CNYScouter

Ok so i just emailed my DE asking him for the training record by unit in my District.

He responded that our new registrar is a few months behind in updating training records and I would have to wait 3 or 4 month before I can get copies of the records

Our new registrar started on April 19th!!!

Ok so i just emailed my DE asking him for the training record by unit in my District.

He responded that our new registrar is a few months behind in updating training records and I would have to wait 3 or 4 month before I can get copies of the records

Our new registrar started on April 19th!!!

Our Cubmaster stepped down this spring and the WEBII Den Leader agreed to be our new Cubmaster.

He is continuing on as the WEBII Den Leader too.

A few months ago he was talking about starting a Troop with the 5 boys in his Den.

My advice to him was that unless he had 4 other adults willing to give 110% in starting up this new unit not to do it.

He said that he had other leaders and they were the other parents in his Den.

A few weeks later he asked me about improving his Den meetings because some of the parents are telling him they are boring. I suggested that he get his boys outdoors more. He replied that he couldnt get the parents to do even a day hike with him. None of these parents are even on the Pack Committee.

I just heard that he is moving forward on starting this new Troop.

I have to admit being selfish about this but being a parent of a Cub in the Pack if he is going to be Cubmaster (and a DL on top of that) he needs to put effort into that and trying to start a new troop along with these two other roles everything is going to suffer.

Even though he is fully trained as a SM he was not a Scout as a youth and has no experience (and neither does any of the parents in Den) at the Boy Scout level.

If these parents arent willing to do day hikes what going to happen when the Scouts go camping every month?

If the other parents in his den arent willing to be on the Pack Committee how much good are they going to be in a Troop?

There is no Unit Commissioner and as of tomorrow I am the new District Commissioner.

I am working hard to get people to fill our missing commissioner positions but right now Im it.

Due to health reasons the COR for this unit is hands-off with the day-to-day stuff and will not get involved. On top of this the CC for the Pack is new (took over in March), hasnt been to training yet and doesnt really understand their role in all of this.

I am pretty busy with Scouts myself being the District Commissioner, a DL and a parent of a couple of Venturers. However, I have a trained Den Chief and wife helping run the Den and I am only a parent in the Crew.

But being a WDL, CM and trying to start a new unit all at once is way beyond something I would even consider taking on.

I want to say that I am not against starting new units especially when a troop is needed in an area but I cant see putting time and effort into a unit that has failure written all over it.

Of course our DE is pushing for this unit to be started. Our DE has been actively involved with starting 3 units since he started. All of them failed within a year because there was no time and effort put into getting things going correctly and shouldn't have been started in the first place.

Ive started a unit from finding a CO to recruiting members to running the unit so Ive had experience starting a unit and know what its going to take.

I had little help or advise in trying to put it together and was almost in the same position as he is now.

I ended up burning out when I didnt have any support from a committee and parents.

In looking back I should have never started the unit unless I had an active committee and other leaders trained and ready to help out.

Although the unit is going after 4 years they are still having trouble getting enough people to be on the committee and most of the people on it are in name only.

Any advice for this leader about over-committing? And maybe Im not the one that should be giving it!

My council is one of the 20 councils in the pilot program that is 1 year ahead.

Top unit leaders (Cubmasters, Scoutmaster, Varisity Coaches, Explorer Post Advisors, Crew Advisors and Sea Scout Skippers)need to be fully trained by 12/31/10 or they will not be allowed to register in that position in the unit next year.

The following year (by 12/31/11) all assistant Leaders must be fully trained.

My real need is to figure out if we are asking for training records from the right place.

Our units seem to think its our councils responsibilty to keep these records and I should be getting the records from them.

Cub Scout Packs should have a Pack Trainer that keeps these records but very dfew actually have someone in this position.

From the postings here its the individuals responsibility to make sure their training records are up to date.

I want to be sure we are going to the right place and give the right answer to collect records.

At our monthly council commissioners meeting meeting we were told that the determination of who is considered trained is being done by National and will be coming from ScoutNet.

Our training chair got a trained completed report for the district - 8 pages long

Some people had most of the required training listed - others had no trainining listed.

The untrained report is 49 pages long.

We have a leader who name appears on both reports.

They pulled their individual record and all his training is listed but most of it doesn't appear in either of the other reports.

Which report is being used to determine who is trained?

