Gone

Our unit does proactive recruiting year around. We aren't like 90% of units that just show up to Pack meetings in the fall trying to "rush" Webelos like some pathetic fraternity. We deploy Den Chiefs in several different packs. We hold Webelos-based events to help with certain activity badges. We offer to help CMs perform pack meetings, teach games or skills....what CM doesn't want a break and allow a group of well-trained boys to run one or more of his meetings? We invite the packs to fun events we host. By doing this all year around we don't feel the over urgency to aggressively recruit during the fall. We usually end up with 8-14 boys each year....sometimes as many as 20. We also do some analysis on demographics and trends in our school district using public information. We can track how many K-6th graders are in each area and can adjust our recruiting accordingly. If district and council are too lazy to get this amount of detail, then we as a unit will.

Yup. And you can set alerts for all deposits and withdrawals and even set the amount level with which you want to be notified. Expecting popcorn money to be deposited? If you don't get the notification within a reasonable amount of time, fire off an email to the treasurer reminder her you're expecting that money to be deposited. If people use the tools available to them management of anything is easier.

Switch banks. If they miss that they'll miss more. That's as basic as it comes.

Unit program marketing has changed significantly since we were kids. Units didn't use social media back them. The Interenet was command line based and the bastion of university geeks (Archie anyone?). Now ANY unit can have a website, mobile site, Twitter, FaceBook, Instagram, Blogs, unit videos, unit t-shirts, hoodies, etc. No, unit marketing has changed a great deal....at least for those units savvy enough to take advantage of it. National gives us nothing other than broad guidelines of what can/cannot be done. We elect what we want to do as a unit. By program I mean the outdoor program. The only time BSA affects that is when the take away things once allowed. Other than that the unit controls the quatility.

@@eagle77 our unit sounds similar to yours. We've prospered and grown over the last 12 years. We've seen other units fold and blow away while our recruiting continued strong. We've had no help from district or council, though somehow they take credit for our success. While we have not seen the effect of these national declines, many other units have been impacted. Recently, even we have seen a decline in the Webelos coming over. Since 2013 those numbers have dropped considerably. Looking forward the rising crop of Webelos are fewer and fewer. Packs are closing and in severe decline. In our area the pool of Webelos is shrinking so much we will need to find other sources for recruitment. Packs are simply declining too fast to feed the current number of troops.

On the plus side, the unit gets to camp outs and events faster with that police escort.

Americans are very used to subsidizing the rest of the world. After your empire had the sun set on it, someone had to pick up the slack. Looking forward to the Chinese doing the same in 40 years. Can't wait to have them pay for me to go places.

Registration Fee: $5,750 Airfare:$2,268 Other Expenses: $1,000 Total: $9,000+ One week in Disney Port Orleans including food and park tix for four: $7,634 (gas/hotels to/from another $500) No thanks. Jamborees are for people with money to burn. In the old days there were FAR more affordable.

Answers: They have no backbone Are too worried about losing those two ASMs or fear their wrath Are too worried about how this whole issue might look or affect them. The SM and CC should have put a fork in this WAY before this point.

I was. In my unit the SM and CC did the following: Scout logged everything (camping, service, rank and MBs) in his handbook. Ranks were signed off during SMC, then BOR (usually same night) and rank was awarded same night. Scout kept and held blue cards. Completed cards were turned in. MBs were awarded at COH. Adults still processed paperwork and went to "scout shop" for awards. Discrepancies? Go back to scout's handbook or troop spreadsheet, then reconcile. This same process is what my unit uses today but with the data base as back up as opposed to a troop spread sheet.

@@qwazse, there are a few ways to avoid any records problems. First, we tell all of our scouts to keep their handbooks up to date and keep a scan or picture of ALL pages. We also tell them to keep all their blue cards. Partials are kept by the scout. When they get sign off we tell them to scan/photo of those too in case they "get lost in the process" or something. This way, regardless of what happens with the adults processing paperwork, the scout always has his most recent update. Second, the unit has ALL of the scout's records in TroopMaster. The scout knows his camping and service history, as well as all his rank advancement and MB data, also training. These are all important things for the scout to now. It allows them to keep track of their scouting history. We encourage them to keep this same data in their handbook and keep that up to date (with scans/photos) too. Third is ScoutNet. Whether data is entered from the handbook directly in to ScoutNet or imported from TM to ScoutNet, the process of the original inputting must still happen. Using our troop's approach we have a primary (handbook and scout records), secondary (TroopMaster) and tertiary (ScoutNet). We even have a fourth back up since TM is backed up in to a cloud environment. ScoutNet is hosted inside of BSA there's always a chance they could go down. This way we have our secondary back up on TM. We still require the scout to manage his own scouting career and paperwork, we just have a back up plan in case something happens (e.g., fire, flood, natural disaster, etc.). I never want to be in a position of telling a scout with 6 years in the program he cannot make Eagle because of a single or dual point of failure. Too much at stake.

