FScouter

We must be in a sad, sorry state if the boys need to check verify the merit badge requirements to make sure the counselor is up-to-date.

We "utilize" Eagle scouts in the same manner as boys with other ranks. If he is being held "accountable" for the actions of the rest of the troop members, perhaps the Scoutmaster and assistants should take a refresher of Scoutmaster Specific traning.

"Did you know that if you do it the BSA way, you need something like 90 hours of training for your first couple years? That works out to about an hour of training for every 3-4 hours of actual unit meetings." A trained leader needs Fast Start, New Leader Essentials, position specific. Add youth protection, maybe safe swim defense and safety afloat. Maybe add BALOO for cub leaders. That all adds up to about 15 hours max. What other trainings are you thinking of that add up to 90 hours??

Why does he need a position? He can participante in activities and campouts and basically have fun being a Scout. You don't have to "do" anything with him.

Troop meetings are for Boy Scouts, not parents. As a Scoutmaster, I want registered, trained, uniformed assistant Scoutmasters with specific functions at troop meetings. I have no problem with parents attending. They are welcome to watch, help with a specific task if there is one they can do. But I don't want to rely on parents that may or may not come to a meeting once in a while. I also want registered and trained troop committee members assigned to the specific committee job functions. If you don't have the necessary registered adult leaders to perform the required functions, you need to identify and select the right person for each job. The sign-up sheet method does not work. The forced labor method does not work. The make-a-plea-and-wait-for-volunteers method does not work. Chapter 5 of the Troop Committee Guidebook discusses how to select adult leaders. Another BSA publication "Selecting District People" goes into great detail about selecting and retaining adult volunteer leaders. The method works. It is not simple or fast or fool-proof. But it does work. Give it a try. "Baby Sitters of America" is a concept set up by Scout leaders, not parents. If you treat the function of the troop as a baby sitting service, that is what you will have. The attitudes or beliefs or desires of boy's parents have little to do with whether or not you run a baby sitting service. When you develop boy leaders, get a good program going, and select the right adult leaders, you will have a troop, not a baby-sitting service. By the way, there is no "legal" reason to cancel a troop meeting simply because of lack of "two-deep". The Scoutmaster, a trained SPL, and capable patrol leaders with a troop meeting plan can handle a meeting.

"But Max, that never works! Oh, all right. Lower the Cone of Silence." "OK Max, continue." "WHHAAT?!?"

The unit is not a separate entity from the chartered organization. The unit is a part of the CO and they are intimatly connected. The point is that the council does not revoke memberships except for flagrant violations of the charter agreement with the CO, including YP and other policy violations. Troublesome families must be removed by the unit.

It is the responsibility of the council Scout Executive to deal with a report of child abuse. YP training tells us to immediately report abuse of a child, sexual or otherwise involving an adult leader or registered child, or abuse that took place during a Scout activity. Abuse that took place outside of Scouting, and not involving a registered child or adult leader should be reported to the local child protective services agency or child abuse hotline. Proof positive is not required, just a reasonable suspicion that abuse has taken place is all that is required. There is no need to investigate, just report and let the child abuse professionals deal with it. Once a report has been made to the Scout Executive, an investigation will be initiated. No one except the parties involved will be informed about the progress or results of the investigation. In the story that was related here a teenage girl was making out with a teenage boy at 3 AM, resulting in the father yelling across the camp and apparently making a scene. Apparently neither the girl, the boy, nor the father are registered members or adult leaders. This doesnt sound at all like child abuse, but if in doubt, a report could be made to child protective services because the individuals involved are not Scouts, and also to the Scout Executive because the incident took place at a Scout activity. The incident with the boy, apparently a Cub Scout, that touched a 3 year old and was intimate with his cousin does sound like child abuse that should have been reported. If fact you said that it was reported. The council will absolutely revoke the membership of any member that has been accused of child abuse and the resulting investigation substantiates the accusations. The fact that the boy is still with his parents and the council has not revoked his membership should give you a clue as to the result of the investigation. Even still, knowing that the boy may have problems with child abuse it would be prudent to keep an eye on him. You may want to require a parent to accompany him at all Scout activities. If the boy is disruptive to the pack, then the unit has an obligation to work with the boy and his parents to plan a course of action to eliminate the disruptive behaviors. If the problems continue, to the detriment of the pack, there may be no alternative but the remove the boy from the pack. This is the responsibility of the unit committee and the chartered organization rep. The council will not do this for you. This is not their role. If other family members like the sister and her boyfriend are disruptive, dont invite them to participate in your pack activities. Dont expect your DE or council to solve this for you. The den leader was arrested for assault. A criminal background check is done on all new adult leaders. If the council did not inform the unit that the application would not be accepted, then either there was no conviction, or the charge was minor and not significantly serious enough to preclude that individual from serving as a leader. Other than that, the council will not intervene regarding the units selection of adult leaders. It is the unit that selected the adult, the unit that approved the application. It is the unit that may choose to remove that leader. Your DE or council should advise you how to go about this, but dont expect them to do it for you. What your unit commissioner told you is correct. The unit may remove the leader. The unit may also remove the boy. This council will not do this for you, barring failing the background check or a substantiation of child abuse. It is not the responsibility of the commissioner, the district, or the council to step in and solve unit issues with a troublesome family. The bottom line here is that the council will support the unit, advise the unit, but they will not step in and take over simply because the unit finds the challenge of removing a leader or boy to be distasteful. Best of luck.

The G2SS says 2-deep leadership is required on trips and outings. It also says one-on-one contact is not permitted. Don't try to extrapolate that to mean one adult and multiple youth is not permitted. Keep in mind that the G2SS is not a list of what is permitted, thus you won't find any statement that says one-on-many is OK. If it was not OK, the Guide would say so.

