meschen

I'm going to agree with Den Zero. I may be reading too much betyween the lines but it sounds to me like the current CM who was drafted into that roll wants to focus on his Den and pass the Pack responsibities to you and hang the Tiger Den. I would suggest that unless there is another enthusiastic parent who wants to run the Tigers, you pass up the ACM role and take care of your son's Den for the next two years. Then sometime next year you can better gauge what is best for the the Den and the Pack.

Here's my educated guess. Is a combination of two factors: 1. Economics - average home prices in Piedmont are over $1.0 million - my guess is that they aren't real interested in having their funds diluted in the SFBAC pool. 2. Summer Camp - Marin Council has a very nice summer camp in the Sierras. They probably aren't all that interested in having to compete with all of the SFBAC for slots at that site.

A nearby Bay Area Council claims to be the smallest Council in the nation: Piedmont has about 1,000 youth members, five troops and four packs. They serve the city of Piedmont (pop ~11,000), which is surounded by the city of Oakland.

Actually, the position that Avid is really looking for is a "Pack Trainer." Given the requirements of that function, that position should ideally be held by an experienced Scouter. Unfortunately, after filling the Committee Chair, Cubmaster, Unit Commissioner and various Den Leader positions, who has highly experienced Scouters left over to serve in that role?

I agree with AvidSM. While I think the Cub program (Tiger through Bear) is both relevant and exciting, I have seen far too much evidence that we start to fail the boys at the Webelos level. There are many reasons for this. I think the repetition of things we did as Cub Scouts gets to be a bit too much. The uniforms are no longer exciting. Sports activities such as Baseball and Soccer can demand two or three days a week, which crowds out Scouting. I dont believe that the current Den Leader system works how many parents with only the fast start training and no previous Scouting experience can effectively make 20 different activity badges both informative and exciting? Yeah I know you should find parents who are specialists in each activity and have them lead that section, but how many of parents dont have either the time or desire to contribute? And marketing is a major issue too. A few weeks back, the fifth graders in my Sons class came back from outdoor ed. I know that many of them had a great time. Somehow we need to find a to communicate to them that Scouting offers an opportunity to continue do many of the same outdoor activities things that enjoyed, and find a way to make it cool. I dont have the answers. But I know something could be done to broaden our reach into the community.

It is important to set reasonable expectations on the cost up front. But I also provide them a frame of reference when doing so. Even when considering the cost of a new uniform, a year in Cub Scouts (excluding overnighters) is less than either one and a half months of Taekwondo or a season of AYSO or Little League (which run for less than a quarter of the year.)

John-in-KC, I respectfully disagree with your interpretation of the Guide to Safe Scouting. A single father with two Cub Scout-age sons is perfectly able to take both boys to a council-organized family camp under G2SS. The rule each youth participant is responsible to a specific adult in no way states that the specific adult can only be responsible for a single youth. While there are many sources where guidelines for adult-to-scout ratio exist, none of them are mandated by BSA policy. (This message has been edited by meschen)

One of the local units raises money by providing trash collecting services at a local stree-fair. They empty the trash cans as they fill up and I believe they also pick-up trash on the street. They are paid by the fair organizers. This could easily be translated into a County Fair project.

Pack212, I've been told by our Scout Office that the red unit numbers will remain available. I sure hope this is correct becuase the green on tan numerals would look terrible on the blue shirts.

I've actually done some resecent research into the tax status of Scouting units. You can only claim a tax deduction for unreimbursed out-of pocket expenses, such as unreimbursed fuel costs, if the unit's chartering organization is a qualified charitable organization. I know that teh vast majority of the units qualify as being tax exempt, as they are chartered by either a church or civic organization (such as the American Legion). Even most "Parents of" or "Friends of" organizations should be able to qualify as such. But I have heard of a few "odd" chartering organizations that do not qualify as qualified charitable organizations, such as units chartered by a local business. Technically speaking, expenses incurred on behalf of those units are not tax deductable. You should know that although the BSA is a qualified charitable organization, under IRS regulations BSA has the ability to control who is able to use that tax status and who is not. Although BSA has passed that tax-exempt status on to your Councel (including FOS), they have elected NOT to pass that tax status down to the unit level. Becuase of that your Scouting Unit derives its tax status from its chartering organization. More infomration is available here: http://www.gpc-bsa.org/finance/unittaxexemptstatus.asp

jr56 Since they're only about $2 a pop, I don't see why there would be a bunch of legacy red sholder tabs arround. Have someone pick up one set for everyone in the Troop and hand them out at a Troop meeting and you're all good. For another $2 or $3 you can also buy each boy a new set of unit numbers. Once you've done that, you're basically up to date, without the hodge-podge.

Cub day camp in our council was $180 this year (five days - for six hours a day). Cost of living in the San Francisco Bay Area I guess. I know I've been put-off by the price, which seem to be increasing pretty quickly. But in the past the program has been fun for the Cub Scouts (not so much for the Webelos though), so I bit the bullet and did it one more time this year. Next year I think we'll do something else.

For a Wolf, I'd say 1 gold and 12 silver were too many. But that's only becuase there are less than 130 possible electives in the handbook. A Wolf scout who has a year-long goal of earning as many Arrow Points as possible should have no trouble 6 to 8 Arrow Points while putting in a meaningful amount of work into each requirement.

OP is correct never plan a Pack meeting in June. June is for summertime events. The final regular Pack meeting should be in mid-to-late May. But everyone who thinks that ranks must be presented at a single impresive B&G ceremony are incorrect. Although it is an admirable goal, there is no requirement to hand out rank badges at the Blue and Gold meeting. Except for the Arrow of Light, we handed out rank badges at every monthly Pack meeting from December to May. It takes 5 minutes to do a meaningful rank ceremony (no this doesn't multiply by the boys who earn the rank). We have one boy who might earn his rank after the mid-May Pack meeting, so well possibly have his award handed out at the July Pack BBQ this year.