00Eagle

For anyone not following along (I realize JasonG172's probably joking). UUA = Unitarian Universalist Association, the Unitarian church organization. Long at odds with the BSA over its membership policies. The religious emblems it awarded were not recognized by the BSA because the brochures described how BSA policies were not in accord with UUA principles. UUSO= Unitarian Universalist Scouters' Organization, a group of scouters formed to represent Unitarian views to the BSA and oversee religious emblems for Unitarian youth. The UUSO's religious emblems awards are recognized by the BSA but not the UUA. RR Task Force = BSA's religious relationships task force, the arm of the National Council charged with liaising with religious denominations. Putting words in Trevorum's mouth: he's hoping for a rapid reunification between the BSA and UUA and recognition for one set of religious emblems. Likewise I hope that BSA and Reform Judaism make peace and end the conflict that began in 2001.

This! Or the make up of the troop may reflect the makeup of the sponsor. I wouldn't bat an eye if the make up of a troop sponsored by an AME church was all black.

Splitters!

I think something workable will occur. Churches get a ministerial exception from employment laws. For units that are "closely held" (as opposed to units with nominal connection to the CO) I see no difference between chartering a scout troop and hosting an AWANA or Royal Rangers, they're ministries of the church. A church that applies standards for AWANA leaders, youth ministers, Sunday School teachers and pastors can apply the same standards to their scout leaders. I think the problem is the public perception of scouting does not realize there are closely held units operated as youth ministries and assumes that troops are owned and directed by BSA National. Perhaps BSA needs to focus more on public education on how it "franchises" scouting. I also expect there will be some units that aren't church sponsored that will adopt new standards and policies for leaders that don't specifically exclude homosexuals but will act to. I expect to see more units restrict leadership positions to parents of youth members. It won't stop the scouts "two moms" from applying and will also have the negative side effect of turning away young single scouters (usually recent alumni of the troop). Some units may go "closed" and create their own sponsoring organizations and restrict membership to children of members (and make sure CO members meet their standards).

Would going to a UK/international model help? UK has Beavers (6-8), Cubs (8-10.5) and Scouts (10.5-14) with the Beaver colony, Cub pack and Scout troop all under one group (which may or may not be sponsored by an outside body like a church or school). If needed a group might have multiple colonies or multiple packs finding names to differentiate them like 1st Anytown "Tuesday pack" and "Thursday pack" or 2nd Heresville "Red colony" and "Blue colony." It would be hard to switch to a group model, even James West couldn't pull it off. I'd suggest creating "Younger Scout Groups" (need a better name) using the existing pack as a base. Creating a Group with packs and troops might disrupt existing relationships where the feeder pack and receiving troop have different sponsors and unit numbers and sometimes the CO has packs and troops with completely different numbers. So let's look at hypothetical Anytown Pack 45 sponsored by the Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration ("Don't fail me now") Church. Pack 45 now forms the nucleus of Younger Scout Group 45. Pack 45 contains Cubs in grades 3,4, and 5 (no change to Feb. bridge date). Newly formed Beaver Colony 45 (OK, it doesn't have to be a Beaver Colony) in the Younger Scout Group contains grades 1&2. If needed a Kindergarten mom/dad & me program like Lions would be started. This would be under the group but separate from the Pack and Colony. The pack leadership includes CMs, ACMs, DLs, and ADLs as needed. The pack committee would be dissolved and there would be no colony committee, instead there would be a Group Committee* under the group chairman to handle finance/fundraising, recharter, policy/oversight and other paperwork. Why? Too much overhead in having two committees, plus it promotes the link between Pack and Colony. Beaver leaders get brown loops, revive "scouter red" for the group leadership. Separate the activity progression: Beavers is more family camp oriented, Cubs is more Webelos Woods/den camping oriented. Beavers do matchbox races, Cubs do pinewood Derby ending 5 straight years of Pinewood derby. Or have Beavers do Pinewood and Cubs do Blast Cars. The monotony is broken, program becomes more age appropriate. *=based on my experience doing membership outreach as Jewish Committee chairman and trying to restart a failed pack (really a Tiger den that folded over the summer before starting Wolf year) at a local synagogue. Requiring a cubmaster, committee chair, two committee members, a COR (CC or one of the MCs) and a den leader for 6 tigers is already overkill. Requiring a full committee for a nascent Beaver Colony would be absurd.

In my council you can rent the camp ranges for BB gun and/or archery for your pack. If your unit has an approved rangemaster he/she can sign out the range, otherwise the council will supply the rangemaster (more $, I think). Since the event takes place at the council's camp and is reserved through the council, the council waves its magic wand and deems it a "council event."

A Scout Hut seems to be more common abroad where Scout Groups (usually consisting of one or more units for each age range) are independent charities unlike BSA units which "belong" to their CO. BSA COs are required to provide a meeting place so scout huts are less common here. Also Scout Groups have often been around for many years so had years to raise funds to build and operate their huts.

In Patriots Path Council( Nowthwest and Central-ish NJ), there were/are three ships: Rahway & Linden area (#243 Sea Horse and #228 Sea Dart) and Ship 191 Hopatcong. I think Middlesex County had a ship or two, not sure which council they ended up in. At recent PPC Univerisites of Scouting I've seen Ship 228 have a table and bumped into the Bosun and Mates from a Queens (NYC) ship. My three regrets of my youth scouting career: not earning a religious emblem, not earning more than 21 merit badges, AND NEVER being a Sea Scout/Sea Explorer :-(

Our Membership VP (PPC) just shared a link on facebook. The answer seems to be North of the Raritan -> PPC, South of the Raritan -> Monmouth.

