Aidan_MacAnBhaird

The council adjacent to ours has a district solely for Venturing, whereas, we are one of the only crews in our council. I asked about their program and if they had a district run VLSC or would be interested in having us jump in with one of their more experienced crews. They have provided a goodly amount of information, and passed my name on to their coordinator to further this along. In our situation, being only 6 months old, this may provide the greatest benefit for the crew. Just a thought about looking outside the "box", as our inexperience may provide some challenge and interest to a

Thanks for the input folks. The reason I used and stated personal experience was precisely because many municipalities and schools tend to blame the ACLU on virtually everything. I personally have a great disdain for misrepresentation and biggotry, both of which I found without short supply in some Texas communities, unfortunately. And even more unfortunate, both can be found virtually in every corner of this country to some degree, still. I happened to be online this a.m. due to a frantic phone call from our current Eagle candidate. He of course needed one more paper trail, and was havi

purceIce - how old is your crew, and have you done this before? Emb - when dealing with a young crew that has not gone through VLSC before, would you find it acceptable for the youth to choose an area most interesting to them, learn it, then present it to the rest of the crew at vlsc? Or do you think it would be better to find a crew who has experience with VLSC and and see if they can jump in with them? Thanks

That is correct Merlyn. These incidences took place about 7 years ago. I did not provide the city or school districts names as they have been through enough. There was some news coverage of the flagpole event, which is how the various alums including myself found out about it. The others did not. This is an open forum. There is no guarantee any of the people reading these posts or even the posters themselves are involved in scouts. There is no need to have an untold number of viewers, and the people to whom they send copies of or redirect to these posts calling any school districts. This

Hi Merlyn - Sorry for the confusion - I was in a rush & did not even read before sending. In every single one of those cases I was present. I don't know about cites. The e-mails and info I would get from the ACLU regarding cases I personally saw was usually quite different than the actual actions and statements made without cameras rolling. Personally, I found their tactics deplorable. Their soundbites and web bits are either non-existent or relatively contrary to the actual acts and statements I witnessed. I have no idea where they stand on "prayer around the flagpole" now. At t

Love the idea purceIce! The ACLU has had some really nobel ideas, unfortunately, they also have had some of the most misguided litigation known to this country, costing millions of dollars to individuals, companies, and organizations. Merlyn_LeRoy - the ACLU ensured the public schools in our neck of Texas could say absolutely nothing about Christmas, yet demanded these kids learn about a number of festivals to do with Wicca, Kwaanza, and some new age group to help "round" out their education. A kid praying over his own lunch silenetly usually brought disciplinary action until someone

Where do you plan to hold your training and how long are you planning to be there? How many adults do you have lined up to help? Which part or parts are you talking about specifically? Do you find them boring or are you looking to add more meaning to what they learn? Do you have access to electronics during the training?

Seems like the same answer to the original question keeps poping up in different forms: Troops that are run on the BSA model are successful model units. Units that try to re-invent the wheel or only follow part of the model (aka - adult led) are losing scouts. And to think, it only took 9 pages of repeat the obvious, again! Brianbuff - I think your original question is quite worthwhile; however, and with all sincerity, I believe the spirit of scouting is completely lost to you. I say that with all humbleness and humility. I haven't read your website. After perusing scouting

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU To everyone who posted their ideas and opinions to my original question. Thanks also for the PM's full of useful data, programs, and resources. The roundtable introduction was a great success! I've been attending RT meetings plainclothes while we were all making sure we had a solid foundation as a crew and all of the adult leaders (including myself) were fully trained and prepared to communicate knowledgably with other Scouters. This tacit was also useful in providing a great deal of curiosity, as our district is very big on "shirt reading" and the collec

Hey mmhardy - yello-hammer has a very valid point. We as adults who have perused the myspace web site, and especially those that log in as 14-16 year-old boys and girls have a pretty good working knowledge regarding what to expect. We as adults can often sense when a conversation or a chat thread is turning unacceptable, but most teens just don't get it. So yes, we can monitor away, but what would be your advise to a daughter that just fat fingered a button from an unsolicited cam-chat, only to see a grown man about your age performing live on screen. Of course delete it. Now delete it from yo

Did anyone notice all the links in this thread are broken? Any new links?

I FORGOT ABOUT THE SPEAKING MERIT BADGE - AND THAT'S PART OF MY JOB - have some boys speaking at a roundtable and they have either already finished or just finished their communications. This one's a no-brainer. We have mentors for our youth, either as SM's, ASM's, DL's, ADL's, A's, AA's, merit badge councilors, consultants, and more. What mentoring program do we have for the adults? Why isn't each new unit started with the assistance of a mentor who ensures the spirit of scouting shines through? Why doesn't this mentor check on each pack, troop, team, or crew in BSA on a regular sch

So, since we all know of at least a few units that would not hold up to this type of scrutiny, what would be the preliminary action to ensure each troop would be prepared to receive recruits with a factual perception of scouting? Not every troop can meet the needs of every boy, so SM's would have to be honest about who would do best in which troop, but otherwise, how to help obviously lacking troops raise to the scouting standard? Do you think the districts or councils these troops are in just don't care, don't have the resources to help, or what? Just curious.

Thank you emb021 for the web reference. I am going through all of the materials we have had to create on our own and make sure they are in the right format. Eamonn - You asked about the need to "win over" scout masters. We are in a highly rural area. When something negative is said to a youth (the venturer), or group (the troop to which the venturer belongs)about venturing, it is passed through the school chain to a large segment of our recruitable youth. Thus, the potential scout/venturer is lost. Add to that the negativity these youth receive when at their troop meetings and events. Th

1ST AND FORMOST, I AM SO THANKFUL FOR ALL THE POINTS MADE TO MY INITIAL QUESTION. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS RESPONDED SO FAR AND A THANK YOU ALSO TO THOSE WHO WILL BE MAKING POSTS AS THIS PROGRESSES. This has helped prepare me for the Roundtable more than any other notes or necessities as this has given me insight into the types of questions which may be asked; however, the greatest benefit has been the need to me to examine these points and ensure my information and understanding are bang-on solid. embo21 - The Venture/Ranger handbook states, "venturing is a catalyst." on page 2. The