AvidSM

Moosetracker, As a District Commissioner, here is some advice from my point of view. Don't try to solve your district's problems. My district committee is not a high functioning team and I don't expect it to be. Except for the DE, we are all volunteers looking to help where we can. We don't all get along and we tend to waste time in meetings on trivial matters that have no bearing on what needs to get done. Some people just need to be heard and to get their point across. Others need their ego's stroked. The DE is there because it's his job and he has certain things that need to be accomplished. I would hope that you joined your district committee to help in some way. You need to get past the petty politics that exist with any committee and find your place where you can be useful. There is probably a core group of people in your district that make the real decisions and get the job done - outside of the meetings. These people may not be who you think they are; they may or may not have a chair position nor do most of the talking. You are the new guy and this core group needs to get to know you and where you are coming from. Stay focused on what you what to accomplish, offer your help where you think it's needed and these people will eventually give you some responsibility - once you prove yourself.

If the CO dissolves a unit, then that unit no longer exists - it's charter is dropped. All of the units things and money belong to that CO, no matter what. A dissolved unit does not "move" to a new CO. A new unit is formed under a new charter. It most cases, the CO of the dissolved unit gives written permission to transfer the things, money and numeral over to the new CO. If permission is not given, the unit cannot legally take it's things, money or numeral with them. For example, the members of a dissolved pack cannot without permission take the pinewood derby track over to the new unit nor take the money out of the dissolved unit's back account. It doesn't matter who decided to dissolve the unit, permission is still needed. The BSA does not own any of a unit's things or money. And, there is nothing in the charter agreement that would state such ownership. The charter agreement is between the BSA and the CO. The members of the unit are not parties to that agreement.

I am not a lawyer and don't know the legal definition of "ownership". But, what I do know is that if a unit, such as a Troop, wishes to change their CO they need a letter from the outgoing CO allowing them to take with them: all their troop camping gear, equipment, material, supplies, etc; their troop funds and their numeral. A CO can dictate who can join a unit, both youth and adult. It can also dictate how the program is run - meetings ending with a prayer, etc. It's not common, but I have heard of one or two COs that do it.

I agree that a dropout rate of over 50%, which is just about the norm, can have many causes. The transition from a Pack to a Troop can be drastic for some boys, especially if they have never gone camping before. You also have to work on the new parents. Joining a troop is more of a commitment and you have to let them know how their son will benefit from the program. There are many misconceptions about Boy Scouts, and you have to let them know its more than just knot tying and helping old ladies across the street. I am seeing more and more examples of parents not letting go - not allowing their sons to make decisions on their own. These parents are very uneasy about allowing their sons the freedom that boy scouting would give them. The fear of child abuse or abduction always seems to be on the back of their minds. They also push their sons to get straight A's in middle school and withhold attendance at troop meetings as a means of discipline. It would not surpise me if the two boys who earned their AOL and stayed in the troop have dads that were in scouting when they were a youth.

I don't see a problem with the boys wearing a woggle, as long as it's not the official Wood Badge one. The color of the woggle should not matter. The turk's head is not an easy knot to to tie, so be prepared to spend some time teaching the boys.

I agree, very few signaling MB's will be earned. I think this badge was retired because very small number of scouts earned it in the years before it was pulled.

The word we are getting from my Council it that these historical badges will become official some time in April 2010. Until that time, scouts can "earn" these badges by working with a Counselor, but they cannot be used for advancement for the ranks of star and above. We already have some scouts that have "earned" these merit badges and have recieved the cloth emblems for their sashes - they are for sale at our Council office. The troop's advancement paperwork that was submitted to Council for these badges is sitting in a pile and has not been processed. According to my DE, these badges were posted on the official BSA web site and they recieved emails from National saying they were good to go. A short time after they were posted, these badges were pulled from the web site and everyone was told they were on hold. My Council then decided to go ahead and offer these badges anyway, as is there right to do. These merit badges cannot be entered into a scouts official record as earned because there is no code assigned for them yet in ScoutNet. Also, no one can be entered into the system as a Counselor for these historical merit badges. Having been told this, my District quickly put out an email to all our troop leadership informing them not to use these badges for advancment. Thankfully, there have been no reports of any almost-18-year-old Life scouts using one of these historical badges as their 21st to meet the Eagle requirement. The joke going around my District is these should be renamed, the "Hysterical" Merit Badges.

