ScoutNut

I have not seen it yet, but I have talked to others who have. My Scout Shop does not have it in yet. They said possibly in mid-late July. You can order it from National Supply, although it is not on ScoutStuff.org yet. From everything I have read, the new Specific training (which would come BEFORE NLE) is much more hands on and addresses the concerns of new leaders that they were not getting any help with how to actually run den meetings. Since training is not mandatory, I do not see how National can "require" leaders, who are already trained, to re-take Leader Specific. The new syllabus will simply replace the old one. BTW - If you do order the training from National Supply, ask them if it has the "old" defective DVD, or the "new" corrected one. If it has the old one, make sure that they will ship you the corrected one as soon it becomes available.

From BSA National Web site - Scoutmaster Conference Training - http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/trainingmodules/scoutmaster%20conference%20training.aspx

I'm in Illinois and we do not have to renew our Camp Training either. Once it is taken it is on your training record and that's it. Perhaps you misunderstood your trainer. However, there ARE different trainings for the different levels/kinds of camping. Each has to be taken if you want to take your girls to do that particular type of camping. (Rather like BALOO, WOLT, and OLS) GSUSA Camp training starts with the basics because not everyone knows them and most councils do not have the resources to have lots of different classes for the same training, depending on how experienced a camper you are. So everyone (across the country) gets the same training (just as BSA uses the same syllabus, with no modifications, organization wide), and yes, that means "explaining how to use a dunk bag to wash your mess kit, and how to form a patrol, plan meals and make a duty roster (kaper chart)". Also, your experience with camping, and other organizations outdoor training, does not mean that you have a clue about GSUSA's rules and regulations regarding camping with THEIR members. BALOO training does NOT mean you know how to take Girl Scouts camping in a GSUSA Scout Camp lodge. The Camp trainings for GSUSA are, like everything else in GSUSA, progressive - basic info and cabin/lodge camping for your younger Scouts (this is why your overnight was indoors and not in a tent, you were NOT taking tent training) - tent/outdoor camping for more experienced Troops - and high adventure for older girls. Most leaders do not take all 3 at one time. They are taken when their girls reach the level for each type of outdoor experience. I also, do not understand how you get to a $300 cost for trainings. Our camp trainings run about $15-25, depending on how long and the amount of supplies needed. This is very similar to what is charged by my BSA council for outdoor training and a LOT less than BSA Wood Badge which is over $200 all by itself! The only really pricey training is First Aid / CPR. My council had their own qualified trainers and was able to give their leaders a bit of a break on the cost, especially if you already had your First Aid Handbook from a previous training. Unfortunately, if you want to stay qualified, you have to renew your training, and I personally think it is a GOOD thing to have someone with this training when taking our youth outdoors. This is NOT just for GSUSA, but for all First Aid/CPR training everywhere. BTW - BSA also requires CPR and First Aid for some activities.

If you are looking for by-laws, how about following the By-Laws, Rules and Regulations of the BSA? From BSA Unit Money Earning Application (which you should have filled out and submitted to your council for approval BEFORE starting this fundraiser) - "Selling raffle tickets or other games of chance is a direct violation of the BSA Rules and Regulations, which forbid gambling. The product must not detract from the ideals and principles of the BSA." For money-earning activities which follow BSA rules, you do not need Pack By-Laws. All you need is a flier with the info on it sent to every family in the Pack.

Why are you using your CO's Internet access? Why not just use your own laptop (or one of your ASM's), and your own IP?

Why would you NOT want to recognize all of the hard work each boy did all month long? Why would you make him wait 1 or 2 months for that recognition, and to receive awards he has earned? Pack outings are fun and should be a part of the program. We go on outings every other month or so. However, they should not replace Pack meetings.

If the boys speak English then use them as translators. BSA also has it's materials in Spanish. Check with your council. If neither the boys nor their parents speak English then you should find them a unit that, at the very least, is bi-lingual. Staying in your unit, where they can not communicate with anyone, is not an option.

Your best bet is to ask your council these questions. Each council runs their summer camps a bit differently. If your CM was able to register this boy as an individual, without a parent, then your camps must have some provision for this. However, unless someone else here is in your council, we have no way of knowing what those provisions are.

You can put the stray arrowpoint in either position. Why not ask your son which HE likes better?

