dluders

1. Our year-old Venturing Crew is having a change of adult leadership for Rechartering 2009. Our previous Committee Chair was a female parent who also acted as a FEMALE ADVISOR. She believes that it is a REQUIREMENT to have COED ADULT LEADERSHIP present at ALL coed Venturing Crew activities (meetings, daytime outings, as well as overnight campouts). I believe that since there is no official BSA Female Advisor position per se, the need for a female adult leader is really only for OVERNIGHT campouts. There ALREADY IS Two-Deep Leadership present (albeit, male leadership) at crew events. I c

This weekend, I will fill out my council's record card (along with photocopies of ALL of my training records YET AGAIN), and personally hand-deliver the entire package to the council. What choice do I have? After all, the form letter everyone got basically BLACKMAILS folks into compliance: "I am writing to remind you of the new training requirements for adult leaders in the XXXX Council....Effective December 31, 2008 [i.e., the Rechartering deadline], all unit "top leaders"...[and] 'direct contact leaders', including Assistant Scoutmasters, are required to be trained. Scoutmasters and

"Bob White", I ALREADY TOLD YOU (via your two, unsolicited "Private Messages") WHY my troop lost membership. DON'T CHANGE THE SUBJECT. We're talking about COUNCIL RECORD KEEPING, not my troop. I know the saying, "He who is without sin, cast the first stone." Well, any organization who loses the same records 5 times in 8 years (regardless of the reason) IS INCOMPETANT by any objective measure. I'm a licensed Civil Engineer working for the US Air Force. Anybody who goofs up the SAME WAY in my profession/workplace gets people killed. There is little/no tolerance for incompetance.

1. Whether or not a council continues to use the (faulty) ScoutNet national database or not, BACK UP THE DATA with a locally-developed, Excel spreadsheet. How complicated could this be? If ScoutNet is unreliable, then (gee) maybe they should have a BACKUP. What a business concept! 2. The fact that I called my council's staff "incompetant" seems to rankle "Bob White". He apparently wants me to settle for mediocrity, and just resubmit the same paperwork for the 6th time without a peep. Well, "A Scout Is Trustworthy" to keep the records of the volunteers who make the program work.

I still believe it's a matter of competancy. The council "professionals" has known about the problem with the danged national BSA database program, but they stuck with it anyway. You know the old saying, "Three strikes and you're out"? Well, it took 5 strikes to get through to our council staff that "Gee, we have a problem here" and to FINALLY do something about it. You take an Excel spreadsheet, populate the data, BACK IT UP on a cheap $15 thumb drive, and you're done. No more lost data, no more telling the same Scouters EVERY YEAR that their training records are lost and that they m

Here is the entire, unedited text of the reply from our council's Program Director (who sent me the form letter, and to whom I complained yesterday): "I very much appreciate you taking the time to express your frustration. For years our council, like almost all other councils in America, have utilized a national BSA database to track all training records. The data base I am referring to is great for a variety of useful applications. However, the component that deals with tracking training records has been very inconsistent over the years. Our support staff has done their job correctly

Naw, I already wrote such a letter to the Scout Executive last time. It didn't do any good. This time, I'm going to raise the issue at the council's "Open House" on October 30th. I want to know how many other Scouters are getting jacked-around with similar form letters, and wasting their time re-taking the same course. I want the council to FIND my training records. You know, the ones that I EARNED through MANY WEEKENDS away from my family. They're going to ACKNOWLEDGE their recurring, systemic problem and FIX IT once and for all. Any small business who lost their records 5

1. A few days ago I received a form letter from my council's Program Director. It reminded me of the "new training requirements for adult leaders", and stated that "Our records currently indicate that as an Assistant Scoutmaster you have not yet completed the following course(s): New Leaders Essentials and Scoutmaster & Assistant Scoutmaster Specific Training." This letter marked the 5th time in 8 years that my council has "lost" my training records. 2. I already had provided my council with those (and other) training certificates, as recently as last autumn. Although I received