Are ScoutNet reports not linked or is something else not right?

Im 100% in agreement that no project is too big if it is well thought out and well planned.

Just about every Eagle project Ive read in BL or Scouter magazine, and projects in other Districts from our council Ive read about in the paper, wouldnt have been approved in my District because they would have been deemed too big for an Eagle project.

The UC will be having a discussion with the SM about Eagle projects its the first time that we've heard about problems from this Troop.

One other problem I am seeing is that someone from our Advancement Committee (EBOR) only shows up 2 or 3 times a year to the District Committee meetings so months often go by before hearing about these things.

I am still not sure if we even have a DAC.

Someone is listed as the DAC but he has stated that he is only the head of the Eagle BOR.

In the over two years of going to District meetings I have never seen them attend.

Our District Training Chair wanted to get all records for every leader in our District.

With the poor record keeping theres no way we going to do this by the end of the year.

I suggested that we concentrate on the Top unit leaders as their records need to be complete by the end of the year and do the Assistant Leaders next year.

What we are looking at doing is sending a letter showing each top leader what they have on record in ScoutNet and what is missing. For any discrepancies they are asked to contact our Training Chair.

Once we get most of the records in our training chair will sit down with our registrar and update the records

We have an even bigger issue with YPT as no YPT records were ever entered into ScoutNet.

Gunny2862 - At every training I have attended or taught the attendees have been told to keep the training cards as it may be the only record that they took the training.

From the sounds of things very few people did this.

We have units who think that our council is responsible for keeping track of training records and are not going to supply them.

Im helping getting my Districts training records up to date.

The District Training Chair got a report for all of our top leaders.

Not a single one has all the required training recorded in ScoutNet.

It seems that our old registrar was very hit or miss on inputting training records into ScoutNet. They have been replaced and our new registrar is working to get things updated.

We have asked units in our District to supply training records for leaders.

After 6 months less than 25% of our units have turned in records.

I have been told by a few units that council has all the records and they arent going to supply them.

Even if I (as a volunteer) were allowed access to the records, going through 30 years and a few dozen file cabinets full of records trying to find an individuals record is going to be impossible.

In not letting volunteers help I dont see how one single registrar is going to do this by the end of the year.

So asking our units for these records is the only way we can get training records up to date.

Looking through unit committee responsibilities; a Pack should have a Pack Trainer which keeps training records.

But in the Troop Committee guidebook there is no mention about the Training Coordinator keeping training records.

There is nothing in the Venturing literature about keeping training records either.

At every training session we tell our participants to keep their training cards in a safe place as it may be the only record of them taking the course.

So whos responsible for keeping these records?

Individuals, Units or council?

I just see a lot of PO'ed leaders in January when they are not allowed to register and dropped from their unit roster because their training record is not up to date.

At our District meeting last week there was a discussion about Eagle projects. There is a Troop in our district that our EBOR has issues about Eagle projects. LAst month a Scout showed up for his EBOR from this Troop with no project write up, he didn't know he had to do one.

This lead to another comment that Scouts in this Troop Egale Projects are too big.

Another Scout from this same troop did a project putting in drainage ditches. He ended up having to rent a large piece of equipment that cost $5K.

I was told another project was turned down for being too big.

The scout was going to build a very large deck and the organization was going to donate the materials with the cost of $10,000.

When (if ever) is an Eagle project too big?

I just happened to receive a copy of the Training Codes from ScoutNet dated today.

High-Adventure Skills Training for Venturers is listed as H42

Powderhorn is P50

Intro to Outdoor Skills is S11

No Passport to High Adventure listed.

OKPIK is listed as H98

Has anyone heard of this training?

Our council is in the pilot program for manditory training.

I'm helping to pull our Venturing Advisors training records together and one of them listed this for training.

According to my District Training Chair this is listed in our council records as a training course.

The training chair never heard of it and none of the other Venturing people I know have heard of it either.

A Google search came up with nothing.

Any idea what this training consisted of?(This message has been edited by CNYScouter)

Why use charcoal?

Last weekend at our council camp-o-ree I saw someone using a cardboard box stove to cook cupcakes. They were using a backpacking stove for a heat source.

They said they usually use a can of sterno but ran out of them and didnt have time to get more and substituted what they had for a heat source.

He jokingly said that he was going to use a 200 watt light bulb next time (think EZ-bake oven).

