scoutldr

The bottom line is, the BSA has licensed your CO to use the BSA materials, name and program and the CO "owns" the unit. As they have chosen you and approved your membership, you are their representative. They can require additional membership standards, such as only admit members of their church or faith, or only males, or only females, etc.

First of all, the "Advancement Chair" is just a member of the Committee. He/she does not get to be the gatekeeper to decide who advances and who doesn't. Their job is to handle the paperwork. Approving advancement is the Scoutmaster's job, and then the Board of Review consisting of 3 committee members. A BOR is NOT a retest of requirements. If it's signed off, it's considered completed. Period. Sounds to me like everyone needs refresher training. Now, to the more serious point....what you have described to us in your original post is the definition of bulllying. This requires a mandatory report to the Scout Executive or to the YP hotline. IF it is as you described...

I am also not a lawyer...but consider: your Unit is chartered by YOUR council, and the charter agreement is between your CO and your council...not the other council. IF your council tells you not to camp, you are in violation of the charter agreement if you do.

As one who spent a career writing and interpreting safety and health laws and regulations, these BSA rules clearly smack of "CYA" on the part of the BSA. They are there in case anything happens, then the BSA can say, "well, we told them not to do it." The BSA has NO authority over me and my interactions with my own family.

All good advice above and spot on. Alert your District Commissioner and District Executive that this is coming. 99% of us are just volunteer parents with no special training or ability in handling special needs scouts. We all are willing to do the best we can, but that obligation applies to ALL the scouts in the unit, who also expect a good program. If it gets ugly or she just doesn't get the message, they can be removed from your unit at the unit's discretion.

You should be fine. Just submit the application and if the CC and COR approve it, it will be submitted to BSA for the routine background investigation. I sincerely doubt that the investigation would come back negative, since there were no charges filed and the case was "unfounded." Welcome and let us know how it turns out.

Eagle 1970 here, before the era of the red beret and skill awards. I agree, things have been watered down much over the decades. In addition to what @John-in-KCsaid, rank requirements had to be earned in sequence. NO working on Second Class requirements until the Tenderfoot badge was awarded, etc. FCFY put an end to all that.

If Council sent the letter to the SM, I would say that was improper, as well. Should have gone to the IH/COR who owns the unit and approves all adult memberships. Just my opinion...

I would give your Council DE/SE/Registrar the courtesy of a phone call just to let them know what's going on...hope you recover soon.

That skirt looks like the shorts I used to wear in the 70s.

It's not corny, it's what Scouts do. You might want to have your local Troop on hand to help lead the song, or you may be the only one present who knows the words. Also, might want to have them printed to hand out. Thanks for continuing the traditions.

It's an ongoing general trend. 20 is the new 10. I have nieces and nephews pushing 30, living at home, who are still treated as if they are 16. And they act like it, too. Parents refuse to cut the apron strings and force them to be self-sustaining adults.

Sorry, but I don't think any organization which funnels money to political candidates should qualify as a 501(c)(3) "charity"...that includes the NRA, PP, BSA, or whatever.

The year 2020 will go down in history as having been devastating for a number of reasons. To those who lost their jobs, I wish them well. My own Scout sons, now grown with young children (9, 5 and 5) of their own are wondering every day if the axe will fall and if my Grandkids will ever have a "normal" school career. One works in the restaurant industry and the other for a city Police Dept. I wonder when the COVID axe will fall on my high risk body, which I feel is inevitable in spite of best efforts to avoid it. Nobody deserves this, any of it. God bless us, everyone.

I had scouts who were obviously on swim teams and liked to show off with their "flip turns"...they'd get upset when I pull them out and make them start over. Yes, they can swim, but not by gliding half the distance. I also had "swimmers" show up in my BSA Lifeguard classes who couldn't do one length using a recognizable stroke. The first day would be the 400 yard swim...then half of them could go register for something else while the week was still young. That's why swim checks are (or used to be) conducted every year at camp. You'd be amazed how many "forget" how to swim from one year to the next. When you're out in the middle of the lake or ocean, there won't be a wall to push off of or side to hold onto. People need to realize, the purpose of the requirement is not to just sign off the requirement for rank. It is to ensure that the scout is prepared and able to save himself if he unexpectedly finds him/herself in the water. It is to allow the scout to progress to more advanced water adventures, such as canoeing, motorboating, sailing and white water. The "minimum" is not good enough in this case.

I have conducted hundreds of swimmer tests in our council camp pool, which is 25 yards. 3 lengths using a strong stroke and the final length using a resting backstroke followed by floating motionless in the deep end. If the scout touches bottom or stops swimming, or touches the side when turning, he starts over.

Yes, I just looked it up. It must be a documented disability verified in writing by a "health professional".

These are, and should be, VERY rare exceptions.

Ditto. What if all the units just said NO? Let the SE chew on that for awhile...

This is the patch I earned as a youth. If "Brownsea" was the JLT course for your council, I would say it is not for adult wear.

THey are missing "stakeholders" and "mission, vision and guiding principles"...

So, adding more local professional staff is the answer? Color me skeptible.

The last few years that I attended camp, they would bring trainers in to conduct basic training for adults who had not yet completed it...back in the stone age before everything went online. During the week I was in camp with my troop, we would teach YP, Safe Swim Defense, Safety Afloat, and volunteered to open the pool at 0500 for "Polar Bear Swim" and mile swim workups. The rest of our "free time" in camp, we would utilize skills for the Ranger's projects...such as re-roofing the dining hall in 95 degree heat, replacing toilets in staff cabins, running the bush hog to cut the fields, rebuilding the OA amphitheater...things like that. Never got a badge for it....just a cheer at the closing campfire.

"gettting to Eagle as fast as possible"...I find that sad. Scouting is about the journey, not having something to prove. Advancement is a by-product of the journey, not the purpose of it.

I vote to borrow the term "Advisor" from the old Exploring and now Venturing program.. With new emphasis that the adult Scouters are there to "advise" the "Leaders" who are the SPL and PLC. The do not decide, they do not dictate, they facilitate. The advise the program that the YOUTH decide on, and ensure safety and adherence to the GTA and GTSS. In the decades that I have been associated with the program, I have seen the gradual "helicopterism" taking over such that the youth merely sit there and wait for instructions from the adults. You don't sign me up for a MB University, I don't earn MB. You don't spoonfeed me advancement and sign me off because I sat there and listened to a lecture, no rank. No direction, no action taken. It's the way we are raising them, and it's wrong. I have family members with "kids" pushing 30 who still can't function as adults. It's sad.