Gone

I hear you. I still have a flip phone. In my area we have have several families on state, federal and local assistance...the kids however have Galaxy phones. I agree on the PDFs. They are easier to use, more universal and could support the same links to information that these new epubs do. I think it is an interesting idea from BSA but the wrong implementation.

ROFL. So if you were in charge, 10 sexual predators would have been allowed to violate their restraining order and hang out in a school zone. Bravo. Way to stop crime. Thank God you are not in law enforcement...or in my community. Lose a loved-one to preventable violence and then come talking. All they did was use a protection protocol to ensure the safety of their kids. I have no problem with law enforcement or any one else taking extra care in their jobs for my protection. The flight attendant that double-checks a passenger because they look "fishy", the cop who "senses" that something is not right, the school teacher that suspects a child might be in danger, I have no issues with that. There were no personal liberties or basic rights of @@Stosh violated. They were being careful. Where's the harm? Being safe should not be a problem. Taking precautions never hurts. Leave your food laying around camp or do you put it in a bear bag as a precaution?

There is HIPAA, the Privacy Act, amendments to the rule (Privacy Rule) from the Office of Civil Rights and case law that has challenged (and won) the application of the disclosure of PHI (protected health information) that all rolled up point to the courts upholding the the non-disclosure of health information by individuals and so-called "non-covered entities". Churches, for obvious separation and Constitutional issues, have been protected from the application of this case law....though some have tried to tear that down.

They are the same price as the paper copies. And these days I see "poor" scouts with better phones than I have, so you open a free account online and you can access this book on your phone or any computer.

You are quoting the policy and the only those regulations that apply to covered entities. The case law the regulations refer to and new/existing privacy law extend to private citizens. You simply cannot disclose someone's medical status. Period. Read a bit about non-profits and "other organizations" that must comply with both the privacy aspect, as well as electronic data protection of HIPAA. Using your point of view, and CO or unit could handle electronic medical information (one part of HIPAA) any way they want because they are not a "covered entity". That's simply not true. HIPAA applies to everyone.

They had telephone poles in the Bronze Age?

Sorry, but in this day and age I have no problem with what the school did or if they did that to me. They were preventing a potential Sandy Hook. I have no issue with that.

Right. Yet those cars that were caught had registered sex offenders driving them. They gave various excuses. Thankfully the police department did buy them and they were convicted of violating their restraining orders. I hope your not suggesting that a 30 year old male cruising a school zone and asking a young girl if she needs a ride is somehow okay. Where there's smoke...

45 CFR 164.506 covers the disclosure of healthcare information by ANYONE. It does not apply just to health care orgs, gov entities and insurance companies. I cannot disclose your health status to anyone unless you authorize me to. It's illegal. The only other time I may is if rendering first aid and the disclosure of the information is to your benefit.

Calling out someone's name saying you need their form does not violate HIPAA. You are asking for a generic form and not disclosing information. Calling out "Johnny I need your asthma inhaler" or "Bobby it's time to take your mess" DOES violate HIPPA. That comes straight from our ASM who happens to be a hospital administrator. They instituted our health/meds handling policy in our troop. We lent them to council so they could do the same for council camps. ANY adult should know disclosing ANYONE's medical condition is a violation of privacy. Sorry, but I'm not buying hey didn't know. That's just idiocy being asked to be excused as honest ignorance. Not buying it. They knew better.

Thanks. I actually got a copy from a friend on the pilot project. The format is better than I thought but its proprietary. Not good and not helpful.

So, if the guy doesn't pass in the next year, will she question those "voices"?

Sorry, @@moosetracker, I'm not buying the "don't know HIPPA" excuse. Adults know you don't go taking about kids medical issues. At VERY least they don't go bad mouthing a kid and family to another troop. That type of information is SM to SM, not some ASM who's playing UC. Not his role! As leaders they know better. As trained leaders they know better. As district trained reps they know better. As adults and parents they know better. As scouts they know better. That's too many strikes to give a benefit of the doubt in my mind. I'd be at the the CO, district and council with these two to make sure they 1) never do this to anyone else, and 2) note for BSA that their roles should be called seriously in to question. They go after my kid and my Family? The gloves come off!

Well I will say this, in my cousin's neighborhood (major suburb of a large city in a southern state) where crime is VERY low, they've had several vans pulled over for potential school zone abductions. This is next to a major park and three schools around that park. In ten years there have been nearly a dozen suspicious cars and potentially abductions. You'd never know the problem unless you check the police reports.