I tell the boys an orienteering compass is best for their needs. A lensatic compass cannot be used to orient a map, which is one of the advancement requirements.

Here's a real-life bylaw from Troop 13 in Alabama, pulled from the internet. In the spirit of OGE's challenge to discuss the practical application of the Scouting principles to bylaws, does anyone have any comments about whether this bylaw is needed or not needed, and why, or other observations? - Full Dress Uniform will consist of Boy Scouts of America official uniform shorts/pants, shirt with insignia sewn on in proper places, belt, Troop neckerchief (issued by Troop), socks, and closed toe shoes. The merit badge sash should also be worn if the Scout is entitled to wear it. - Class A Uniform will be as described above with the omission of the merit badge sash and official uniform pants. - Class B Uniform will consist of Troop T-shirt or BSA T-shirt, cap and appropriate shorts (or jeans depending on weather)(belt if necessary) and closed toe shoes. - The Scoutmaster shall designate which uniform will be worn at all Troop events. - Class A Uniform will be worn at Board of Review and Court of Honor. - The Scout is expected to have a Uniform within eight meetings after joining the Troop. - Scouts name should be placed on all parts of the uniform with an indelible marker. - If the Scout wears a cap at any time that he is in uniform, it must be a standard Boy Scout of America cap or a BSA event cap. - Enforcement of the dress code shall be the direct responsibility of the Scoutmaster. He may use verbal warnings, Parent(s)/Guardian(s) consultations and recommendations to the committee for suspension or expulsion.

Was the boy uncomfortable because he was being lectured, or because of one-on-one? The child abuse pamphlet in the front of the Boy Scout handbook advises a boy to run away, scream, and make a scene. Not write a letter to the council. From what we've heard here, no child abuse has taken place. A violation of a prevention rule does not equate to a reportable case of child abuse. We're taught in YP training that abuse or suspected abuse must be reported. There is no mention of reporting infractions of the rules. A mention of this to any other adult in the troop would seem to be an appropriate response.

You don't like the SM and got a lecture so you want to get even by making a YP charge?

What I got from this was a lamentation that some persons attempt to "send a message" to the council about their displeasure by withholding their financial support. There are better ways to communicate.

I can tell you that the most bestest liver is fresh hog (same day). I hear that in the olden days they just reached in and sliced off a warm hunk. I don't know about that, but fried up gently with some onions, heaven! Man, ya gotta LIVE!

It's been awhile. The place was a chicken ranch in the olden days. It's downstream from LaCrosse a couple of miles, past the biggest 6-pack in the world, then east on 33 or 61 3 or 4 miles. You'll have to ask someone in town. I was looking for a down-home local flavor kind of place, as opposed to the Perkins.

The best meal I ever had was at a little place outside of LaCrosse, Wisconsin. A big plate of chicken livers covered with bacon gravy, and hot biscuits. Man, that's good eatin'!

A bridging ceremony for Webelos entering Boy Scouts has nothing to do with the Arrow of Light award. If you decided to combine the AOL award presentation with a bridging ceremony, that can be done. Only part of the group would receive the award before crossing the bridge.

The Cubmaster cannot do everything needed to keep a pack going. Your committee members need to step forward and start handling the administrative tasks, relieving the CM to concentrate on the program. Talk of replacing him because he cannot do the work of 6 people and is disorganized is not fair to him. Rather, select an assistant Cubmaster (maybe that person you're eyeing as a replacement), and select 3 or 4 committee members to take on the committee related tasks.

"We're going to use them on a rotating basis for the Scout currently SPL." How do you rotate patches? Do you mean issue the patch on a temporary basis, tnen unstitch it from the boy's uniform and turn it over to the next kid? Why not let each boy keep his position patch? There are 2 boys in our troop that would have a real problem if they were not permitted to keep their patch. What is the objective in using old patches?

Adult patrols are sometimes used in adult leader trainings to demonstrate parts of the patrol method. Other than that, I think the adult patrol idea is silly.

I'm not convinced that "serve actively" needs to be formally defined. Any Scoutmaster worth his salt know whether a boy is actively serving in his position of responsibility. The boy too knows in his heart whether he is serving, and how actively he is doing so. Writing a formal definition would include necessarily include metrics like hours per week, or meetings attended, or jobs completed, or issues resolved, or progress made. That then requires some kind of record keeping system to keep track of the evidences supporting the definition. I see this as a bookeeping nightmare and a source of further discussion or arguing about whether the formal requirements in the definition have been properly met. If the boy is in the gray area of "active", hows about the Scoutmaster meeting with him to talk about it and agree between themselves whether he has been actively serving?

If the boys in your troop are trained to do nothing until ordered, then no one will unload until you order it done. I'm sure that's not your objective, but when orders are given by the big boss, boys "learn" what is expected. They will wait for the expected orders to be given. The gear won't get unloaded until the big boss gives the order.

If the SPL doesn't unload the gear on his own initiative, maybe it's because he has been trained that he doesn't do anything except what he is told to do.

I look at by-laws as the lazy man's attempt to fix problems in the troop. As Hunt pointed out, the board of review is not the time to figure out that a boy has not fulfilled the responsibilities of his leadership position. If the Scoutmaster has not taught the boy what the responsibilities are, and has not followed up to ensure the job is being done, and has let it all slide week after week after month, into the board of review, how will a by-law fix that problem? The SM already has the Scoutmaster Handbook, the Troop Junior Leader Training Kit, and he has completed training. If he does not use these tools, and fails to fulfill his responsibilities as the Scoutmaster, how will a by-law fix that? The problem is the leader, not the lack of a by-law.