He also had an old metal pie tin to hold the charcoal and used 3 or 4 rock to hold it up off the ground.

Does anyone know if you can get an electronic file from Scoutnet?

Is there a way to get an excel spreadsheet or even a text file of a report?

If I want to creat a mailing list I have to get a hard copy printout from the council office but need to hand type all the addresses into a usable format.

My DE is saying it can't be done, but having a Comp Science degree I find it hard to believe that it can't be done

We have a new Registar that is a recent Business school grad and I have been told they are prettty good with computers but they don't know how to do this.

Anyone know how?

The last few months Ive heard a few new ones and didnt see them posted in the threads.

I was told these were BSA or National Policy

-The length of a blade on a pocket knife could not be longer than the width of your palm.

- A Scoutmaster can sign for all Merit Badges

-A Eagle project must be completed within 6 month of getting it approved.

- Eagle reference letters must be in by your birthday. My son had someone on our advancement committee tell him they were due the day before his birthday.

-from my DE: a Cub Scout can go back and work on earlier ranks

Heres a conversation I had:

Person 1: BSA doesnt allow fixed blade knifes.

Me: what about my fish filleting knife? Thats a fixed blade.

Person 1: Thats not allowed because you dont need one. Boy Scouts has a catch and release policy.

The Rank requirements pretty much spell this out:

Tenderfoot

2. Spend at least one night on a patrol or troop campout. Sleep in a tent you have helped pitch.

Second Class

3a. Since joining, have participated in five separate troop/patrol activities (other than troop/patrol meetings), two of which included camping overnight.

First Class

3. Since joining, have participated in ten separate troop/patrol activities (other than troop/patrol meetings), three of which included camping overnight.

So I would say that spending the night is required (at least 3 for 1st class)

I have been asked to take over as DC when our District re-charters in June.

A couple of things have happened over the last week or so that give me a question to ask.

The first thing is that I was copied on an email from one of our UCs to our DE stating that even though they had done FOS presentations in the past asking them to do it for a unit they were the UC for was just wrong. They went on to say that they didnt think the UCs should be doing FOS presentations at all as this was a District Committee responsibility.

The second thing happened while I was making a visit to one of the units I am the UC for. This just happened to be the night they were doing their FOS presentation. One of the parents asked me why I wasnt doing it as they thought that doing FOS presentations was what UCs did.

I know some of this is a symptom of a bigger problem as our District Committee is virtually non-existent and the Commissioners are doing many of the functions that should be done by the District Committee, but this is a whole other issue.

Heres my question:

Outside of FOS presentations are not in a UCs job description - why shouldnt UCs be doing FOS presentations (for their unit or any unit at all)?

Unfortunately this wasnt the only unit that this happened to in our District this year.

We had a Cub Pack in a low-income area that was started last year.

The manager of the housing development was the IH.

He really supported the unit and even paid the registration for the youth and leaders of the Pack to start them out.

He got replaced in Dec. and the new manager dropped the Pack.

Because this was a new unit they had little in the way of equipment and money so the entire unit transferred into another Pack.

The units I posted about earlier have been with the church 30+ years and with a new IH and exec board they just decided that they no longer wanted Scout units for their church.

This is not the first time I have seen this.

A few years ago the Troop my son was in was almost dropped.

They had been chartered by the same church since 1915 or so.

A new pastor came in and wanted to drop the unit.

The only reason they werent dropped was a few old-timers on the exec board knew how long they had chartered a Scout unit and talked the church into rechartering them.

Around here this seems to be happening more and more.

HAd a chance to chat with my friend this weekend about this at a Crew event.

No CO shopping with these units, the current CO has said they no longer wish to charter the units.

The current CO does not want the equipment, one of the issues they have is they dont want to store the units equipment in the church any longer.

This came about when in the beginning of March the units went to get the charter signed by the IH.

The IH said they wanted to look it over before signing.

When 3 weeks went by the IH finally said they wanted to bring it to the Church Exec board, which was meeting later that week, before signing.

This board meeting was canceled and the units were told that the charters would be discussed at the next scheduled meeting the end of May.

This is all stemming from a new IH last year; they dont like Scouts and have said so.

After some phane calls it seems the new exec board of the church isnt interested in having the units any longer either.

I dont see why the current CO would put any effort to find a new CO for these units; they dont want to charter them anymore and dont really care where they go as long as they go.