Yup. This is the battle between the COR, the CC, the SM and the guy who wants to join the troop. I'd leave it there too.

@@fred johnson this method works until you have a records problem.

@@scoutldr would you feel the same if a Navy Seal said "I'm here to train you in wilderness survival"? Or if a sniper were to say "I'm here to train you in rifle and shotgun"? These parents are experts in two things: Handling specia needs kids and in handling their kid. I never find anyone who claims to be an expert off putting. I DO find it off putting when their "expertise" proves false.

Hmmmm. It sounds like there's a bit going on here for which we don't have the full picture. I will say this: The expectation of mainstreaming a special needs scout is high. It seems, despite your training and involvement, more than the two ASMs are overwhelmed. Our unit has one austistic scout and several asperger scouts. Their parents are on EVERY trip if only for distant reassurance. They know how fast their child can go from content to uncontrollable. We've never had any issues we couldn't handle and the parents don't get directly involved, they are there to advise. Not sure I can offer more. There seems to be more here below the surface than originally posted.

Yup...the first parents to complain about costs are the one who's kids did not sell jack during the three fund raisers. Ironically, one of those parents skulked back home (which is across the street) in her Mercedes SL. Go figure.

If the design has any BSA logos on it most suppliers won't touch your order as they may not be licensed to do so. @@qwazse has a good point, order some stock. We do that when we must order. Class B and Stadri Emblems do fine work.

Select sport will run you $3000+. My niece is in dance which runs three times that. Units can make an effort to keep costs down. National could do its part by not making the uniform so expensive.

My two cents is that any kid with a special need should have someone with whom he identifies on EVERY camp out. If that's mom or dad, so be it. If another leader can fill that role then great. But if no one that has a rapport with your son is going on the camp out, my suggestion would be for you or your husband to go or have him stay home. I get the desire to "main stream" your son as much as possible, but if that safety net of a caring, trained adult is not there to guide him -- despite all the coping skills he may have learned -- the outcome may be too much for untrained adults to handle. In 12 years I can only recall two times calling a parent to pick up their son. Both cases were scouts who packed like it was summer for a camp out where temps dropped below 20F. We've all had the home sick scout, the scout who was too scared to sleep for fear of bears, the "trouble-maker" you wanted to duct tape to your bumper, etc. But in all those cases we deal with it. When we get back we work with the parents on strategies to keep those situations from happening again. Only when the parents refuse or are reluctant to work with the unit would we ever take the drastic step of barring them from events.

Ask the 16 year old me if I'd rather lie around, eat and watch movies or get up and do ANYTHING and the answer was always the former. Kick my butt out of the house and tell me to hike 50 miles and I loved it!!! Don't you remember the apathy, yet excitement, of being a teenager?

Agree there are many things eroding membership. Sports has always been out there as a competitor. It is a recent event (last 15 years) that every darn parent thinks there kid has a shot at the pros, or at least a college scholarship. 99% wouldn't make a true "select" team from 20 years ago. Everyone is special. This is a parenting issue. Electronics is another recent competitor. Again, parents allowing their kids to have more and more screen time is a parenting issue. My parents kicked us out of the house and said "go play". Today's parents are too busy being friends than parents. I don't think the parents are over-scheduled, I think the kids are. Again, a parenting issue. They have their kids in EVERYTHING and cannot say no. That's not the kid's fault. Urban living? I think most of the membership is from suburban areas. Maybe that's what you meant? Not sure what the inference is here...maybe that urban and suburban folks don't like the outdoors as much as us rural folk? Maybe. I think it is more about people making choices...and everyone wasn't the quick, 7 days-7 cities tour of scouting (think Griswalds at the Grand Canyon). Check the box, move on. Again, a parenting issue. Lawyers? Yeah, that one I can agree with 100%!!

My only concern about national is the same concern I have about my government: Stop making silly policies and leave me alone to manage my local unit. I'd be happy if national went away (not just talking BSA here ).

@@eagle77 how long have we lived under the current model where national is acting like it is today? My point being, we haven't lived 100 years with national being the way they are today (constant tinkering). Membership for youth and adults has been on a steady decline. Most recently that decline has doubled -- coincidently with the recent changes. Could BSA survive? Sure, but in what form. Certainly not in the form many of us grew up with and came to embrace....and THAT is what JoeBob and I (and perhaps others) were addressing.

...is that why so many of them have left year on year in such droves? The year on year membership decline is acceleration not flat lining. Some times it takes things a while die.

Go to council. Make a stink. Go to national. Make a stink. Get the special interest groups on your side and shine a bright light on the trouble makers. Let the media know. Scream discrimination. This approach has worked for other groups...get it to work for you.