ScoutNut

There is no BSA National requirement for any kind of Den Chief application. This must be a local thing from your council. I must say that I do not understand it. Who approves the application? Does it go to the council offices? Den Chief is a Position of Responsibility in a Boy Scout Troop. A Den Chief is selected by the Troop's Senior Patrol Leader, and Scoutmaster (or Varsity Coach, Venturing Advisor), at the request of the Pack. Do you require some kind of application for every Troop, Team, and Crew, POR? As I stated, I really don't see the point.

SSScout's suggestion is a good one. Since you want to be exclusively for home schooled boys, your local home school association could be perfect as your CO. Talk to your DE about helping you make this happen. BSA has a powerpoint presentation that might help with talking points to convince them - http://www.scouting.org/filestore/ppt/csa.ppt Good Luck!

Last I heard, and this is such a BIG surprise, the pilot councils were having problems with training records. BSA is trying to straighten that out (and good luck to them) before they take mandatory training national.

I agree with Venividi. That is usually what I do for my BALOO classes also. The frozen hamburger patties are great. They are very cost effective as you don't need high quality. The ready made portions make splitting them up a breeze. I allocated 2 patties per person and never had leftovers. The food service gloves and hand sanitizer are a must. Do as much prep work before the course as possible. Chop, cut, grate, etc. Then put it all in ziplock bags. Anything that can be frozen, should be. It helps it to stay safe, and adds moisture. I like the cream soups for gravy as they also add nice flavor. Instead of margarine I use spray oil. It is easier to just give the inside a quick spray. If you need your food to cook quicker, consider canned veggies. You can even get canned potatoes. Empty the cans into ziplock bags. That way you don't have to deal with washing and recycling cans on site. Also, you can just reseal leftover bags with no mess. For a BALOO course what you need is cheap, and quick. Fancy can wait until the participants do their own outing. Some other cheap meat options are smoked sausage, precooked frozen breakfast sausages, spam, and frozen meatballs. Check out your local Aldi Foods, or other volume, non-name brand, food store, for good prices. Don't forget a dessert. Baked apples work great, but can take up a lot of space/heat. Just a note with the trail mix - you have an unknown mix of folks, with no health forms. Nut allergies can be deadly. I would go with rice chex, pretzels, M&M's, raisins, and maybe some flaked coconut, but no nuts at all.

From the third page of Youth Application, the last page of instructions before the actual form, under "Cub Scout Pack", in BOLD typeset - "if the adult partner does not live at the same address as the Tiger Cub, a separate adult application is required." From the Youth Application form itself, in the bottom portion that is marked "Parent/guardian information - "Mark here if the adult partner/ScoutParent is not living at the same address; complete and attach an adult application."

I am not sure where you saw this but it is not the current (2010) form, and (as you noted) seems to have some discrepancies. Criteria #1 is - We will have ___ percent of our direct-contact leaders qualify as trained leaders. This is still a very valid criteria as most councils do NOT require 100% of their direct contact leaders to be trained. Criteria #6 has slightly different wording - We will conduct an annual program-planning conference, develop an annual budget, and will provide the financial resources to deliver a quality program to all members. In order to qualify for the Centennial Quality Unit Award a unit must achieve each of it's goals for ALL SIX of the criteria. The last two items you listed - Unit Commissioner visits, and participating in FOS and the annual product sale, are OPTIONAL only. They are NOT required to qualify for the award. Your Pack should have filled out a 2010 commitment form with their goals, and turned it in to your council, by the middle of February, 2010. Contact your Committee Chair to see if he/she has a copy of the form.

Yep, in order to earn the PACK award, the MINIMUM is 3 Pack events, one event per month. Many Packs (mine included) have more than one Pack activity per month. As others have mentioned, this gives more boys the opportunity to attend each month. In order for a Cub Scout to earn the INDIVIDUAL award, they must participate in a MINIMUM of 1 event each month, for a total of 3 events. In order to earn the DEN award, dens must have at LEAST half of their members attend each month. Cub Scouts is all about flexibility. If you have more than one Pack activity per month, you can list all of them on the tracking sheet, or even do more than on tracking sheet. I usually print tiny and list each on the application. The numbers for the participating boys/dens gets consolidated per month. As I said, we are flexible. For the PACK award, if we are only having one activity in June, and the only date we can set for it ends up being the first Saturday in July, we will still list that as our June activity. We still have two other activities in July so it still works out. For INDIVIDUAL SCOUT awards, if a Scout attends ONE event each month, we will count it. It does not matter to us, which Pack, or Scouting, event it is. We will even count a Scouting event that is not one of our Packs events. As long as it is a Scouting event, it is OK with us. For DEN awards, we keep track of who attends each event, and the numbers are totaled together for a monthly number. Scouts are not counted twice in one month for this. The point is to stay active over the summer, and we want to encourage our Scouts to do their best to do that. However, there are Packs that are very strict about what and how they count activities for any of the awards. Some will not count Day Camp, or Summer Camp. Some will not count non-Pack specific activities for the individual award. Some will not count monthly totals for the den award, but only individual event totals. So, as I said earlier, it is up to the Pack leaders to determine how they want to handle their Summertime program.

