Ojoman

Unfortunate turn, be nice if the same thing happens to the lawyers and law firms...

Sadly, I expect that this will drag on for several more years at the least. I wish all survivors receive just compensation but has been pointed out, there will be inequities. There are lawyers and firms that just saw $$$ signs and didn't care if claims were factual or directly related to BSA programs (while most are) but just wanted to sign up as many people as possible and increase their slice of the pie. Certainly the corporation BSA has to do what it can to limit the damage and try to remain viable. The program did and still does serve huge numbers of youth and adults. While the total numbe

This is an interesting conundrum. I suspect it could be rectified if the troop associates with a Venture Crew and the 18-20 year old's transfer into the crew and then are still youth members????

Sadly, membership losses have been going on for half a century and mostly due to mismanagement. There are still strong units, perhaps even a few strong districts but they are rare. Here at the Longhouse Council in Syracuse the membership is down by at least 85 to 90% over the past 2 dozen years. The district that I ran back then had more membership and units in it than the entire council does today. We have a new SE and I hope he is up to the task but I don't know if the council and districts have the manpower (professional and volunteer) to do the job. (Frankly, I doubt it). Time will tell...

It would be helpful to see where those losses are in the program. Is there growth in cubbing? Are the losses still due to covid and a lack of older cubs to cross over? How is retention compared to the past and is recruiting down? The massive advertising campaign along with the documentary that aired last fall that made BSA look like a movement that does not care about the safety of their membership. There is still hope for a turn around if National gives good direction and support and if local councils really service the grass roots volunteers as they should. If.....

Sadly even the YMCA has had a spotty history with child abuse... It is incumbent on parents to see that their children are safe in any youth environment. I'm glad your group was well supervised and safe.

Some folks will always be resistant to change. That's their opinion and at the present time those folks can continue to run single gender programs. World Scouting has been co-ed for many decades and it has worked out well. The BSA is a Johnny come lately on that score. There have been hundreds of girls now that have earned Eagle or been elected into the OA and who have held leadership positions. I think that is GREAT! The folks in favor of this are many and that is a good thing.

There is no program that serves kids that does not have the potential to attract predators. That is a sad fact. Also, children are more at risk from family members and close relatives/neighbors/friends than most other individuals. Sadly, Scouting now has the stigma of what mostly happened 30 plus years ago. The past several decades have seen Scouting create barriers to abuse that make it extremely difficult for predatory people to get exclusive access to kids. I know of no program that has come so far and done so much. Sadly no program is 100% safe and a predator without any 'history' could sl

My mother was a den mother back in the day... scoutmaster, cubmaster and Webelo's leader positions and accompanying assistant positions were not available to her. Today women can and often do hold all of those roles and it is only fitting that girls can join into the program and enjoy the benefits of leadership, character and citizenship training/learning that takes place while they enjoy fun and adventure. No child ever joined to have their character developed... that just naturally happens (sort of sneaks up on them) while they are having fun being given the opportunities to learn, lead and

Actually, ever since the courts forced the BSA to open their files there have been lawyers and firms that specialized in suing the BSA. They got the statute of limitations thrown out and the flood gates opened. The ineligible volunteer files that helped the BSA for decades keep predators out (prior to the electronic age and national background checks) became a weapon to be used against the BSA. This was and is about a huge 1 Billion $+ payday for lawyers and law firms.

Not too sure about the insurance companies... if the chartered partners are put at risk they were covered by the blanket liability from the mid 70's. That would mean more exposure to the insurance companies and for those incidents prior to that the CO's would probably have to depend on whatever coverages they had then and also drain down their own resources... a sorry mess all around.