Thanks for the replies so far. To summarize, it sounds like my son won't have to be dual-registered in a Boy Scout troop because (1) He's a Life Scout, (2) He's already served as a troop "Position of Responsibility" for 6 months as a Life Scout, and this is signed-off on his Boy Scout Handbook and Eagle Scout Application form, (3) He can have an Eagle Court of Honor wearing his Venturing "Class A" uniform (no merit badge sash). Again (due to High School time pressures), my son won't be able to be truly "active" in two Scouting units simultaneously. Being a phantom member of a troop is

My 15-year-old Life Scout son is CONSIDERING joining a new Venturing Crew soon (since his old troop is "folding"). He can join another nearby troop, or join the Venturing Crew and still work on his Eagle Scout (only 2 Eagle-required MBs and Eagle Project are left). Due to High School time pressures, he's doesn't really have the time to be truly "active" in two Scouting units simultaneously. He's already served in a troop-level leadership position for 6 months as a Life Scout. I read through the BSA Venturing literature and the past year's posts on this forum, but still have these quest

I'm the Scoutmaster of a 25-Scout troop, and only 3 of the 25 Scouts are going on today's overnight campout. School just "let out" yesterday, and apparently folks have other plans. Even my own 14-year-old Life Scout son can't go, since he's 2500 miles away on a big trip. Should I have cancelled this campout (due to a lack of participation), or should a troop hold its campouts no matter what? Right now, we're planning on going anyway with 3 Scouts and 3 Scouters (including myself). That's a pretty poor turnout, don't you think? The Scouts THEMSELVES voted for this campout location and dat

I earned my Eagle Scout on 9/4/1973 from the Greenwich Council, (Greenwich, CT) and am currently a Scoutmaster in Spokane, WA.

Thanks for all of the additional replies. I'd like to answer some questions that some of the respondents had: 1) Since the Life Scout DID serve admirably as Chaplain's Aide for 6 months, he fulfilled his Position of Responsibility. I don't know if some Ass't Scoutmaster signed off on this in his Scout Handbook yet, but I can't deny his eligibility for Eagle Scout on these grounds. 2) The Scout DOES show "Scout Spirit," but since he only comes to 1/3 of the troop meetings (and no campouts) anymore, I was hoping for more "Scout Spirit." I agree with others that he should be mentor

Our troop's policy is: "To be considered active in Troop xxx, a scout is expected to attend 50% of scheduled Troop meetings and activities during the Troops annual plan calendar. Participation in extra BSA functions will be favorably considered, and at the discretion of the Scoutmaster, may offset some missed Troop functions. Any scout not meeting these standards will be reviewed by the Scoutmaster and committee on a semi-annual basis for continuation in the troop. To be considered for a Troop Brownsea scholarship, a higher standard of participation is expected." Obviously, this

Just to clarify the specific situation about this Life Scout: a) He became a Life Scout at a Board of Review on Feb 8, 2005. b) He has had the same Scoutmaster (me) for the past 3-1/3 years. c) He was much more involved in troop campouts, meetings, & other activities before his last campout 1-1/2 years ago (in Oct 2005).

I have a nearly-15-year-old Life Scout in my troop who's working on his Eagle Project again after a 1-year delay. His last troop campout was over 1-1/2 years ago (in Oct 2005). He attends about 1/3 of the troop meetings, due to conflicts with other activities. As his Scoutmaster, should I consider him to be "active" for the purposes of rank advancement to Eagle Scout? Why or why not? [NOTE: Our troop does have a policy in this regard, but I'd like to solicit the opinion of experienced Scouters nationwide when I'm asked to justify my answer to the Scouters in my troop.]

Back on topic: "YES" or "NO" -- Does a district and/or council have the right to impose limits on Merit Badge Counseling? I read cover-to-cover the entire BSA "Advancement Committee Guide Policies & Procedures" manual #33088D (2006 printing), and I see no provisions for any local limits at all.

