Abel Magwitch

My district is full of unknown school units and very few traditional units. My district has no district commissioner, (haven't had one in over a year). The district chairman is unknown. Volunteers are not allowed to speak with him or email him personally. You must go through the DE or District Director and they will decide if your message will be delivered. To top this off, our district was again a quality district. I just found out that my Troop was a quality unit last year. Funny how that happened, we were never told. The District Director filled out our application for us, made up our goals

Just do it. When the uniform police come after you and give you a ticket, just say thank you. In other words, there is nothing stopping you. If it suits your needs, (better quality, less expensive, more comfortable) then do it. Not everyone can afford the complete uniform. There are not always uniform exchanges in every district or council. As for the uniform police, well let's just say that Scouting needs people and there are some people that need Scouting.

I am going to take a guess here. Was there a change in a Scout's dates when he earned a rank? Were there new advancement reports generated and back dated? Or perhaps there were merit badge blue cards re-issued with different dates. Or maybe dates were changed in the Scout office computer.

Why don't you instead ask for the head Volunteer in charge of advancement as they make up the policies and procedures for advancement.

Does anyone know the oversees company names who makes the uniforms?

Hi Doc, you have presented a theory. I can tell you without a doubt that wasn't the situation in my council.

Here is the challenge to my fellow Scouters in the country: If you keep your annual reports from year to year; and your council has a substantial LFL program; compare the LFL membership from year to year. There should be a steady gain in LFL membership every year. (In some cases, the LFL membership outnumbers the traditional membership totals). When your council gets a new SE because your last SE retired or got a promotion, are there any serious drops in LFL membership on the first or second annual report with the new SE? You may be surprised at the numbers you find. Now some c

Does anyone out there keep their copies of their council's annual reports? Does anyone out there ever compare membership totals from year to year? Does your council have a substantial learning for life program? I have noticed some interesting membership fluctuations in my own council particularly in the learning for life program whenever the council gets a new SE

Doc Meyer, are you a pro or past pro? My district committee was hand picked by the DE. No nominations needed. In fact, my district only has a key 2. The district chair knows nothing about scouting, just a person who has good business contacts. The district has not had a district commissioner for over a year. I think there is only a single unit commissioner. The DE is controlling everything. The traditional unit count in the district is very low. The special program units (scoutreach, in school scouting, learning for life) is all the DE is concerned about. Doc, you may come fro

I can relate to basementdweller. We just had our council annual dinner and meeting. I was surprized that our district made quality district. For the past year, the district has had a key 2, the DE and the District Chair. There were no visits to units, yet we are a quality district. The volunteers have been told by the DE that they are forbidden to contact the district chair as he is only been on for a year and they do not want any volunteers scaring him off. Yes, in my council, the DE can still fudge his way to quality district. By the way, it is the middle of April. We re

Actually, its false advertising that leads to fading support. Its paying a fee for a promised program which is not delivered that leads to kids quitting. I could go on. BS-87, if you only knew what has been going on in my council for the past 30 years.(This message has been edited by abel magwitch)

83Eagle You need to ask yourself just what does FOS cover and how does it directly benefit your unit. Ask yourself how your council has supported you over the past year. In my council, there is listed on the FOS flyer "The true cost of scouting" This is what my council has listed as costs. After reading all the so called costs, I made these observations: FOS is already conveniently built into the scouting program in my council as the volunteer is charged a fee for almost everything. Many times services are not rendered for the fees charged. Volunteer and Staff Training T

http://www.bsaadoptaschool.org/ A new program on the horizon. Just heard about it today.

In my council, in school scouting made up 41% of the total traditional membership. Yet you never see these scouts. Furthermore, the school district has its own policies. Co-curricular and Extracurricular Activities Activities must be open to all students, regardless of race, color, national origin, citizenship status, religion, sex, economic status, age or disability. School Ceremonies and Observation/Patriotic Exercises The school should avoid any activity, display or exhibit that promotes or gives its approval to religious matters. Schools must be neutral in matters

I know special programs Seattle. I have already done what you have suggested months ago. All the "troops" "packs" "crews" chartered by the "parents of" so and so school, the email is the council email. There are quite a few units I have never heard of. And these are listed as tradional units. Some of the sponsoring institutions are listed as a private person's home address. I got a copy of a council printout showing the units of the council. Plenty of school units with 300 kids and no leaders. There is also a bunch of 5 kid units also with only 1 leader listed.

Everything written points to a phony phantom operation used to boost membership numbers. Quite frankly, i am suprized that the BSA is still alloud in public schools at most public schools that I am aware of have their own policies against discrimination. Insurance - I have brought this up before. Just try and find out what the insurance actually covers. Ask the council for information on the company they use and ask to see an actual policy. Good Luck. My council supposedly has all kinds of school units. You never see them at any council or district activities. They are sometimes

A very sad reality BadenP. What a shame

Yes sherminator, indeed yes. I myself had a hard time wanting to believe at first. One does not want to hear that there are bad things going on in Scouting.

Thanks jhankins for saying how it is in some councils. What I find most troubling in my council is how oblivious people are and how much they cannot believe that the Boy Scouts could do corrupt things. They are truly fooled.

Blancmange, this situation is all but unknown. The council has made no mention of it what so ever and I am sure they want to keep it that way. After all of the shenanigans that has happened in my council, I tend to check on things. I stumbled onto this while searching the court dockets. I have also found some convicted felons who are paraprofessionals those paid to be scoutmasters. It is public record, but generally, nobody is going to check on these things. This lawsuit was filed soon after the previous SE got his promotion to national. The whole thing stinks. I am intending

I have just learned that my state department of taxation has a judgement lien against my council. The council owes the state department of taxation $9937 dollars plus 5% interest from the original court date of November 2009. The council has simply made a deposit for now as the case is still active. Of course I do not believe that the council told their recent James West recipients that their generous donations would be helping to pay for the court ruling against the council.

Beavah writes - "It would be so nice if we could break da corporate culture of the BSA and get it to focus on providin' service to the units, and evaluatin' the quality of that." Now that would be something, evaluating the council's service to the units!

Why bother? Indeed, why bother - Once my troop found out that the former quality unit program was really a professional promotional program, we decided not to participate. Under the old program, a DE was under pressure to ensure his units were quality units so the district could be a quality district. The SE wanted to make sure his districts were quality so his council could be a quality council. So he pressured his DE's. Being a quality district or council of course leads to professional promotions, raises etc regardless of the actual quality of the council, district or units.

Totally agree with sherminator. Also don't forget the last minute on the spur of the moment timing of the DD - Hi, thanks for inviting me to the ECOH. I know you want to start the COH in a few minutes, but before you begin, could I solicit FOS from your guests first? There was no advance notice what so ever. Houston, we have a problem.

I need to point out that this DD does not call in advance to ask - he usually askes at the COH 5 minutes before the COH begins. In fact, the SM who I saw turn him down, this DD wanted to know if he could have an FOS presentation right now. Our last District Commissioner quit last year because of this DD and his tactics. Currently, our district officers look like this - we have a district chair (a judge who knows nothing about Scouting), a program chair, an advancement chair, and a training chair. That's it. There are no district vice chairs, no district commissioner, no membership chair,