rallybug

Not charging $230 a  year might go a long way to improving their demographics...

We’ve just gone through our Cub Scout closet and found this old pony bead container with a list of what colors are for what.

I’m guessing mid to late 80s as Tiger Cubs are mentioned, but as it is a typed sheet (rather than printed), I’m guessing not into the 90s - any ideas?

Duplicate post

On 3/6/2024 at 10:27 AM, InquisitiveScouter said:

.....

4.  THEN, contact your District Executive re same.  Expect some push back.  Council may not wish to "lose" units.  If you do not have the support of your CO's, then you will meet resistance.  

.....

This part I hate - the DE's job shouldn't be number of units, it should be number of Scouts! A few well-run units is much better for the youth than a multitude of badly-run/tiny/dying units. It's better to keep the Scouts than lose everything, surely!

Costs beyond uniform purchasing cost are very council- and unit-dependent. Crossroads of the West fees for adult leaders starting May 1st 2024 will be $71 ($65 + $6 for council - the Pack and Troop that I am involved in pay those fees for adults) and $91 for youth (Explorers will be $56). Neither the Pack or Troop charge unit dues - Pack and Troop both provide an activity shirt, Troop provides the unit number patch at crossover or registration, $15 for a Troop necker.

Summer camp for our Troop will be $100 per Scout - the rest of the cost is covered by the Troop.

Pack is covering day camps for both non-Webelos and Webelos, Spring Camporee is $7 or $11 depending on age, Family Camp in August is normally free (if I remember correctly), the last couple of years the Webelos overnight camp has also been covered by the pack for food (the place they've gone offers the site for free as along as the Scouts do a trash pickup service project).

Fine and dandy seeing the blog post about it, but then not following up with any more information a month later is annoying, but I suppose par for the course...

26 minutes ago, skeptic said:

"Heck, I'd even support liberals if they ever wanted to join scouting."   Guess I will need to scan through this, but wanted to just note, perhaps already done, that being Liberal or Conservative or something between has nothing to do with someone having an interest in Scouting.  I probably know more people that would be "labeled" as that than would be labeled otherwise, all of whom support the basic ideals of Scouting and strive to grow the newer generations.  

 

I mean, that comment about "liberals" (that has now been deleted...) shows some discourtesy right there.

I'm guessing that things will change as current youth members age into Scouters if they stay involved in Scouting, but probably nowhere near as quickly as other people may want.

Every time a scout goes to a World Jamboree, they see plenty of people their age in co-ed contingents, and will have for years, with how long UK, Australia, New Zealand, etc have been co-ed in all scouting levels. At some point, I would guess, Scouts BSA will change AoL from single gender dens to co-ed, in preparation for Troops going co-ed with them as they cross over the next year.

"Can't have girls going into the same AoL den with the boy peers that they have spent the previous 5 years in the same den with".... 🙄

What a CO does at unit level is up to the CO with regards to boys and girls troops, but National should be standing behind their stance that Scouts BSA as a whole is not discriminatory and, at the very least, should be responding to posts on social media that violate Scout Law - a Scout is Kind, a Scout is Considerate, a Scout is Friendly - even if what is said doesn't fall foul of YPT or state/federal laws etc.

Admittedly, the online Den Resources Guide looks good, but I did have to chuckle at the "no printed book because that is a cost to bear to deliver the program and we're trying to remove these barriers", and yet, if your pack requires the full uniform for each Cub:

Lion $74 (tshirt, cap, belt, neckerchief, slide)
Tiger $130+ (field uniform, socks, council patch, pack numbers, world scouting movement patch, cap, neckerchief, slide - extra if you want standalone shorts, new Cub needs belt etc, slightly less for girls as the girls roll-up pants or skort are cheaper than the switchback pants)
Wolf $44 (cap, neckerchief, slide) + field uniform if required
Bear $44 (cap, neckerchief, slide) + field uniform if required
Webelos $54 (cap, neckerchief, slide, adventure colors) + field uniform if required
Arrow of Light $138 (field uniform, belt, shoulder loops, non-Webelos slide - $171 if green shorts also wanted) assuming Webelos hat, neckerchief, colors, and shirt patches can be carried over from blue field uniform)

So, if your cub needs the entire uniform for all 6 years, you're looking at a minimum of nearly $500 in outfitting costs, plus extra for when they grow out of the field uniform shirt and pants along the way...

