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There was even scuttlebutt about this on reddit a while back. Bringing that council fee down to match national was a good move. Why did it change from Council Insurance Fee to Local Council Fee ? Being vague always invites question and suspicion. Breaking it down 12 council insurance fee, 68 council operations fee would make this much more palatable.

So the question you need to ask is, who are the coaches and club sponsors; are they school district staff or outside entities? If any of the coaches and club sponsors are outside entities the school has to give you the same recruiting access as those sports and clubs.

You can go camping and not do any scoutcraft. It happens all of the time, the requirements for camping and such even include statements like "If a tent is already setup and provided" so some scouts are not even learning to set up tents on their outings. Real scoutcraft is learning how to build a fire, and why certain methods are better, scoutcraft is learning how to tie knots, knowing their strengths and their weaknesses, etc ... etc ... Adventure is nice; it's definitely part of the Enable part of edge, but its not at the root or core of the program. Go read the national charter from congress and show me in the purpose statement where it says adventure. I am not at all concerned about any of this peripheral stuff going away as long as it means we're getting back to the core of what scouting is supposed to be. How many scouts with one of these awards or membership in the OA freeze up when you ask them what their good turn for the day was? How many scouts lose their words when you ask them at a BOR to describe a situation where they exhibited an act of courage? How many times have you seen a scout lock up like a deer in the headlights when you ask them about the last time they participated in a patriot ceremony?

You can absolutely do this. I believe nationals published stance was go ahead if you want, we just do not guarantee availability of loops and pins.

It's really easy, teach the SPL & PLs to lead by consensus/try to lead by consensus. The process will force them to seek input from all stakeholders before advancing something along.

So even clubs and regular sports are not allowed to use any of the school districts facilities?

I guess you could say that some other scouting association that does not have an incorporated unit overseas is excluded; however, GS and many other associations that are here in the US also are incorporated overseas. As I understand it, if the scouting organization is on this list it counts: https://directory.scout.org/contacts

Sou Sounds like you need to find a way to replace him.

Are other groups (including rec leagues) allowed to recruit in the schools at all?

I don't see anything wrong with not advancing if the a scout does not want to advance; I would say that you should sit down and talk with each one of these "not wanting to advance" scouts to make sure they understand the program and the point of advancement. A buddy of mine "accidentally" made 2nd class, he was never interested in advancement, just MB, camping, and camp cooking. His SM just noticed over time that he had completed so much rank advancement by accident by just being out with his patrol and at camp with his troop. Same guy cranked through his undergrad in 2 years and jumped to grad school at 19. Mysteries of the universe unfold.

I'm a little late to this party; however, I was recently asked to find the official answer by my COR for a scouter who is a Girl Scout Gold awardee. A locally produced knot is not authorized from what I can tell; councils can make local awards, but it has to be documented and vetted, I understand it to be a process. More directly to the gold award recognition aspect of this, the Guide to Awards and Insignia is very clear that awards from other scouting associations are authorized for wear above the left breast pocket (page 9). There are exceptions for non scouting organizations (religious awards, etc ... ) and they are also worn above the left breast pocket.

Scout B, the ASPL is the functional SPL in the absence of the SPL at all unit functions under the auspices of the BSA. This is all handled in the Troop Leader Guides, the SPL handbook, the PL handbook, etc ... Your question makes me think that there is something else going on here.

Sounds like you should volunteer on the district committee. Also reach out to the director of camping services; those people always need volunteers to come out and run MB sessions, provide 2 deep leadership at ranges, etc ...

The program is changing, I think it's going to get streamlined and I think we're going back to our roots. The first mission of the BSA is to train scouts in scoutcraft, maybe we're getting back to that.