Yes, I suppose I could "drop" some of the various Merit Badges that I'm counselor for, to gain some more time for my Scoutmaster's duties. I hope that people don't expect the Scoutmaster to be a robot, teaching the same-ol' Tenderfoot-to-First-Class stuff year after year. What happened to having some FUN and CAREER-BROADENING with my own son, a Life Scout? Why can't I have the latitude to teach him as many Merit Badges as I feel like? Like I said before, he wants me to teach him Aviation Merit Badge. Right now, I don't have "room" on my danged "quota" of 7-MBs-per-counselor. How many

Yes, I agree with "Lisabob" that every Scouter wants to have their own set of MB counselors within their own unit. Why shouldn't they? They KNOW the parents, they want to help the Scouts in their own unit (i.e., the friends of their own sons), and they DON'T HAVE TO TRAVEL FAR. Due to the mandatory "buddy system" requirement (whereby at least 2 Scouts must meet with a non-relative MB Counselor), there are SCHEDULING problems when dealing with other units. What better way to "schedule" a MB session than to chat about it at the weekly Troop Meetings or monthly campouts? I bust my bu

"John-in-KC," I really don't think you appreciate how time-consuming being Scoutmaster is. I typically have 3-4 Scouting events per week, every week. My "Scouting widow" wife gets miffed that I'm going to meetings all the time. Just today, I got a telephone call from the mother of a Scout in another troop who took my Citizenship in the World Merit Badge class, but needs to make up one more requirement. I'm supposed to chainsaw some fallen trees at the local Boy Scout Camp this Sunday. When am I supposed to relax and enjoy some free time with my own son? At last night's District Round

To answer "lisabob"s questions, no, my troop doesn't have just a few parents teaching all of the various Merit Badges. I've mentioned all the ones I'm counselor for (E-Prep, Metal Work, Cooking, Cycling, Camping, Cit in World, Coin Collecting, & Space Expl.). Although I admit that I prefer just working with only the Scouts in my own troop, it's out of necessity since I'm SHORT OF FREE TIME as Scoutmaster. I'm leaving in 45 minutes for my 3rd-consecutive Scouting night this week. The Merit Badge College classes on Coin Collecting & Citizenship in the World were open to all Scout

Indirectly from a fellow Scouter, here's the nominal reason that our District Executive has placed the merit badge limits: "Our district has too many parents signing blue cards for Scouts and not holding the values we have strongly. Due to this, the committee has approved some guidelines to help stop the problem in the District." Well then, why doesn't the District Advancement Committee not approve the Merit Badge Counselor applications for these "pencil-whippers"? Why should talented Scouters who do a GOOD JOB in teaching their merit badges be penalized with these limits? Let

I found out today from my District Advancement Chair that these limits are COUNCIL POLICY, not just District policy. I still haven't heard one reason WHY these limits are in place. I'm not going to agree with "Beavah" that I should just relax about this matter. Our new council policy is not in accordance with BSA policy as promulgated in ACP&P #33088. There are Latter-Day Saints (Mormon) units in our area who DO have a greater heartburn with these limits than I do. I don't think that our Council or District Advancement folks want to address the perceived "Eagle Mill" reput

I don't yet know WHY my Distric Executive (or the District Advancement Chair) has set these limits. I have my suspicions, but I will find out at tomorrow night's monthly Roundtable, when the DE and the Scout Executive will both be in attendance. In the meantime, I bought a copy of the 2006 printing of the Advancement Committee Guide Policies and Procedures. On page 13, it indeed does say: "There is no restriction or limit on the number of merit badges an individual may be approved to counsel for, but they must be approved by the committee for each specific merit badge." [Note th

I thank all of the Scouters who have responded so far. It is most interesting that my district's edicts are in violation of the BSA Advancement Committee Policies & Procedures manual #33088D. Since "Lisabob" did ask, here are the pros and cons of the 7-Merit-Badges-per-counselor rule: PRO: Scouts can meet different Merit Badge counselors and develop their communications skills with unfamiliar people. CONS: 1. Scouts already have to use the Buddy System to take classes from Merit Badge counselors. By limiting the number of different merit badges offered by Scouters in