First, if the ASMs said anything about your son's Aspergers they violated the law by divulging your son's health status to someone who did not have a need to know or was authorized by you. That's something I'd take up directly your your current CO and TC. They violated the law and that is a problem for your CO. THEY, not you, should be the ones leaving. Second, as a father of a scout with similar needs -- and lucky to be in a unit that has several such scouts and leaders with special training -- I can say that the scout's chances of success it's far better to have one of the parents very involved...perhaps as an ASM. I'm not sure if you can do that but I can tell you it has helped my son and the other scouts in my unit to,have their parents involved. Lastly, it sounds like you've invested much in to your current unit to help train the leaders and it sounds like they are open. Unless there's a reason the SM lets those two ASMs lead an event, he should rethink it. If they can summarily dismiss your scout, what will,they do in other situations? The SM should rethink putting them in charge. I would stand my ground. I'd volunteer to attend those activities my son is on and I'd make darn sure those two were held accountable for their actions. You've invested a lot and your current leaders seem accepting. I'd press for the two ASMs to be held accountable for their actions. Inexcusable of them.

That's on myscouting too.

God would have given her a super soaker to deliver the message and not in front of the kids.

Membership Cards: Worthless or What? It's nearly June and that means council has finally gotten around to sending out the membership cards. Despite updating our unit records quarterly,purging old members and adding new ones, doing the year-end consolidation and reconciliation and making sure our 2015 paperwork was 100% correct, council has given us -- for the tenth year in a row -- the wrong count of membership cards. We have people on there that were dropped two years ago, many of our new scouts/adults missing, and long-standing members that are no where to be seen. A quick counts has us missing over 35 cards and having 27 cards of people we no longer charter. To make things worse, the roster they sent does not match what is on myscouting.org. This confirms yet again an age old feeling: Membership cards are worthless and a significant waste of council time and money. Question: Anyone else experiencing this complete cluster you-know-what? What good are these cards for? Has anyone ever had a need for them that justified their printing, as opposed to having the end-user print them out on their own should they be needed?

@@RememberSchiff nails it. Cut out the bad seed for the good of the unit. Such things have no place in scouting. If she did this once what will she do next and where? In font of new recruits? At summer camp? Says something to another unit? She's a liability in more way than one. Cut ties.

She was wrong. Make her apologize and fire a shot across her bow not to do it again or she'll be suspended from activities.

But they have safety goggles.

@@fred johnson, you can easily use TM as your primary data source and then sync with SOAR. Works great. Been doing it for over five years. Even does med forms, driver info, mailing lists, etc. Spot on. SOAR will not do that. You need TM. It's a simple upload to Internet Advancment.

We can be boy led but still give advice that sets them up for success and not failure. We monitor our scouts' progress during the week to see who will or will not pass. Those on the bubble we get them help to pass.