My friends unit has decided if they want a good Co for the unit they better do it themsselves rather than count a DE that doesn't seem to have any idea on where to go.

A Crew Advisor friend is stepping in as the CM for a Pack as the current CM was deployed overseas and was telling me he ended up in the middle of a mess.

The units in our District recharter in March and at the last minute the church that is the Packs CO (and a sister Troop) refused to sign the charter as they decided they no longer want to sponsor Scout units.

The church was convinced to sign the charter for this year and the 2 units would look for a new CO and move ASAP.

I am not involved with these units but this made me curious.

In this case who should be finding the new CO?

The Pack leaders have found a couple of possibilities and gave the contact info to our DE.

The DE told them to set up a meeting with these COs and he would try to show up.

The Pack Leadership thinks that our DE should be the person finding the new CO and the person who would make the initial contact with the CO and meet with them about chartering a unit.

In this situation how should this really work?

I found it on scoutstuff.org:

http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/ItemDetail.aspx?cat=01RTL&ctgy=PRODUCTS&c2=CCORNER&C3=BSA2010&C4=&LV=3&item=22076&prodid=22076%5E8%5E01RTL&

100th Anniversary Eagle Scout Lapel Pin

A special-edition commemorative treasure honoring Eagle Scouts past and present. Produced exclusively during this centennial year, this beautiful pin will only be available for a limited time.

Each 11/16 diameter pin is crafted of solid sterling silver and comes in a debossed jewelry box.

Retail Price: $24.99

Item: 22076

Availability:

Item is no longer available

Ok so can a Venturing crew be chartered by a high school?

Also, are crews allowed to be "clubs" of the school and chartered by a business?

A Scout unit cannot be chartered by a school directly but can be chartered by a PTG.

A Crew can be chartered by a business. Gander Mountain near us charters a Venturing Crew.

Can a Crew be a club of the school? and be chartered by a business?

Around here each school district makes their own rules about clubs in schools and how they are structured.

You would have to check with each school to find out what is allowed.

The crew my daughter is in is selling candy bars as a fundraiser.

Most of the kids in the crew are in a different school district than us.

They can sell the candy bars during school.

In our school district outside clubs are not allowed to sell anything during school hours only school clubs are allowed to do so.

I've never heard that female Venturers can earn Merit Badges.

The closest statement that I've about Venturing and merit badges is:

Qualified male Venturers who have achieved First Class as a Boy Scout or a Varsity Scout may earn all Boy Scout awards and Merit Badges until their 18th birthday.

As Merit Badges are not a program element of Venturing, young ladies and young men who did not earn 1st class in the Boy Scouts can not earn merit badges.

I agree that with awards such as totin' chip, Paul Bunyan and Firman chit that Venturers can earn these.

BALOO training is for doing Pack familycamping.

It covers health, safety and planning more than actual camping skills.

I agree with Eagle92 about WLOT - it is not required by national to take a WEBELOS den camping (but I would highly suggest taking it).

If you are camping with a scout troop, you are a guest of them and covered.

I agree with this also.

Youll find no BSA requirement that a leader must have outdoor leader training to take a troop camping.

If the 2 committee members are inexperienced campers and inexperienced in the Boy Scout program your CC made the right call not because they are untrained but because in the Sweet Sixteen of BSA Safety the first rule(?) is QUALIFIED SUPERVISION.

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/HealthandSafety/Resources/sweet16.aspx

If your CC felt these 2 committee members are not qualified to take the troop camping then it his role make this call and say no.

Doing a net search for "504 Gateway timeout" came up that this is a software error in the network routing information.

One suggestion on is to clear your browsing cache(and history).

In Internet Explorer look under Tools - Internet options.

I did this this morning when I got the time out error and I was able to open Scouter.com

I received an email from one of the leaders of a Sea Scout Ship that I am the UC for.

The goal of the CO is to teach sailing and go to sailboat racing competitions.

They also have an issue where the youth are showing no initiative or willingness to assume leadership roles in the ship and just want to show up and sail once a week and have fun.

The lack of Venturing training is an issue so my first suggestion will be to get the adult leadership trained.

My second bit of advice will be to train and work with the youth on the leadership positions in the Ship.

I think the issue goes deeper than training and is an attitude problem with the youth members

What other suggestions can I give them and work with them on?