Plus new handbooks every year.

A scout is thrifty 🤪

As an ACM (and just this month an ASM, too - crossover...) I obviously don't see much of any conversations between the CM/SM and higher ups, but we do see our UC pretty regularly, and our DE is involved - came to the Troop's Spaghetti Dinner, came to the Pack's B&G, responds pretty quickly to emails, and she is friendly and personable. The districts seem to be struggling a little with taking over BALOO/IOLS/things like that from Council-controlled, but they are being communicative about it, which is great. Just be nice if the Council could be more up-to-date with information on their website etc.

Of course, the DE for the next district over could be the complete opposite...

On 3/17/2024 at 1:09 PM, RememberSchiff said:

Found this Webinar BSA Renewal System Overview. Q&A starts at 33:00

 

Thanks for this, @RememberSchiffinteresting to watch, and hopefully there will be some more guidance coming out soon for this. Sent a link to my CM to watch, too.

On 8/24/2023 at 9:32 AM, Eagledad said:

Anyone heard of LDS troops? ...

Yup, adult leadership in an LDS unit was a "calling" for an adult member of that ward of the church, normally for a year minimum, I think. I know someone who was "called" to be the Webelos DL for a year.

On 3/16/2024 at 11:02 AM, Eagle1993 said:

I just completed a scouting survey.  It included standard questions and asked for recommendations.  It has additional questions for Scoutmasters that dug into collecting feedback about how girls troops are run (are they really independent or integrated and if integrated how integrated are they).  It then had questions about recommendations if BSA should consider coed Troops and if they were coed, how integrated should the integrated Troops be managed.

Hopefully this is really a survey to get input before decisions but I know that is not always the case.  However, I can say that BSA must be at least considering changing how girls are integrated.

FWIW, I recommended allowing coed Troops but keeping girls patrols.  I felt like that would open up scouting to more girls but still allow some space for coharts to bond.  

I wonder if they've talked to the other countries within WoSM that have been co-ed for years/decades (1988 for Cubs and Scouts in Australia, 1992 for Cubs and Scouts in UK, 1989 for New Zealand, etc) for their input?

I saw this photo on Twitter that appears to have come from the WoSM originally,  and it looks like the Scouter on the right has a different BSA hat on than I've seen before. It looks to be somewhat similar to the '97 National Jamboree "bush hat" but with an embroidered BSA log and Boy Scouts of America, rather than just a logo.

My Google-fu is lacking - any ideas?

We have a similar/different balance to go through in our family.

Me = Assistant Cubmaster and now an ASM/Trail to First Class role
Wife = Wolf DL and Treasurer
Eldest son = just crossed over to Troop
Youngest son = current Wolf

We have to balance taking the boys on two different nights, I've had to do extra training online for ASM which hasn't been an issue (slow work day = online training complete 😄), I need to do IOLS which has just been canceled for May in our Council (enext one is October - brrrr), wife wants to do BALOO but all but one of those has been canceled and not sure if she can go to the last remaining one yet. I'm doing RSO training coming up, I will be going on the Troop camps, we'll be going on the family camp...

I can foresee that when our youngest crosses over in three years time, my wife will change registration to the Troop and probably take up a committee role there.

Add in the  other activities (homework, karate for one kid, coding for another, plus family gatherings etc) along with both of us working, we have to do a lot of balancing.

And, to bring this one up to date, the parent now needs to be a Registered Adult to camp with the Troop, correct?

Crossroads of the West (uses same EIN as Great Salt Lake Council did) shows only one paid position for 2020, the SE, at $123,107 for reportable compensation from the organization, plus $71,592 in other compensation from the orgnaization and related organizations, so $194,699 in total.

New to the forum (naturally, as I'm writing this..) - ADL in Cub Scouting (1 boy in Webelos 1, 1 in Tigers where I am the ADL and my wife is the DL). Followed our two through from Lions.

Not new to Scouting, per se, but a little different as I was a cub and scout in the late 70s/early 80s in the UK - the era of (cubs) sweaters with badges, green caps (not ball caps..), gray shorts (or pants if you were lucky), green long socks with elasti c garters and tabs, (scouts) green shirt, tan polyester pants, green beret..

Hope to follow with the boys through cubs, at least