Capping is fine as long as there is another troop nearby that can take the boy in. Every boy should have the opportunity to join at Troop. If all the Troops in the area are full, then it's time to form a new one in the area. This does not mean splitting up an existing troop, but taking in the excess boys who have nowhere to go. A DE who knows the communities in his district should be able to find a new CO and help start up a new troop. The fact that there are two or more troops in a area who are capping membership is a good thing, provided the DE sees the opportunity to start a new unit. A unit has the right to cap membership for whatever reason, be it meeting room size or that's all the boys they can handle. But, the troop leadership should let the UC or DE know that they are turning away boys who want to join. I believe the DE's track this information anyway, by looking at the names of Webelos II's that did not cross over.

41 boys is not a large number for a Troop. Scouts vote with their feet and a growth of 35 boys in four years indicates that they like the program. Keep up the good work and don't be afraid to keep growing. If it hasn't happened already, you will lose some that just crossed over within a year.

I check this year's FOS brochure from my Council and they show 77% going to the program - much more honest than 86%. The way my Council shows it's budget - an you can view it online via their web site - all the money they receive, no matter what it is for, is shown as income. All the money that comes in for district events, camporees, cubaramas, klondikes, leader training, is shown as income. All the expenses for these district events are shown as program expenses for the Council. It is very hard to deconstruct Council's budget and find out exactly how much they spend on program, aside from the district's activities. You could argue that since none of these Council employees are direct contact leaders, that none of their salaries are spent on program. Councils say they spend 77% or 86% on program because its good PR. The parents of scouts understand that number better and feel obligated to give to FOS. Parents who are not exposed to the administrative and business end of scouting do not understand what their money is really spent on. Whether you think your Council deserves your FOS donation depends on your attitude. You can say that they do nothing for the scouts and give nothing. You can say the only reason they exist is to support the units and the scouts who belong to them and give what you can. To try to figure out the exact number or percentage of the budget that is spent on "program" is a an exercise in futility.

I agree, it sounds like a good Eagle project. I could see it being shot down if it was painting the fence only. That would be considered routine maintenance. An Eagle project is something that should last a while - paint gets painted over again and all traces of what the scout did are lost.

My Council's pie chart looks about the same. I think all the Councils are told to maximize the program piece of the pie and stretch the truth as far as they can. Most non profits are rated by how much of their budget is spent on administration with anything over 20% considered bad. I don't blame my Council for what they do to the numbers. Since I took a District position, I have become more exposed to the administrative and political end of scouting at the Council Level. Depending on your attitude, you can say that Council does very little to help the program at the unit level. And, you can use this reasoning to not give or give little to FOS. I believe my Council does what it can - it's not nothing but it's certainly not 86%. And I do give my "scouts worth" to FOS, which in my Council is $165. What the real pie chart looks like, we will never know.

In the ideal world of the BSA, only qualified adult leaders are allowed to camp with a troop. Adults that agree to live by the Scout Oath and Law, are trained, are approved by the troops chartered organization, care about young people, are willing to teach boys how to be leaders and are willing to serve as role model for young people. Now, we don't live in an ideal world and a Scoutmaster has to allow unregistered adults to go camping with the troop for various reasons. Sometimes because there are not enough qualified leaders. Other times the Scoutmaster is looking to recruit some new leaders and is allowing them to camp with the scouts to see if they will work out. But, a Scoutmaster is taking a very small chance every time he allows an unregistered adult to camp with the troop - especially if he does not know this person well. It is very unlikely that this person will end up harming anyone - but it is more likely that this person will interfere with the program. I always tried to strike a careful balance between allowing unregistered adults to camp, knowing that they might interfere, but also knowing that they might become leaders one day. I also had the problem parents who no matter what you told them, verbally or in writing, always interfered with the program at a campout. They were telling their son's what to do or even telling other boys what to do. You tried to keep them separate, with the adults on one side of the camp, but the son would always come over and to ask where something was in his pack or what he should do next. These are the parents that don't get it - that you must allow the scouts to make their own decisions - even if they are the wrong ones! And, by interfering with their boys progress, they are defeating the very purpose of them being there. When push comes to shove, a scoutmaster can and should not allow an unregistered adult to camp with the troop who they know will interfere with the program.

Having been a Scoutmaster for 3 years, you really feel the weight of responsibility for the Troop - something I did not feel as an Assistant SM for six years before that. It's not that everything that goes wrong is the Scoutmaster's fault. And, it's not that the Scoutmaster makes all the decisions in a vacuum. I was sure to get input from others when any decision had to be made. But, in the end I knew it was my call and that I was ultimately responsible when things went wrong. There is a difference between fault and responsibility. When things went wrong, there was always an informal fault finding process going on - mostly to learn from our mistakes and not do them again. But there is always the human tendency to find fault with someone. Switching out SM's every two years sounds very much like what they do with officers in the military. It gives more people the experience and it limits the term of an incompetent leaders, but it makes for an unstable unit. A Scoutmaster should be the person with the most program experience and he set the tone for the whole troop. To keep switching this person around every two years does not make sense.