Oh boy, you're in a bind because lax uniform standards have become "the standard" in your unit. One thing to differentiate is that units/leaders cannot force "Scouts" to have a uniform; however, there is no such rule for adult leaders, as a matter of fact the Troop Leader Guidebooks state that part of the position description for adult leaders is that they wear the uniform, and wear it correctly. If the issues are financial, work with people, find some "experienced" uniforms on sale and hook some people up. Remind people what the real standard is. What I find is that most people will have a uniform top, get people to that point and then iterate up towards the ideal from there. Keep in mind that for unit numbers and position patches, if a person has only 1 uniform they are supposed to wear the position patch and unit numbers of their "primary role" and their epaulets are supposed to match the position patch. The best I advice I think I can give you is to make sure your uniform is full, and worn correctly, and be the standard. When someone asks, make a point to explain that you are following the standard.

A lot of great responses. @RookieScouter, your Scoutmaster is incorrect. The scouts are responsible for communicating through their "chain of command"; however, at the same time the Scoutmaster Corps should communicate with the committee, and the Scoutmaster Corps should communicate with the parents. Sometimes it's at the same time, sometimes it's separate. There is an entire chapter of the Troop Leaders Guide Vol1, it literally states that trusting scouts to communicate with their parents is desired but very risky and other communication channels have to happen to make things work.

Some councils are really going big with their fees which I think is the bigger problem; especially the councils that have found a way around the council cap at nationals level. Overall the program is rather cheap compared to other programs for youth; however, if council fees get too high I think they will kill FOS.

Basically anytime the patrol name is called out is when the patrol yell should be used. For example: when the SPL calls on a PL he should also tack on the patrol name ; and then the patrol would yell whatever they're yell is. It would be an esprits de corps moment that also could just be fellowship/horsing around. Think a scenario like the following: SPL: "PL John Smith from the Rocket Patrol is going to lead todays rank advancement and teach the square knot." Rocket Patrol: "To the moon!" When the esprit de corps gets built up in the troop you will have some slightly rude moments as the patrol will start to immediately yell their yell when someone says the patrol name. You have to build the culture to include those cues. Also helps if every patrol has a patrol yell as it will become a competition as to who can yell it the loudest.

Enforce the Parent Partner Rule for Lions and Tigers; you will find your replacement in one or two of those parent partners. Cut everything that someone "tacked" on to a role and recruit people to do just the job description of a position from the cub scout leader guide; don't let "the way we always did it" or "historically" restrict your packs function and form. Encourage round table and leader training for everyone. Use leader awards, they are there for a reason, and people do appreciate them.

The positional authority is that willful violation of the GTSS means the BSA umbrella policy does not cover you in the event of an incident.

The number of issues you have pointed out at one event are clear indicators that the problem is the other leadership and not you. It does indeed sound like your troop is not functioning within the guidelines of the program. I think you should raise the same issues you noted here with your COR, and then have a subsequent meeting with the COR and the SM; it's not you vs the SM, it's not you or the SM goes, it's you or the totality of non scout like behavior have to go.

A lot of them are faltering because they built out a huge annual process that requires dozens of volunteers is premised on a community need that no longer exists and then expect future generations to continue those processes even when they have no modern relevance. I am in many fraternal organizations and the hardest question any organization can answer to a millennial is "What value does your program provide to the community?" Scouting is different as the value to the community is easy to answer.

In some cases councils are snatching up district events and turning them into council events, blowing them up in the process.

So how it works is that any "camp" even day camps need an NCAP certified Camp Director and an NCAP certified Program Director, a CPR/First Aid certified Health Officer, and ratios of staff to scouts and toilets to scouts. You will have to prepare a camp NCAP standards book, and that book and your camp will be inspected by an NCAP inspection team sometime during the camp. Additionally anytime units not chartered by the same CO do things together it has to be authorized by your council. If you decide to move forward with a twilight camp I suggest you just come up with a theme, plan your activities around that theme, and then at the end figure out which advancement items are met during the camp. That advancements list will have to get cleared through your council advancement committee.

Mostly true; some awards are obscure, I have one that seems to be very rare and my registrar does not know how to enter it into my record; the registrar acknowledges that I have it, that my physical paperwork is correct; however, the registrar has no idea how to enter it into the system now that scoutnet is gone.