We did the same thing years ago to jump start a sluggish PL group. We started with a few months of meetings designed solely to promote patrol rather than troop esprit de corps. The games and skills were patrol-based competitions. We instituted several patrol competitions at camp outs (first to set up correctly, first done with KP and passed QM inspection, best dinner/dessert) or troop meetings or other events (shooting sports, archery, etc.). Developed a patrol points system and, at first, found ways where each patrol could win something. This was necessary to spread the success around so that patrols would not get discouraged. After four-six months of this we encouraged the PLs to work on the national honor patrol. Some did, some didn't. Eventually every patrol has earned it once in the last few years. Once patrol has taken it on themselves to win it EVERY year...but that's unusual. Here's how the PLC advised the PLs on how to complete the award. The SM only gets involved with the final sign off. The JASMs and the PLs work with the SPL to make sure everything is documented. The onus is on the PL and the patrol to document, schedule and complete everything. Hope this helps. (NOTE: Below is NOT a BSA outline, rather what our PLC came up with to guide our PLs to know when the requirements were met) Requirement #1: Have a patrol name, flag, and yell. Put the patrol design on equipment and use the patrol yell. Keep patrol records up-to-date. Create or update your patrol flag. Create or update your patrol yell or chat. Develop a patrol design or logo. Work with your Patrol QM and the Troop QM to put the patrol design on your gear boxes. It does not have to be a permanent design; you may use printable stickers as well. For your patrol records, make sure your Patrol Scribe is keeping weekly attendance. This requirement is considered complete when you have done the following: Displayed your patrol flag at 4 troop meetings. Demonstrated your patrol yell or chant at 1 troop meeting and used your patrol yell or chant at one troop camp fire. Developed a patrol design or logo and shown it to the Troop QM. Keep your patrol attendance for 6 consecutive troop meetings. Requirement #2: Hold two patrol meetings each month. Holding regular patrol meetings is a great way to develop patrol spirit. Patrol meetings can be held during “Patrol Corners†during troop meetings, during camp outs or any time on your own where you have a majority of patrol members present. This requirement is considered complete when you have done the following: Held at least 3 patrol meetings during troop meetings in any two month period. Held at least 1 patrol meeting outside of normal troop meetings (camp outs would count). Using either the first or second bullet point above, make sure that you have a minimum of two patrol meetings in a consecutive two month period. Requirement #3: Take part in at least one hike, outdoor activity, or other Scouting event. During the period your patrol is working on this award, have a majority of your patrol members take part in any outdoor troop activity other than at troop meetings. This can be a camp out, shooting sports activity or even a patrol hike or outdoor event (e.g. such as hiking at Arbor Hills or going to soccer game together). Remember the Scouting event does not need to be outdoors and could include a climbing event or even a bowling event held by the troop, District or Council. This requirement is considered complete when you have done the following: Have the majority of your patrol members attend one Scouting event or outdoor event. Patrol events such as patrol hikes will count. Have your Patrol Scribe record attendance. Show your attendance record for this event to your Scoutmaster. Requirement #4: Complete two Good Turns or service projects approved by the patrol leaders' council. During the period your patrol is working on the award, the majority of your patrol should take part in two (2) service projects. These can be any of the troop-based service projects listed on the troop calendar. Such projects include but are not limited to Scout Sunday, Flag Placement Project, Scouting for Food, the SAUMC Fun Run, any Eagle project, Join Scouting Night, Webelos Open House, etc. This requirement is considered complete when you have done the following: Have the majority of your patrol members attend two (2) troop-based service projects. Have your Patrol Scribe record attendance. Show your attendance record for this event to your Scoutmaster. Requirement #5: Help two patrol members advance in rank. During the period your patrol is working on the award assist two (2) patrol members advance in rank. This can be obtaining Scout, Tenderfoot or any rank. As of 2015, the Scout badge is considered a rank. This requirement is considered complete when you have done the following: When two Scouts have been awarded a new rank, make sure this is recorded by your Patrol Scribe. Show your record to your Scoutmaster. Requirement #6: Have at least 75 percent of members in full uniform at troop activities. This requirement does not have an established number of troop activities where the patrol is required to be in full uniform. Troop 380 infers that the number of activities for this requirement will be three (3) and should include troop meetings, service projects or any activity where full Class A uniform is required. This requirement is considered complete when you have done the following: Have your Patrol Scribe record attendance for three events where your patrol was in full Class A uniform. Class A uniform is considered complete with the following criteria: Class A shirt, pants/shorts and socks are worn. The uniform is clean and in good condition. The troop neckerchief is properly worn. Proper shoes are worn. Patches and badges are in their proper location. See the Uniform Inspection Sheet. Have an JASM or Assistant Scoutmaster review your patrol and confirm everyone meets the uniform requirement. It may be best to have this done before the troop meeting by requesting a meeting with an ASM for uniform review. Take a picture of your patrol at each of these events. Show your record to your Scoutmaster. Requirement #7: Have a representative attend at least three patrol leaders' council meetings. During the period your patrol is working on the award have the PL, APL or their designate attend three (3) PLC meetings. This requirement is considered complete when you have done the following: The Troop Scribe sends your PL a copy of your patrol’s attendance once you have attended three PLC meetings. Show your record to your Scoutmaster. Requirement #8: Have eight members in the patrol or experience an increase in patrol membership. During the period your patrol is working on the award, show that you have at least eight members in your patrol or show that your patrol has increased in membership. This requirement is considered complete when you have done the following: Have your Patrol Scribe record your roster. This can be the same roster used for recording troop meeting attendance. Show your record to your Scoutmaster.

@@Horizon, I like the curse of the Eagle point. When I see Eagle Scout on a resume I ask a few more questions before I get all impressed. My findings of late are that many Eagles in the last 10-15 years are pretty light in their overall knowledge. Many admit to being pushed by mom and dad. Few meet that image BSA tries like heck to promote. This is why my unit tries like hell to make sure that our Eagles are worth more than the paper on which their certificate is printed. Later, many have come back to thank us for our efforts.