I just checked back in to this thread after receiving an email from my committee's staff advisor asking if we wanted a table for our committee at this mini tradeshow. Tim, I'm guessing I got a forwarded copy of the email you received. Sounds like something just happened. Can't find any official announcements on what.

Ed, I haven't heard anything lately. There was supposed to be another CNJC board meeting on Thursday, January 23 to decide. I spoke to a Middlesex county scouter this weekend and he thought they'd hear by yesterday. I have not heard anything.

Because it makes no sense to have a council named for one Pennsylvania county when it now serves two NJ counties. It's insulting to their scouts and scouters: "you guys are hangers on and second class citizens compared to those of us actually living in Bucks County". No, I'm from PPC, one of the surrounding councils. qwaze, "Bucks Council" might work. gsdad, I'm not aware of any precedent in the BSA for a council with a specific geographic name to retain it after merging/acquiring additional territory if the name did not apply. I don't expect Minisi Trails to necessarily change names as the name refers to the Lenape, who lived on both sides of the river. As far as the OA, I don't think there'll be any need to change the name, but that is obviously a decision of the lodge and its members, new and old. The lodge totem is a buck, but hey we have those in NJ, as well. It would be interesting to see if they can resurrect Lodge #2 as before the original CNJ merger, 2 came from the Mercer/Hunterdon area. Maybe say we're now Ajapeu #2 instead of Ajapeu #33.

Because it makes no sense to have a council named for one Pennsylvania county when it now serves two NJ counties. It's insulting to their scouts and scouters: "you guys are hangers on and second class citizens compared to those of us actually living in Bucks County".

The latest update went on Facebook yesterday based on Thursday nights board meeting: Warren County (Pahaquarra District): to Minisi Trails Council, which is mostly a PA (Pocono/Lehigh Valley) council but does have a presence in Warren County (Phillipsburg) Hunterdon County (also Pahaquarra Dist) and Mercer County (Mercer Area Dist): to Bucks County Council (PA). Obviously a name change will be needed. The Middlesex County districts (Joyce Kilmer and Mattameechen Dists) will remain in council for at least another month. Yards Creek will be sold off, unless Friends of YCSR can raise enough to buy it outright.

There is a process where a council removal of membership can be appealed at the regional level. I'm not sure how to invoke the process.

Also keep in mind your collateral duties: committee assignments. In addition to being staff advisor to the district operating committee, all district events, and the district OA chapter (if there is one), you may also be named staff advisor to to one or more council operating committees and or events. One Senior DE I know not only has his district but also a religious relationships committee, special needs scouting, Explorer Police Academy, and now NYLT. While these committees are headed by volunteers, there may be need to recruit a chairman and/or members. You'll need to attend meetings, events, encourage committee members to donate to FOS, take training, fundraise for the committee, etc.

BD, he may not have a choice. Not every district has a "dean of merit badges" to compile a district counselor list. I've seen this happen once: units maintained their own internal list of counselors. He may be the troop's only counselor for that badge.

Anyone. You need to have it before you formally register with a crew. I believe all training is available with a login, and anyone can have a login: it allows prospective new leaders to do YPT and print the card to turn in with an adult application. I've taken Venturing YPT and Venturing fast start with no venturing registration, but I do have district and council registration.

The BSA is currently divided into four geographic regions (Northeast, Southern, Central, Midwestern). Each region is subdivided into numbered Areas to support and in someways supervise 10-12 local councils. At the region level, the Order of the Arrow has an elected youth Region Chief, appointed Regional Advisor (adult volunteer), and Regional Staff Advisor (BSA professional within the region). At the area level, the OA is divided into sections. Each area has one or more sections. In areas with more than one section, a differentiating letter is assigned to the section either sequential (A,B, and sometimes C) or geographical (N/S, E/W, there's also P for the Pacific islands portion of Western Area 6) Each section has an elected youth Section Chief, appointed Section Advisor (adult volunteer), and Section Staff Advisor (BSA professional working for a council in the section). Areas with more than one section may appoint an Area Adviser to be the OA's representative on the Area Committee. There are no Area Chiefs Northeast: http://northeast.oa-bsa.org/sections Central: http://central.oa-bsa.org/sections Western: http://western.oa-bsa.org/sections I don't have a Southern Region section map, but this is the area map from 2008. http://blog.oaimages.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/bsa-sr09.jpg Note that Areas 2 and 3 have combined for administrative purposes. So the OA sections are actually SR-2/3 N and SR-2/3 S.

Minimum 2 adults, 4 scouts (all the same gender) for single bunk room accommodation per G2SS.

DC, my comment was very much abridged and simplified. But for most cases (other than Webelos den camping and resident camping), Cub camping will be family camping where the boy is accompanied by a parent (and possibly the rest of the family as well).

I met Mark at an Area Membership conference in March 2012. I was tabling for Alpha Phi Omega and he told me how he had advised the Elon chapter and helping with Scoutreach work.

None as far as I know. All pack-level overnight activities require a BALOO trained adult and 1:1 adult supervision (parent attends).

FrugalProf, what region? I have S&YS for Sections 101 & 102 (all of NJ) in Region I. Just hooked up one of my chapters with a new scouting advisor by having them adopt the cub day camp down the street.