Actually $80 for 5 days is not to bad. We charge $40 for 3 days. What do you get for that - Some of the expenses involved are - T-shirts for everyone, patches for everyone, all supplies (they did not just pick that rock up in the alley & someone had to pay for the paint) for all activities, snacks and drinks, insurance, facility rental, other facility costs (janitor?), first aid supplies, and any local permits the town needs. You stated they have been planning this since the beginning of the year. Are you sure about that? While our District Day Camp has been on our Council calendar since last June, they had not been able to find a Camp School trained volunteer to be Camp Director until the middle of last month. So nothing much beyond the theme, cost, & the place has been planned yet. The CD had a box full of "stuff" from prior years dropped off at his house, and that's it. He has been sorting thru it slowly. Lucklily, our Day Camp is not until the beginning of August. We have time to work on it, and we also have the luxury of being able to borrow ideas and purchase left overs from the Day Camp of another District that runs before ours and uses the same theme. It sounds to me like you might have inexperienced Camp & Program Directors. If so then, yes, things might be a bit hectic if they have never dealt with the realities of Day Camp before. Trust me, even with experienced Directors, in the best of camps, opening and closing can be hectic with all of those kids. As for Tag-a-Longs and Tots, perhaps your District was having problems getting volunteer staff and/or den "herders" and needed to include siblings to combat the problem. Cub Scouts is a FAMILY program, and as long as it was advertised as siblings allowed, insurance was there to cover them, and there was age appropriate programing for them, I really don't see why your husband, Eagle or not, should be "livid". BTW - We do not want to pay for the extra insurance and programing so we limit our Day Camps to registered Scouts only.

Svend - I'm just going to throw this out there for you to think about. Aside from the issue of you not being 21 yet, do you think that part of the reason that the Exec Board wants nothing to do with you, could be the campaign you have been running for over a year now to get the board to not sell certain Council Camps? I think there might be the perception with the board that you don't want to work WITH the board, for the Council as a whole, but in reality have your own adgenda you want to push and your own ax you want to grind. You might have already burned your bridges with this board.

This is a BSA NATIONAL program, not something the individual Councils have any control over. It is not that your Council is simply "entrenched" in an unreasonable position. You say that you spoke to the company BSA uses and they told you a SSN is not needed and they do not require it. Yet when I looked at the website for ChoicePoint Volunteer Select, the company used by BSA, They include a Social Security Screen as an integral part of their screening program for each state. So it seems that ChoicePoint Volunteer Select DOES require a SSN for a complete screening.

It is the responsibility of the Charter Organization, thru the Charter Org Rep, and the Committee Chair to recruit leaders. What is their take on the situation and what have they done? BSA has a publication that deals specifically with how to recruit Cub leaders. It involves putting together a list of the people who the CC and COR feel are the best for the job and then asking them PERSONALLY. Making sure new leaders are mentored and have someone they can go to for help and advice works very well also. If the new Wolf den is so large, perhaps your CC & CM should consider splitting it. Usually the den leader has the final say on the day and time of the meeting, and picks something that works best for them FIRST, then the families. This is mainly because without the den leader, there is not den meeting. Splitting the den based on the 2 most popular meeting times might work for everyone.

Maybe the National site will help you understand about Order of the Arrow - http://www.oa-bsa.org/ It is considered a National Camping Honor Society. Members are elected by non-members. Boys and adults have to meet certain requirements. Adults are nominated, not elected. Their nominations are based on what help they can offer to the OA youth and program. OA members promote camping, do service projects at BSA camps, staff Cub Camps, and more. If you have ever heard the term - "Cheerful Service" - that's OA. The OA is the one part of BSA that is almost entirely youth run.

"Our Join Night (council wide) is not until mid-September." Nothing says you have to wait until the Council-wide registration. Hold your own Round-Up in late Aug / Early Sept whenever your schools get back in session. You can do something school neutral, and hold a raingutter race in a local park. Use foam core as the boat and use straws and printer paper for the mast and sails. Boys and siblings can decorate and race as they please. Or, do a Kite Fly with home made kites. Advertise the heck out of it in your local paper, in the local church bulletins, fliers tacked up in grocery stores and other stores, sent home thru school if possible, etc. For your Popcorn dilemma - Do you have any Girl Scout families in your Pack? If you do, talk to them about taking on the job of Popcorn Kernel. A Girl Scout leader, or parent, who is familiar with the GSUSA Cookie Program will have no problem with popcorn!

While we use different ceremonies and devices to hand out awards each month, one thing always remains the same - the zip-lock baggie. All of the awards go into a baggie for each Scout, along with a note stating what each award is for and the Scouts name and den. The baggie is then attached to whatever is called for by the ceremony (Frisbee, leaf, Christmas ornament, etc). Without the baggie all of the small segments, belt loops, arrowpoints, beads, etc would end up all over the floor of the hall with no way of finding out who they belonged to.

