ScoutNut

Webelos is an 12-18 month program that includes boys in the 4th, and 5th grades. The names of Webelos 1(I), and Webelos 2(II), are "unofficial", and used as a more convenient way of differentiating between the 4th, and 5th grade Webelos dens. Of course, if your Webelos pick den names/emblems (Frightful Frogs, Cute Cobras), then you don't have to worry about any other names. We "crossover" Webelos into the brand new program of Boy Scouts. At our last Pack meeting of the school year, at the end of May, we hold a "graduation" ceremony and move everyone to their next Cub Scout level. We give them their new scarves, slides, and Handbooks. The Webelos going into 5th grade are not graduating, but they are moving into the last part of their trail to Boy Scouts. They get vittle kits, and slides with the Arrow of Light on them.

This is Cub Scouts, not Boy Scouts. Different programs, different ways of doing things entirely. There are two separate things involved here. 1) The Cub Scout level the boy is in. 2) The age appropriate award for that level, named after the level. Boy Scouts are defined by the award they have earned. Rank = award. Cub Scouts are defined by the level they are in, not by the award for that level. Rank = Level. Award is just an award. Thus, when a boy has graduated from kindergarten, and his BSA application has been processed on June 1st, he is then and there officially a Tiger Cub Scout. During his year as a Tiger Cub Scout he will be working toward earning the awards he is eligible to earn at the level of Tiger. These include his Bobcat award, and his Tiger award, among others. On the following June 1st, when he has graduated from 1st grade, he will officially become a Wolf Cub Scout. It does not matter if he has earned no awards at all during his year as a Tiger Cub Scout, he will still enter the next level of Cub Scouting as he is no longer a 1st grader. During his year as a Wolf Cub Scout he will be eligible to work toward a number of awards age-appropriate for the Wolf Cub Scout level, among them, the Wolf award. For any award, at any level, if the requirements have not been met to earn the award, it has not been earned, and should not be given to the Scout - period. If the requirement to earn an award is to visit the zoo with your Pack, and that requirement has been met, then the zoo participation award is presented to the Scout. If he did not meet the requirement, by not going on the Pack zoo visit, he does not get the award. If the requirement to earn an award is to complete 15 requirements, and the Scout completes all 15, then the award (in this case the Tiger award) is presented to the Scout. If only 13, or 14, of the 15 requirements are completed, then the Scout has not earned, and should not receive, that award.(This message has been edited by Scoutnut)

Also, for any unit forgoing a council fundraiser in lieu of their own, please take a portion of your profits and give to your council FOS. After all, helping to fund your council is part of the reason for participating in council fundraisers like popcorn.

Keep in mind, that for product selling fundraisers, you must first purchase the product from the company upfront. Your Pack does not get any profit (or their money back) until the product has been sold. Once purchased, it is yours. No returns. In most cases, the way to make the best profit is to purchase in volume. The more you buy upfront, the higher the profit. But, if you don't sell it all, you are stuck with it. Yes, candy bars DO get stale, and the taste is not very nice.

You still have not specified what kind of "support" it is from your council/district that you expect, but are not getting. >>"our council is well advised in advance of all our activities and invited to all functions">"We don't get visits from anybody, but we have one of the most active troops in council.">"Council had to review the heroism award paperwork - but I caught them in three LIES and only was the matter resolved after I went to the National"

You can not hold a rocket launch in your back yard. You will be losing rockets in power lines, trees, and neighbors back yards. Not fun. You need to find a large open field somewhere. A ball field might work if you put your launch pads at the far end with the wind behind you. Even then, we used a ball field once and still lost a number of rockets to power lines. Check out your local Park District, or Forest Preserve. Many picnic areas have large open spaces. Even if you have to travel a bit to a good spot, it is more fun for the boys if they can retrieve, and re-launch their rocket a number of times.

We use lunch size generic ziplocks, the cheaper the better. Using only one size is easier, and cheaper, than hunting around for just the right size to fit each Scouts awards. The lunch size works well for us as it fits all of a Scouts awards for the month. We also include a list inside the baggie with the Scouts name, den, and what each award is (thank you ScoutManage!). You can then squeeze out the air, and either attach the baggie to something, or insert it inside something. Easy, fast, not so much writing, and pinning stuff, and it keeps everything together much better.

BTW - What exactly did this guy say in this infamous "political discussion" among friends that started this whole brew-ha-ha?

