Ass't Scoutmasters - What do yours do?

[Scouts61]

I'm in a kind of quandry here, and a terrible one to have I'll note. My problem is, I've never has so much help before! Our Troop started up a little over 2 1/2 years ago and we've grown from 5 boys to 25 and there has pretty much just been myself and an ASM. This past crossover we picked up 8 boys and 3 new ASM's and I'm trying to figure out how other unit's divide up the reponsibilities for their adult leaders. Looking back on my old Troop as a youth, my Scoutmaster also had several leaders and I believe that he had them divided up into their own specialty groups, advancement, cooking, pioneering, etc. Of course, they were always there to assist the SPL and PLC at the drop of a hat with any other areas that needed assistance. The problem is, I can't really recall what they did from week to week in the background. They were always busy as I remember, and it was most definately a boy led troop, so they weren't running it in the background. I just can't seem to make the leap with my new leaders. Anyone have any suggestions?

[OneHour]

That's a good quandry to be in! I can only speak for our troop. We have currently 71 boys (21 recently crossed over). We have 1 SM and 6 ASMs (about to recruit 2 more) who refer to ourselves as scoutmasters with one adult lead (the Scoutmaster). Each scoutmaster has a patrol to mentor. Here is the division:

 

(2) New Scout Patrols: 2 scoutmasters

(2) Trail to First Class Patrols (Tenderfoot< TFC < 1st Class): 2 scoutmasters

(2) Trail to Eagle Patrols (1st Class< TTE

[Scouts61]

Thanks OneHour, that definately sounds workable with this group. Very enthusiastic parents that want to pitch in.

[mk9750]

We have 7 ASM's right now for a Troop of 24 boys. That probably seems like a lot, but here's the breakdown:

1) is Scoutmaster Emeritus, soley an honorary position for a previous SM who served for 16 years and wants to remain semi active. His biggest role is to work with new Scouts on Scout "rank" requirments. Other than that, he tells stories.

1) Is the New Scout Patrol ASM. We ask the father of a Scout who just finished his first year in our Troop to take this position. This ASM would have a good understanding of the program by this point, but still has that "fresh" quality that seems to work well for the newest Scouts. It aslo gives his son almost full year to be "on his own" without his dad attached to his hip, which has been a bit of a problem in our Troop occasionaly.

3) ASMs mentor our regular Patrols. When our Troop was bigger, this was an important position as our SM often was busy working with the SPL training him, and the Patrol Leaders had a uniformed leader to turn to if the SPL was busy. With our Troop the size it is now, these gents don't often get directly involved with Patrols. They do, however, camp with the Patrol the three - four times a year that the Patrol camps by itself, usually with another parent.

1) ASM works with our high venture Patrol. He is a bit more hands on. Our venture Patrol decides on their activities during the annual plan meeting, and usually plan 5 - 8 per year. Each activity finds one of the Patrol members as the crew leader, who is responsible for all aspects of the event - Planning, logistics, and training. Often, this Scout is only vaguely familiar with the activity, and the ASM trains this crew leader, who in turn then trains and leads the rest of the crew.

1) ASM is "at - large", and fills in if needed elsewhere. This has been our "problem ASM", because he hasn't seemed to have gotten the concept of boy - led yet (and it's been three years). He's always jumping in to do things the boys could easily do themselves.

 

If it helps, we also have a philosophy that has served us well. We ask EVERY parent to take on some type of responsiblity in the Troop. Some are strictly Board of Review folks. Some help run the socials after Courts of Honor. I help with advancements. My wife's only responsiblity is to cut out and glue letters for names that go on our Honor Banner. One mom organizes the boys once a year to clean and store our kayaks. We have two dads who are climbing experts and work our one climbing and rapelling event every year, and nothing else. We work by a philosophy that says "many hands make for light work". Few people in our Troop spend more than a few hours a month, yet everyone is happy with their contribution. We've become a pretty efficient unit the way we've arrange things. I can only hope that others find as much happiness in Scouting as we have, whether you follow our model or come up with one that works just as well.

 

Best of luck to you.

 

Mark

[EagleInKY]

"we also have a philosophy that has served us well. We ask EVERY parent to take on some type of responsiblity in the Troop." We do something similar. We ask each family to volunteer at least one adult in an official capacity (ASM or Committee member). Some have done both. Most choose to be committee members, but that works out well for BORs and the like.

 

We are a troop of 21, growing to about 25 this spring. We have 5 ASMs. Two are pilots, and their schedules are very eradic. They are there whenever possible. We use them in mostly an adhoc nature. Two others have very busy jobs, but are there most of the time. The other is very dependable. We're in the process of realigning, but it will look something like this:

 

1-Works with Troop Guide and NSP

1-Serves as summer camp coordinator and is a patrol advisor to one PL.

1-Serves as a patrol advisor.

1-Serves as senior scout advisor (encouraging Life-to-Eagle in particular). If/when we have a venture crew, he'll probably play the advisor role for them.

1-Currently working with the PLC in coordinating a major fundraiser.

 

Two of our ASMs have a big interest in High Adventure and have played a coordinator role for that as well. We try to do at least one "adventure" trip a year. I could see that as another dedicated role to fill at some time.(This message has been edited by EagleInKY)

[bbng]

If you were to ask the Scouts, they do nothing

 

In this troop, they take on the following roles:

One asst per patrol as an advisor

One asst for the new Scouts

Two assts for high adventure (1 for backpacking, 1 for scuba)

 

These are pretty much the standing "roles", but as a Scout prepares for Eagle, there is an asst assigned to him as a mentor. The Scouts all know who to talk to for help with their themes: one asst is strong in first aid, another in orienteering, another in cooking, another is an engineer. The Scouts do ask for help from the assts, though they do find it painful to get up the nerve to ask (kind of like with the blue cards).

 

The troop never has all the help it would like to have, but it always has what it needs. The truth is, the SM and assistants do appear to have nothing to do. The boys love that as they feel ownership as they lead the troop. In reality, they are all active though not as active as the troops with fewer leaders.