Troop Scribe duties

[NC Scouter 11]

How do your troops utilize the troop scribe position? The official BSA position description includes the following responsibilities.

 

Attends and keeps a log of patrol leaders council meetings.

Records individual Scout attendance and dues payments.

Records individual Scout advancement progress.

Works with the troop committee member responsible for records and finance.

Sets a good example.

Enthusiastically and correctly wears the Scout uniform.

Lives by the Scout Oath and Law.

Shows Scout spirit.

 

Our troop does not collect dues, and keeping attendance in our troop of 100+ would be a big, big job for one scout and has been delegated to the PLs. The treasurer and registrar would not dream of letting the scribe help with money or troop records. Our new troop scribe is keeping minutes at the PLC meeting and writing a short summary for the monthly troop newsletter that comes out the following week.

 

Looking forward to your comments.

 

[TheScout 10]

Perhaps collect attendance reports from the PL.

 

Did you ask the SPL and the PLC? What administrative tasks do they need done?

[gcnphkr 11]

Even with 100, attendance should not be a big deal. It takes about 5 minutes to do our troop of 60, much less time than we were spending for the PLs to do it. Even if the PLs (or Patrol Scribe) takes attendance, the troop scribe could collate the information.

 

But good PLC meeting minutes and if he also publishes the final version of the meeting plans are not trivial.

 

I'd forgotten about recording advancement progress. I'll need to find a way to include this.

[highcountry 13]

We combined Scribe with Librarian and Historian as all 3 positions alone require so little, but combined at least give a scout enough workload to be seriously considered a POR. As the Scribe ours creates the meeting agendas, prints them and emails them from what the PLC or delegates have created for the meeting. He also takes notes at PLC meetings, transcribes and publishes, primarily the action items. We don't collect dues at meetings and we have a roster with scheckoffs for each meeting so all the scouts handle attendance on their own as they walk in the door.

[mikecummings157 10]

Our Scribe takes dues and attendance, as well as keeping minutes for the PLC.

[EagleBeaver 10]

Our Scribe hands out a patrol attendance slip to each of 9 patrol leaders and retrieves it at the end of the troop meeting. He records the attendance. He also takes notes at PLC meetings and helps the SPL create troop meeting agendas from the PLC planning. He publishes a monthly newsletter.

 

The Librarian is a real leadership position. Scouts check out merit badge pamphlets and other resources from the troop librarian online as part of TroopKit.com and he gets them the books and makes sure they are returned. He also purchases new merit badge pamphlets as needed and purges old books.

 

Historian writes two articles about troop activities and submits them to local newspapers during his term. He also publishes photos of campouts on our website, writes about awards, and keeps a list of Eagles current.

 

[Mike F 10]

Another idea is to have Scribe be responsible for taking notes throughout entire troop meeting concerning things which need to be remembered. For instance, final popcorn orders due in to Mrs. B next week, remember to bring your compass and a flashlight next week, campout is coming up in two weekends and patrols need to work on menus, etc. Just before closing and SM Minute, have the scribe give a very quick summary of all the meeting's announcements. This gives him some exposure speaking to the troop and ensures he has a good start on the email he sends out with all the announcements within a few days.

[ReneScout 10]

For years, the Scribe was a do-nothing position. Only recently was the Scribe used effectively, since the last SPL (who just turned 18) changed the troop dramatically and the TS actually kept records of the PLC and advancement chart. We've also had the Scribe work with the committee secretary for records and the troop historian for making the scrapbook. We never authorized the TS to collect dues or anything, but even the most menial of chores with the pen would do. After all, the position is one of responsibility, so assigning the boy any kind of responsibility would help teach him the values intended.(This message has been edited by ReneScout)