It seems to me that the issue of this SM, while important, is not the central issue here. The central, and most important issues here are that a DE, and DC, are trying to get a COR removed from his position, against the Charter Organization's wishes, simply because the COR does not agree with them. The DE, and DC, are trying to tell a Charter Organization who they should have as volunteers in the CO's unit, and what positions they should be in. These are very dangerous precedents for a council/district to be setting. In a time when most councils are trying to strengthen relationships with Charter Organizations, in order to increase the numbers of units and members, this council/district is doing it's best to tear down those relationships. THAT is why, if I were a COR in that district, I would be on the phone to the SE as soon as I heard of the goings on. NOT because my buddy the SM-elect is being railroaded, but because my Charter Organization's rights to run it's program are being threatened.

Do you understand that if you contact the SE NOW, as a COR, and confront him about what is going on, there is a very good chance of stopping this idiocy before it even goes into the "big meeting", and gets out of hand? Why is it that you do not want to do that? Why does the other COR not want to contact the SE? If you are not willing to stand up, and use your voice as a COR, and voting member of the District, and Council, Committees, then you can not simply blame your council for whatever stupid stuff the DE, and DC, end up doing at their "big meeting".

I don't like the whipped cream out of a can. It is way to runny. We use the whipped topping that comes frozen in a tub. You can get at least 2 very creamy pies per tub. If you check out the the discount food stores you can usually get a tub for about $1.

That is $8.32 for one rocket kit. At Scoutstuff.org the Wizard is $19.88 for a pack of 12. With Ground shipping of $7.50, the cost for one kit is only about $2.28. If your local Scout Shop carries the rocket packs then you can eliminate the shipping and drop the cost even more.

Again - Have YOU, as a COR in the District, called your Council SE to make your unhappiness over this mess known? YOU, as a COR, are a voting member of your District Committee, and this affects you, your CO's unit, and your CO. CALL YOUR COUNCIL SCOUT EXECUTIVE ASAP!

Our Pack purchases bulk pack rocket kits and gives the kits out as incentives for reaching the individual popcorn goal. In August we have a Pack picnic and do a rocket shoot. The Pack purchases the engines in bulk packs, and extra wadding. The Pack has a few launch pads, and there are a few parents who are rocket hobbyists who have more launch pads, and run the rocket launch. It is very informal, and fun. The boys who earned rockets at popcorn bring them to launch, along with anyone else who has a rocket. There are usually a few biggies from the rocket nuts to be launched, and that is always fun. The launch area is roped off, and only adults handle the rockets. The boys have a blast seeing how high their rocket goes, and then chasing it down. Everyone else watches, eats, chats, and has fun. You need to make sure you have a large open field, with no power lines or such. Have portable tables and shelter to be used as Rocket Central. This can then be set up in the right spot so that the prevailing winds will keep most of the rockets in the field (hopefully!). Make sure your Rocketeers get food and drinks from the picnic. Ours often forget all about it!

Councils have NO INPUT into who a CO appoints as COR. Councils have NO INPUT into who the members of a unit's Committee are. If the "new" SM is already a registered member of BSA, your Council has NO SAY as to what position, in what unit, he can, or cannot hold (unless he is trying to dual register as say a SM, and CC). I would recommend that the COR of the Troop talks to the head of the Troop's Charter Organization. Their IH needs to get off their duff, stand up for their choice of COR, and call the SE. You, as another COR in the District, should also call the SE and express your disgust at what the DE, and the DC (is he THE District Commissioner, or just a Commissioner in the District?), are trying to pull here. Does the SE REALLY want the Council to be responsible for appointing all unit volunteers? Is he prepared to contact references on every application? Is he really prepared to tell the LDS Church that it will be the SE, and not the Bishop, who appoints all of their leaders from now on? Does your SE REALLY want to open that Pandora's Box of problems with the Council's Chartered Partners? That is a great way to loose both volunteers, units, and Charter Organizations.

I am surprised that your council got involved in this at all. I am also surprised that your council recommended that you, as Cubmaster, take this to the police. Your Pack is "owned" by your Charter Organization, not by your local council. Any police action should be initiated by your Charter Organization. What does your Charter Organization Representative, or the head of your Charter Organization have to say about this? This is THEIR call.

Problems like this one is why all CORs should be fully trained, and fulfill their responsibilities to their District, and Council by participating in District and Council Committee meetings as voting members.

Your Council CANNOT say who a Charter Organization can, or can not, appoint as their representative. It is TOTALLY their call. Even with a "Parents of" CO, someone must be designated as Institutional Head(IH) of the CO on the Charter. If this person is behind you, then there should be no problem. If the IH does whatever anyone with the loudest voice, or the most perceived pull, tells him to do then you could have a problem. As COR, I recommend you give the Scout Executive (SE, top of the food chain professional Scouter), not the District Executive (DE), of your Council a call and have a little chat on the subject.