It depends. Some troops imbed the Troop Guide into the New Scout Patrol and he becomes a member of that patrol. He would then wear the patch for that new scout patrol. Other troops do not do this and the Troop Guide retains the patrol patch for the patrol he is currently in.

I agree with Buffalo Skipper on this one. Find another Troop as soon as possible. This Scoutmaster does not know what he is doing.

I don't recall there being any council approval needed for camping on private property, such as a farm. You would have to obtain permission from the owner and follow the BSA Property Smart guidelines, of course. I think council campground approval has more to do with Cub Scouts than Boy Scouts.

I've got the 2010 DC patch already sewn on my uniform. Looks nice.

I run our Boy Scout Roundtable like this: First part - Announcements - Don't drag this on. Have flyers and refer to a web page if possible, for each event that is being announced. Have a good idea how many people need to make announcements and limit them if possible. Let the announcer know they do not have a lot of time. (One suggestion is to have a glass of ice water and the announcer has to put his hand in it while making the annnouncement.) Plan on 10 to 15 minutes tops. Second part - Presentation - This has to be prepared ahead of time by someone knowledgeble on the subject. It could be a timely topic or about some new policy that just came out. Plan on 20 to 30 minutes for this. Presentations that I have given in the past: How to Recharter on time, Cold Weather Camping, How to fill out the Quality Unit Award Form, Troop Leader Training, High Adventure Bases. Third part - group discussion - Pick a popular topic ahead of time and moderate the discussion amongst the leaders in the room. Sit in a circle of chairs so that no one is in front - a true roundtable format! Topics that we have discussed in the past: Retention of Scouts, Good camping sites that you have used, Summer Camps that your troop goes to. A lot of what we talk about is very similar to the topics on this forum and the opinions of the leaders are as varied as well. Out of all these three parts, the leaders like the discussion the best and having it really improves attendance. The leaders who "know it all" love passing on what they know to the newer leaders, who attend to get this knowledge. Moderate this discussion so it does not get out of hand and do not let it turn into a Council bashing session!

I also agree that no explanation is required from from the Council President as to why your District Chair was dismissed. But, it would be nice if one was given. I've been a Key 3 member for over a year now, and I have found that a good relationship between the three of us matters alot. My DE set the tone right by explaining that we form a partership, with no one being the superior of the other. A good working relationship sets the tone for the whole district and if one of us does not get along, I believe it would effect everyone in the committee. I can only guess, as per your grapevine's suggestions, that your Chairman's dismissal was not due to bad performance, but rather bad chemistry within the key 3.

NJCubScouter - You're right, issues of sexual orientation are personal and left to a Scout and his family. Sorry for taking this thread off topic.

I've known all the boys I have given Eagle SMC's to and was sure that they were not and did not have to confirm the fact. If you don't know the scout, then you will have to find out some way of confirming. I'm not saying you should ask a direct question, but to ask few indirect ones to your satisfaction (use your imagination on this one). The last thing you want as a Scoutmaster is to have an Eagle Scout of yours "come out of the closet" or declare that they are an atheist, after the fact.

How you conduct an Eagle SMC depends on your relationship with the scout. If you know this boy well, then spend more time preparing him for his EBOR. Google the most asked questions and pick some of these for him to think about tonight. My favorite one is, "Why do you think you deserve to be an Eagle Scout?" If you don't know the boy well, you need to spend some time asking him personal questions: how is he doing in school, at home and at his job? Prior to the EBOR, the board members may spend some time with you alone and ask you what you know about this scout, his leadership style, his experiences in the troop, etc. You need to be prepared also. If there are any issues you have with the scout, get them out in the open. Make sure you confirm, very briefly and with tact, that he belives in God and that he is not gay. If there are any problems, let him know what they are. After all his efforts in meeting all the other requirements, it would be a little late in letting him know you have issues, but don't sign off if you are not satisfied. I also like to spend a little time on getting feedback on the process. Ask him what he has learned from all the other SMC he has had. Ask him what his overall experience with the troop has been and what things he would do different if he had the chance to do it over again. A good SMC should take about an hour.

I don't see anywhere in the BSA Insignia Guide where the City and State patch is allowed in lieu of the Council Shoulder Emblem/Patch. It does say: "All council shoulder emblems must contain identification including one of the following: corporate name (Boy Scouts of America); corporate initials (BSA), BSA fleur-de-lis (universal with eagle or plain one-color), "Venturing BSA", or "Venturing"." Since the City and State patches don't contain any of the manditory identification, how can they be allowed?

Are we allowed to wear the city and state patch in lieu of the CSP?