"The average attendance for the 3 in total must be at least half." That is for the DEN award ONLY. For the PACK award, all that is needed is for the Pack to plan and conduct three pack activitiesone each in June, July, and August. It does not matter if only 1 Cub attends each month. The Pack will still receive it's Summertime certificate and streamer.

I may be wrong, but it sounds like you would rather he was not on the Committee at all. If I am wrong, you can ask HIM what he is interested in and what his strengths / abilities are. You can also have him pick a Summer activity and be in charge it. This is a small way to start and see how well he does. It is the responsibility of the CC to recruit leaders and to fill positions on the Committee. What does the CC want to do?

Getting involved at the District level is not hard at all! It is as easy as attending every Roundtable to get to know the District folks, when they say they need help with something (staffing a weekend of Cub Camp, staffing a day activity, helping with popcorn delivery or return, etc) be the first to sign up. It is as easy as taking all the training you can and telling them you would be interested in staffing future courses. It is as easy as signing up as a Merit Badge Counselor and working at your District's MB Day. It IS easy, but it is NOT just for show. Working for your District is much more than simply sitting on a committee. It is WORKING for your District!

Work WITH your Cubmaster and the other leaders. You are not the Big Boss. This should be a GROUP effort with all of the adults working together. Things you should be working on now - Creating a strong reltionship between the Pack and it CO, and getting the CO to register a new COR. You CM can not register in both positions. Working with your CO, CM, and leaders to plan next year's calendar and program (this is NOT the DE's job). Work with your DE to do Boy Talks in the schools and plan recruiting Round-Ups for the Pack. Work with your CM and leaders to plan some Summer activities. This is especially important if you recruit any new families now. Recruit a Pack Popcorn Kernal / Fundraiser Chair. Many councils are starting to gear up for their Product Sale. Is the Pack affiliated with a Troop? Start working on cultivating good Troop/Pack relations. Work on getting some Den Chiefs.

I don't blame you. You do what you have to do. Have you tried approaching a specific person directly, instead of simply doing a general call for help to everyone in the Pack? It is a lot easier to simply ignore a group request than to say no face to face.

Svendzoid - just a note on your "philosophy" - "As for the financial aspect, my philosophy is a bit different. I believe that promoting scouting, its camps, program, and opportunities, will increase membership and increase cash flow. At the same time as getting more money from membership dues, it will expose scouting to more people (both youth and adults) and perhaps increase the number of adult volunteers.... (something money cant buy) I see it as a cycle, high membership leads to more money, more summer camp participation, more adult leaders; In turn more money helps to up-keep camp properties, and promote scouting." You seem to be under the impression that one of a councils means of obtaining revenue is from membership dues. You state that the more Scouts and Scouters a council has the more money it has from dues. This is incorrect. The entire annual registration dues of $10 goes directly to National. Individual councils receive NO MONEY AT ALL from membership dues. This is why council product sales, FOS, and corporate donations are so important. edited because typing before coffee is not a good thing!(This message has been edited by ScoutNut)

"I've got several responses lately that they donate to BSA and not local Packs/Troops. Do you get better response going to the local store than sending to the company?" This is why units are not supposed to solicit donations! Individual units are not generally 501©(3) corporations and anything donated directly to them can NOT be deducted from a federal tax return.

"CM: The final test of their commitment to the Pack. Inside this pot is their Tiger Badge. They must reach in and find their badge." Tiger Cub Scouts do not need their commitment "tested". What happens if a boy gets frightened, and will not reach into the smoking pot to get his badge? Does he then "fail" the "test" and loose his Tiger Rank badge? Since he has failed the test, and proved he is NOT committed to the Pack, will he get kicked out of the Pack? This is the way a 7 year olds brain works. It does not matter if it is just for show. You could very well have some hysterical boys on your hands. And, even if all of the boys cheerfully dive into the pot to get their badges, what happens if the inner container of dry ice somehow tips or leaks or whatever, and the boy gets burned? None of these are good senerios. Have the den leader or the CM be the one doing the reaching into the pot of dry ice to retrive the awards. It will be a better, safer ceremony all around.

BSA Scoutmaster Conference Training - http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/trainingmodules/scoutmaster%20conference%20training.aspx Check out the section for Eagle SM Conferences. Sample SMC questions from BSA - http://old.scouting.org/boyscouts/supplemental/18-629/questions.pdf Again, there is an area for the Eagle Conference.