The COR is appointed by the head of the Chartering Organization. Their BSA application is approved by only the head of the Chartering Organization and the local Council. While it is a good idea, and recommended by BSA, that the COR be a member of the CO, it is not a hard and fast National requirement. Charter Organizations can pick whomever they wish to represent them. The ONLY one who can remove a COR (besides the local Council Scout Executive for something like Youth Protection) is the head of the Chartering Organization. So, let your parent go complain to council. They will undoubtedly refer the parent back to their Charter Organization.

The awards, and activities that the boys work on in each level are age appropriate. Earning a rank award is not required to move to the next Cub level. The Cub Scout program is age/grade based. Boys in 1st grade, or 7 years old are Tiger Cubs. Wolf Cubs are in 2nd grade, or 8 years old. Bears are in 3rd grade, or 9 years old. Cub Scouts have until the end of the current school to earn any of the awards in their current Cub Scout level. BSA moves all Cub Scouts up to the next Cub level as of June 1 of every year. So, the short answer to your question is - no. Your Wolf Cub Scouts can not start working on Bear activities until they finish 2nd grade. There is a lot that they can do after they have earned their Rank Award for Wolf. There are all of those fun Electives at the end of the Wolf Handbook. There are all of the belt loops in the Academic and Sports program. There is the Outdoor Activity Award, Conservation Award, Leave No Trace Award, and Emergency Preparedness Award. You can also do things with your den to just have fun, or do service, like take a hike, clean up around your Charter Organization building, go sledding, have a snowman building contest, visit a nursing home, etc. You can even help the Wolf Scouts (including the new one) who have not yet finished their rank award requirements by redoing some of the requirements in a new, fun way.

The requirement states "daily life", not "during Scout meetings". How can a Scout just be "biding his time" waiting for the 6 month time requirement for Eagle to be up? How are they fulfilling their POR? How are they planning, and running, their Eagle Project? How can they do all of that while still "not doing much"?

Did every boy in the Pack sell popcorn? Since it seems that the $482 from this one boy is your entire budget, it does not sound like they did. Are you withholding all awards from the other Scouts who did not sell anything? I realize that this boys father stole from the Pack, but it was the father, not the Scout. I think that this Scout should get everything that any other Scout who did not sell popcorn gets, until the end of the charter year. At which time, since his registration was not paid, he will no longer be a member of your Pack, or of BSA. I know that you said you have spoken to this parent, has the Pack talked to him about a repayment plan over a period of time? Have he been told you are taking the matter to the police? What does your Charter Organization say about this whole thing?

How does our Council/District communicate things to its units? We have email blasts from District volunteers. Our Council Web site does a pretty good job of easily directing people to the info they need. The Weekly Council Newsletter which is emailed to volunteers and also on the Council Website. Fliers available at Council Service Center. Fliers available at District Roundtables. Even, rarely now, snail mail. As has been stated, you can do everything right, and still not reach every unit. It is up to the unit Scouters to utilize the resources that are there for them. I know one Scouter who always complained that he never got any information from his District, or Council. Yet, he refused to give them his email address, never attended Kickoff, never attended Roundtables, and never looked at the Council Web site. I guess he was waiting for a psychic link!

Ramblin', I am still confused. Why are you being "assigned a unit"? What will you be doing with that unit?

Have you talked to your District Commissioner? Do you attend the District Commissioners meetings at all? Roundtable Commissioners, and their staff, are part of the District Commissioner Service, not the District Training Staff. They report to, and are responsible to, the District Commissioner. This might be part of why your RT Commissioners feel like you are stepping on their toes. You should be working WITH the Commissioner Service. Roundtables are not just thrown together the night before. There is a lot of prior planning that goes into putting together each Roundtable. Instead of planning trainings that take place the same time as the Roundtables, and making the participants choose one, or the other, to attend, run the trainings first, so that the training participants can then go right from your training to Roundtable, and make sure to advertise that fact. If you want to have a special training take up part, or all, of a month's Roundtable agenda, this should be discussed with, and approved by, the District Commissioner, and the Roundtable Commissioners, months in advance. That way the current Roundtable plans can be adjusted to include material that is being bumped from that evening, and the "special" Roundtable can be properly advertised to the unit Scouters. As for getting out info at RT, just like at Pack meetings, and COH's, put the info in a flier, and then direct folks to the flier for that information. The purpose of Roundtables, and the Commissioner Service, is to help units build good, strong, programs. Roundtables do that by providing motivation, enthusiasm, program ideas, information, and yes, even training.