Do units support the council, or council supports the units?

[Eagle94-A1]

1 hour ago, Tron said:

So the general vibe out of the 2026 NAM is that national, council, and districts support the units and changes are coming between now and this time next year for the organization to align to that philisophy.

"There is always home, a fool's hope."  We will see, but I am not holding my breath.

[mrjohns2]

On 5/15/2026 at 11:55 AM, Eagle94-A1 said:

"There is always home, a fool's hope."  We will see, but I am not holding my breath.

Agreed. I had hope that the CST would really help. I would love it if a unit had a question, they go to the district training chair who can't answer it, they go to the district training chair who can't answer it, who goes to the council training chair who can't answer it, who then goes to the CST training chair. They, then, know all of the different resources at national and get an answer. Then roll it back to all the people that rolled the question up. I haven't seen it happen. 😞 I have suggested a few times to go to the CST resource, but everyone looks at me like that would be crazy. 

[Eagle94-A1]

3 hours ago, mrjohns2 said:

Agreed. I had hope that the CST would really help. I would love it if a unit had a question, they go to the district training chair who can't answer it, they go to the district training chair who can't answer it, who goes to the council training chair who can't answer it, who then goes to the CST training chair. They, then, know all of the different resources at national and get an answer. Then roll it back to all the people that rolled the question up. I haven't seen it happen. 😞 I have suggested a few times to go to the CST resource, but everyone looks at me like that would be crazy. 

Sadly it is easier to keep up with social media postings on topics than do the above. Heck I have found out things before the pros find out. And I have been asked by my council to take down my reposts of national announcements because they ant to put their spin on it.

 

[skeptic]

5 hours ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

Sadly it is easier to keep up with social media postings on topics than do the above. Heck I have found out things before the pros find out. And I have been asked by my council to take down my reposts of national announcements because they ant to put their spin on it.

 

I suspect a few of my posts on District pages have been wiped, as the council has the office as a moderator on them.  But, I generally share stuff I get from the National groups, like Commissioners, and especially On Scouting.  I find many are not aware of this, and local council often  does not pass stuff along.  Their newsletters are always months out of date.  IF it came from a National source, I feel it should be okay to share it.  Tough if they do not want your to.  

 

[InquisitiveScouter]

7 hours ago, skeptic said:

I suspect a few of my posts on District pages have been wiped, as the council has the office as a moderator on them.  But, I generally share stuff I get from the National groups, like Commissioners, and especially On Scouting.  I find many are not aware of this, and local council often  does not pass stuff along.  Their newsletters are always months out of date.  IF it came from a National source, I feel it should be okay to share it.  Tough if they do not want your to.  

 

I have never been impressed with the communication prowess of the organization, nor the flow of information from National to units. 

With the old interweb thingy at our fingers now,  you'd think the simple solution is a "Daily Read File" or some such.  National posts all policy and procedure changes there, and anyone can access and read.  

The hard part would be keeping duff, fluff, puff, and stuff out of it... you know, propaganda, feel good, and image pieces like you see here https://www.scoutingnewsroom.org/

Like this:  Did you know that National has released an updated Annual Health and Medical Record (2026 version)???

 

Edited May 18 by InquisitiveScouter

[Eagle94-A1]

1 hour ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

I have never been impressed with the communication prowess of the organization, nor the flow of information from National to units.

Not just units. Anyone remember when national made policy changes regarding Tiger Cubs and BB Guns, and didn't tell anyone teaching shooting sports directors at NCS? So folks were not aware of it until 6 months after it went into effect, after Cub Scout Day Camp and Resident Camp season. You would think any changes in Shooting Sports  Range and Target Activities , the NCS Staff would be the first to find out and disseminate the info.

1 hour ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

With the old interweb thingy at our fingers now,  you'd think the simple solution is a "Daily Read File" or some such.  National posts all policy and procedure changes there, and anyone can access and read.  

The hard part would be keeping duff, fluff, puff, and stuff out of it... you know, propaganda, feel good, and image pieces like you see here https://www.scoutingnewsroom.org/

 The way National changes things, a staff couldn't keep up on a daily basis.

[Tron]

18 hours ago, mrjohns2 said:

Agreed. I had hope that the CST would really help. I would love it if a unit had a question, they go to the district training chair who can't answer it, they go to the district training chair who can't answer it, who goes to the council training chair who can't answer it, who then goes to the CST training chair. They, then, know all of the different resources at national and get an answer. Then roll it back to all the people that rolled the question up. I haven't seen it happen. 😞 I have suggested a few times to go to the CST resource, but everyone looks at me like that would be crazy. 

I think the CST model is failing because the CST volunteers are overwhelmed at how poorly qualified the council and district volunteers are. Imagine the routine things that filter up because so many buddies of a buddy are chairing district committees, and how many council committees are chaires by people that have great checkbooks but ZERO domain knowledge.

10 hours ago, skeptic said:

I suspect a few of my posts on District pages have been wiped, as the council has the office as a moderator on them.  But, I generally share stuff I get from the National groups, like Commissioners, and especially On Scouting.  I find many are not aware of this, and local council often  does not pass stuff along.  Their newsletters are always months out of date.  IF it came from a National source, I feel it should be okay to share it.  Tough if they do not want your to.  

 

The problem with on scouting is that it's a qausi official source and not a real official source. 

[Eagle94-A1]

55 minutes ago, Tron said:

I think the CST model is failing because the CST volunteers are overwhelmed at how poorly qualified the council and district volunteers are.

In my neck of the woods, the folks who know what to do at the district and council levels have been run off pros. Reason is they see the mistakes the council is making, and when they bring it to the pro's attention, the get ignored, yelled at, or cursed out. They either get removed by the pro, or quit out of frustration.

[Tron]

30 minutes ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

In my neck of the woods, the folks who know what to do at the district and council levels have been run off pros. Reason is they see the mistakes the council is making, and when they bring it to the pro's attention, the get ignored, yelled at, or cursed out. They either get removed by the pro, or quit out of frustration.

As councils merge this behavior becomes less and less acceptable due to the talent pool being forced to optimize as the promotion path steepens.

A bad professional in a pool of 10 doesn't look so bad due to limited peer comparison opportunities. Toss that professional into a pool of 30 peers and average or mediocre will reveal as poor and incapable.

 

 

 

[Eagle94-A1]

Disrespectful Pros has been the norm in my Scouting career. That has involved many years in 6 councils, and i cannot tell you the number of pros. Good ones leave because they also get abused and disrespected.

[jcousino]

7 hours ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

In my neck of the woods, the folks who know what to do at the district and council levels have been run off pros. Reason is they see the mistakes the council is making, and when they bring it to the pro's attention, the get ignored, yelled at, or cursed out. They either get removed by the pro, or quit out of frustration.

Count me in that group that made the mistake, thinking national would force them to fix the safety issue

[MikeS72]

23 hours ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

Like this:  Did you know that National has released an updated Annual Health and Medical Record (2026 version)???

 

Actually, yes.  By coincidence there is a copy sitting in front of me right now that I filled out last week. 

[InquisitiveScouter]

3 hours ago, MikeS72 said:

Actually, yes.  By coincidence there is a copy sitting in front of me right now that I filled out last week. 

Rhetorical question to point out that there has been no communication on release of this new, all-important document, which units use day-to-day...