walk in the woods

Same in my area. Council and District FOS is behind last year and only at 60% of goal as of the end of April.

I sit in a commissioners meeting every month with family scouting as an agenda item. It's a permanent item because the rules change every month. I'd love to be able to help my pack navigate the issue but anything I say in May will be untrue in June. For example, National made the name change announcement and also said the Cub program would officially open on June 11th. I had the conversation with my leaders who also saw the announcement. Three days later I'm told by my DE that our council isn't opening up enrollment until September, regardless of what was in the announcement and if you do

I don't believe this is a shared goal so the premise fails. For many, the ultimate goal is to help as many boys as possible make the transition to manhood. I disagree. The point is to play the game to the best of your ability inside the rules. When the rules are rewritten to the point the game is fundamentally changed, people have to make a decision on whether to continue.

Now that the LDS have announced their intention to leave, the move to co-ed could happen as early as the NAM in a couple of weeks. "We've heard from the field and parents that our linked troops idea is unworkable and that they'd prefer to be co-ed. Therefore, blah, blah, blah."

Key word and tricky phrase. It assumes units see retention as an issue and are willing to change.

Anybody have a feel for the impact on Scouts Canada?

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900018074/mormons-to-drop-scouting-as-part-of-new-global-initiative.html Here's the take from the Deseret News. It looks like the target for recruiting girls is about 500,000 to break even. It suggests 56000 LDS families contributed to FoS last year, 10% of councils will be heavily affected, Great Salt Lake will see market penetration drop from 50% of TaY to maybe 10-15%.

There is a distinction to be drawn regarding expectations. If a unit is camping at a public campground or national park then the expectation is they won't be in a boys-only environment. More importantly there's effectively no responsibility on the unit leadership for managing the other people in the campground. However, the expectation for BSA camps has been different. The summer camp environment has been single-gender from a participant perspective and the unit leadership has responsibility over all the participants. Those that want a single-gender program have no choice in the additiona

In fairness, this is a bit disingenuous. The "creative planning" will involve skipping most or all Council and District events, and likely most or all summer camps. The local option is great in not forcing units to go co-ed, but to assume you can plan around co-ed scouting is naive. Unless of course your CO is large enough to request and be granted a special week (e.g. LDS weeks at camps).

My unit never attended CFL summer camp but it is my council camp so I can offer a few thoughts. It is a patrol cooking camp so you'll be cooking your own meals. There used to be at least one camp-wide meal but I'm not sure if that's still the case. There is no pool if that matters to your scouts. All aquatics are at the camp lake. That said, the lake is enclosed by the camp so there aren't any noisy neighbors to worry about. Swimming with the ice bergs and inflatables is there along with canoeing, kayaking, rowing, and small boat sailing. The shooting sports venues have recently been re

Why wait for the accusations of patriarchy! That foundation is/has already been set.

Apparently our CSE is going to tell girls that separate units is in their best interests: Surbaugh said that having separate units for boys and girls should alleviate concerns that girls joining the BSA for the first time might be at a disadvantage in seeking leadership opportunities. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-boy-scouts-name-change-20180502-story.html

Citizen @Jameson76, It has come to our attention that your thinking and actions are not in line with expectations. You are hereby ordered to cease and desist such behavior and thoughts. Members of the Ministry of Insults and Strawman Argumentation (MISA) will be monitoring your future posts. In the event you do not cease and desist with such behavior you will be assigned to Special High Intensity Reorientation Training (SHIRT) until such time as your behavior improves. The liberal elite leaders of your movement understand the importance of resistance. In the event resistance is requi

The pros in my council keep saying we can accept girls into Cub Scouts in September. The release says: I wonder what the actual answer might be.

Hmmm. So if a GSUSA unit and Pack want to run a joint Pinewood Derby they have to produce multiple fliers for the various constituencies? That's a bureaucracy worthy of government. I can see the recruiting posters but the promotional material seems a bit much and too context sensitive for a blanket ruling.

Well, I saw a porter cable corded power drill. Here's a second reference to the restrictions on power tools, https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/healthsafety/pdf/680-028.pdf. Power cutting tools limited to those 14 and over or per the manufacturers instructions, which ever is stricter. The manufacturers instructions are at http://pdf.lowes.com/installationguides/885911115216_install.pdf and specifically say "Keep children and bystanders away while operating a power tool." While I do see eye protection in the PPE, and a mounted work piece, there's no evidence of hearing protection.

I think you just made Gwaihir's point. We're what, three or four or five months before the full launch (depending on whose information you can believe), why is National still guessing what the program will look like? Summer Day Camp deadlines have come and gone and nobody has even told us officially when we can accept girls! Well, technically we've been told mid-September, but, unofficially we've been told other stuff by the same professionals. My pack isn't an early adopter but it sure would be nice to know the required leadership structure NOW so we can, you know, be prepared for the lau

The problem of course is what to do with the 4H comes calling, or the PNA, or the local Catholic Parish, or.....When the government picks winners and losers we all lose.

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2018/04/18/Penn-state-university-ends-Outing-Club-trips/stories/201804180168?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook According to an announcement posted by the club on its website last week, the university will not allow the club to organize and run outdoor, student-led trips starting next semester. “This is a result,” the announcement said, “of an assessment of risk management by the university that determined that the types of activities in which PSOC engages are above the university’s threshold of acceptable ris

Fearful Symmetry would be a good band name.

So basically they've opened the PTC spouse and children's program to families, eliminating the need for mom/dad to register for a training course?

The crackdown on management of PII is only just beginning. The NIST decribes PII in this document, and the GDPR rules coming out of the EU, to be implemented next month are tough as well, https://www.csoonline.com/article/3215864/privacy/how-to-protect-personally-identifiable-information-pii-under-gdpr.html.

I tend to agree, although I'd go a bit further even. We're also constantly complaining about 14-year old Eagles and the like. I'd move Star, Life and Eagle, plus merit badges into the older program exclusively. The middle-school program could focus on 1st class skills. Summer camp for the 11-13-year old youth could actually be patrol-orienteed (today our patrol is going to the waterfront and shooting sports, tomorrow...) rather than running off individually to merit badge classes. The youth that want Eagle would stay in the older program and could pursue the path, those that just wanted

Well, two days before he qualified for special circumstances to allow him to retire at 50 (instead of between 57 and 62). https://www.forbes.com/sites/ebauer/2018/03/17/no-andrew-mccabe-isnt-losing-his-pension/#656e31d9236d

Beekeeping!