptcy? Are you blaming BSA for the opioid epidemic?

Scoutreach always befuddles me; I live in a suburban community that has extreme economic diversity and every time I ask about resources to ensure every family can afford the program/camp/etc ... I get an earnest "We'll discuss that later." that never leads to a discussion later. At this point my opinion of Scoutreach is that if you are poor and not in the inner city Scoutreach is not for you.

There are a lot of people impacted by this bankruptcy; I wish they would at least give weekly public updates. It could be something short like "Discussions continue, X number of disagreements resolved in the last week." so the community can have an idea of when to expect the end of the bankruptcy and the subsequent expected program changes.

It is totally worth it to debate this with school districts. We have a great program that can help any and all youth. If a school is letting anyone else in I at least want to get a poster in the school, or a recruitment sign outside. I don't even need class time for a scout talk. BSA says a prospective Scout needs to see a BSA advertisement 7 times before they start thinking about joining; why not let those prospective Scouts walk past a poster every morning and afternoon in and out of school and start thinking about the option.

At the Troop level the Equal Access Act works every time. Every single club and sport in any public school has visitors, and leadership sourced from outside the school that are affiliated with a EAA qualifying entity. If your local school has a football or basketball team (they always have volunteer coaches affiliated with some other entity) you're a shoe in for getting back into the school; heck my local HS and JH football team has an affiliation with the NFL. 😛

Magazine fed, semi automatic, and previously fully automatic rifles were available in the 1960's and 1970's. The US Army didn't stop its discharge weapon purchase program until the 1980's (which means they were discharging draft era soldiers and allowing them to take fully automatic M16A1s home). There is no way to legislate away gun crime. Mexico has some of the most strict gun laws in the world and Mexico has 10x the number of shootings as America. Look at Switzerland where servicemembers are mandated to keep firearms at home in case of national emergency. Also look at the fact that for decades Switzerland had discharge purchase programs. Switzerland is one of the countries with the lowest gun related crime. It all goes back to knowledge of how firearms work, respect for how dangerous they are, understanding that firearms are not toys, and proper storage. Maybe the rifle shooting merit badge should become Eagle required.

So you are in a situation where you already have equal access. You equally have no access. Keep your eyes and ears open, and document the access that they allow, then revoke when you ask, build a case, then drop the hammer on the school district.

But the Scouting program is what it is, the outdoors is a key part of what this Scouting is. Scouts are drawn to Scouting over other programs because it is an outdoors based program. Many Scouters gravitate towards volunteering our time because it is an outdoors based program. -- Baden-Powell

So I am going to go with we should allow the Patrol Method to lead the Scouts to what service projects they want to work on in order to find the satisfaction that they need.

So your experience is that if a Scout feels it has impact and is worth their time they engage civic duty?

I believe the law being spoken of is the Equal Access Act of 1984.

A lack of good commissioners is an issue. Based on what I am learning about my local commissioner core it sounds like they were all new and once they earned their award of excellence they basically became commissioners on paper or something.

Why is this still pinned?

I think duty rosters are the way to go. It is the only way to show everyone that the distribution of responsibilities is fair. As for rank, I think the rate of achievement is really limited by 2 factors. The enthusiasm of the Scout, and the ability of the Scouts parents to facilitate. If you have a go getter on your hands that is focusing only on Scouting, and the parents are making it happen for the Scout; totally realistic for the Scout to rank up to 1st Class in their first year at the Troop level. I think a properly trained AOL should be able to rank up to Tenderfoot in 2 months; almost everything for the Scout rank and Tenderfoot rank are things that Scout should have learned as a Webelos.

This is a wild one. I don't think I have enough information to really say what I think happened. If I were investigating this I would want to question any adults that witnessed the initial situation. I would also want to question any adults that witnessed the follow up interaction between the camp master and the SM. I read the response of the district and council as they didn't give a flying F and are now not participating. I just can't believe that; I'm reading this as a YPT scenario during the largest YPT lawsuit in the history of our country. That dog don't hunt. There is a huge part of this story that is not getting posted here. As for the pink shirt issue that started this. The Troop made the mistake of allowing this to happen by not having a declared Troop color for the uniform of the day when not in the field uniform. In my opinion all fault for that will fall on the committee for not having a uniformity rule in place; they never should have allowed shirts of any color in the first place. Part of the methods of Scouting is uniformity; the committee failed on that issue. As to the OP being fired. Scouters serve at the discretion of the CC with authority derived from the COR. No vote is needed, no escalation of privilege's is required. Per the BSA district and council training program any person who has the authority to secure you as a volunteer/hire you, has in turn the authority to terminate your service. In regards to the committee pursuing an investigation or whatever they were calling it. I think they absolutely can do that as long as they are not obstructing the investigation of higher offices in the BSA. I think the COR can do whatever he wants without regard to the BSA investigation; the COR has a primary responsibility to the CO. My recommendation for actions moving forward are to find a new Troop. Don't feel bad about your time invested in the old Troop, try and frame this mentally the same way that you would have if your family changed Troops due to a job change. You have made your complaints from district to national, keep your records and let district through national do their thing.

No more like, Venturing is now part of OA, and it gives the Scouts something more to reach for to want to be in the OA.

A lot of good comments so far. It is tough to add; however, I think the top issue is that most Scouters have no idea how the program is supposed to run. I think the next highest issue is that Packs don't have a Scouter Reserve; parents move up and out, and forget that the Pack they are leaving behind is supporting the Troop that they just moved to, and if that Pack dies, little Johnny won't have lower ranked Scouts to lead when he gets elected to SPL.