I'm no legal eagle but I suspect that the BSA National would retain the funds collected by councils to pay those that accepted the present deal. Local councils would have to fight their own battles in court or settle which would probably mean selling off more camps and other properties and drawing down endowment funds. Donors would, as you said, flee as they would not want charitable dollars to go to lawyers and claimants. The additional bad press, loss of future funding and loss of assets would probably result in at best, more council mergers, fewer council staff to provide support services a

I expect that cases exist where a third party (ie; chartered partners) may have exposure. Because of the nature of the BSA and its dependence upon chartered partners to approve and recruit leaders and to use the program as their own to better serve youth (the idea being that the chartered partner would assign persons of good character) putting the burden on the national organization and its insurance coverages would reassure those organizations that they could continue to charter/partner with the BSA. Imagine if a wholesale exit of churches and service clubs were to happen what would happen to

Sounds like they didn't receive very good legal advice. Perhaps they need to bring a class action claim against their lawyers who will be receiving about 1 billion of the 2.46 billion settlement. Of course lawyers seldom eat their own.

This is where training comes into play. If you lay out how to do a quality program so they already have a track to run on then it is more likely to happen. Train the unit commissioners to sit in on the pack committee meeting and train them. Perhaps bring a member of the cub leader training committee to assist. I complemented the leadership of one pack I worked with on their program and membership growth and they responded with, we just did what you told us to do! Without direction their program might never have grown. The CM and his wife (mostly the wife) ran two council pow wows a year or two

Frankly, when I was CC for a pack, we created a program that met the needs/wants/expectations of the kids and parents and virtually had ZERO dropout (except for those that moved away). We grew from a half dozen families to well over 50 and had multiple Webelos Dens that crossed over with their leaders to rebuild the troop. Dens had their own field trips appropriate for the age/ability of the kids and the pack ran a full 12 month program. If a kid and family come to the signup night, the program is for them if you meet their needs/expectations.

OK FOLKS... THE GENDER ISSUE IS A WHOLE DIFFERENT TOPIC... THE TOPIC HERE IS 'DO WE HAVE A CULTURE OF GROWTH!... CAN WE RETURN TO THE TOPIC???

That continues throughout life as any married man will attest... LOL, some boys may mature faster than some girls, some girls faster than other girls... however, they will all have to live in a world filled with both genders and multiple levels of 'maturity'. We do know that for certain ages that boys prefer to hand with other boys and the same with girls but that is no reason to keep them apart in the program. Learning to appreciate each other through scouting makes a lot of sense to me. Many girls and parents are attracted to the BSA program for multiple reasons and they are valid reasons. T

Kids attend school based on age, not on maturity which varies individual to individual with no emphasis on age. These days we are told that the higher reasoning functions of the brain are not fully developed until the mid 30's. Exploring has been co-ed for over half a century and Venturing since its inception. Most other countries have a blended program. Personally, I feel that co-ed scouting offers far more benefits than issues. IMHO

A great decision and parents of girls in the program are much more likely to step up and take leadership positions which has been on the decline for decades. We need both. About the only decision made in the past 5 decades that I 100% agree with.

I would suggest that every new scout be introduced to the Distinguished Conservation Award. If incorporated early it can join the trail to Eagle and a Scout can have two very prestigious awards. In fact the Distinguished Conservation award makes the Eagle look commonplace. Just a thought.

I agree with a lot of what you posted. Several big reasons for membership loss... In the 70's some folks shied away because they thought we were too militaristic, then there was a proliferation of other youth sports and activities. Volunteerism started to dwindle, single parent families exploded and mothers were no longer 'stay at home' to become den leaders for cubs. Tigers were added and Webelos became a 2 year (really 1.5) program and the added time in Cubs caused a drop in retention and crossover recently exacerbated now by Lions. The program drifted more into urban emphasis as Green Bar B

Been Campfire boys and girls for a long time and yes, it was the original 'sister program' to the BSA...

Trust me, even after hell freezes over the BSA and GSA will not merge. There are just too many differences from program structure to philosophical and frankly some 'resentment' built up over the years. It would make sense for a merger but just won't ever happen.

First, my council has not really provided the type of support to drive girls to the program. Second, apart from youth protection concerns which should be resolved with training having separate units for girls seems unnecessary and burdensome. Especially when you can share sponsors, leadership, meeting space and even do events and activities together. Few of our troops have established a female troop. Venturing has always been co-ed so why not Troops? Also, opportunities for more social type activities that would be age appropriate for both genders together would be welcome. I'm sure some counc