BSA does NOT run background checks on the Adult Partner who is living with the Tiger. On the youth application there is no background check release form, nor does it ask for the SSN of the parent/guardian. This is why a separate adult application is needed. Right or wrong, BSA does make a distinction between an Adult Partner who lives in the same home as the Tiger, and one who does not. They do not request a listing of all possible Adult Partners, with adult applications for each, because there is supposed to be only ONE Adult Partner. Any others are the exception, and are basically emergency substitutes. I do not believe this is done specifically to discriminate against divorced parents with joint custody. BSA has no idea how, or even if, the Adult Partner who does not live with the Tiger is related/connected to him. They also have no idea of the particulars of specific custody agreements. BSA has no idea if the parent not living with the Tiger has joint custody, can only have short supervised visits, or whatever. This one application has to cover many different instances/bases. As in other things, there are always "work arounds" that some folks use. The parent/guardian who lives with the Tiger fills in the youth application, and states they will be acting as Adult Partner. Then whom ever they pass the job along to is the one who is the real Adult Partner, but is never listed as such on any BSA paperwork. Also, the parent who does not live with the Tiger, and wants to be Adult Partner, fills out the youth application stating their address is the same as the Tigers. No adult application is then needed.

A combined Webelos den of 17 boys is way to much. How do you plan to work with them together when they are at different levels, and working on different things? Not to mention that 17 boys is just to many to work with at one time. They should be separated into 2 dens, one 4th grade, and one 5th grade.

No, the parents do NOT have to be there. As a matter of fact, BSA recommends that parents do not attend every den meeting. An initial Webelos parent/Scout meeting to explain how the Webelos program is different from what they have been used to so far in Cub Scouts, and what you will expect from the boys, is necessary. You can also sign up different parents to run Webelos Activity Awards that they are interested in, or have some knowledge of. This helps the boys get used to the Adult Association Method used with Merit Badges when they get into Boy Scouts. We are trying to get them to be more independent, and ready for the challenges of Boy Scouts. Not to have their parents hold their hand every meeting. From your posts it sounds like you have a very small Pack. How many Webelos (4th grade? 5th grade?) will be in your den?

Per the Tour Permit FAQ's on the Scouting Safely pages at the BSA National Website - Q. When do I need to complete a tour permit ? A. Your local council determines when a tour permit is required for trips under 500 miles or local activity. However, the tour permit is an excellent planning tool that should be included in preparation for all activities, even those not requiring it. It guides a tour leader through itineraries, travel arrangement, two-deep leadership, qualifications of supervision, and transportation. From the Cub Scout Outdoor Program Guidelines - "File a local tour permit if necessary. Check with your local council on its policies regarding field trips in your council" There are councils who do not require a Local Tour Permit if you are staying within the boundaries of your District. There are other councils who do not require it as long as you stay in your local community. Then there are those council who require a Tour Permit every time a unit leaves it's meeting place. As I suggested, your best bet to get the correct information for YOUR COUNCIL, is to call your local council Service Center, and speak to the person whose job it is to approve Tour Permits.

As others asked - Do you plan on growing your Pack by recruiting other Scouts and their families? Or, is this Pack to be ONLY for the sons of the 5 adults who signed the letter? If you plan on recruiting others, and, hopefully, creating a real, lasting, Pack, then you need some kind of structure, or organization (hence Charter ORGANIZATION), in place, not just 5 signatures on a piece of paper. Have you filled out a New-Unit Application, paid your Unit Charter fee, and filled out, and paid registration fees for, 5 Adult Applications (including their completed Youth Protection Training certificates), and 5 Youth Applications?

Ahhh, so your CO is a community youth center for only SOME of the youth in your community. That's not burnt out. That is simply wrong.

Is this for the Pack award, or the individual Cub Scout award pin? If this is for the individual award, I would be flexible. If it was a Scouting activity, I would let him use it. We generally include Day and Summer camp in our list of Summer activities. We advertise them with the Pack, encourage boys to attend, and generally register as a Pack, even if only 1 boy is attending. We also have other Summer Pack activities, so we end up with more than one per month. It gives the families more options to be active over the Summer months. Bottom line is that it is up to you to decide how your Pack will handle it.

Not hogwash, and not discrimination. An Adult Partner is REQUIRED to attend EVERYTHING, and do EVERYTHING, with his Tiger Cub Scout. This is a full time one-on-one situation. If the Adult Tiger Partner does not live with the Tiger, the BSA wants to run an extra level of security on them. After the Tiger year the Scouts are not required by BSA to have an Adult Partner with them at all times. They are in a den with a den leader and assistant den leader, both of which must be registered with the BSA, and have current YP training. I, for one, do not have a problem with anything that might help protect the Scouts. Ned, to be an ACM you MUST a registered Scouter. There is no need for you to fill out more than one adult application. As for ManyHats dad - Why is the dad signing the boy up, and putting his info on the boys application if he does not live with his son? Where is the mom, or who ever is the boy's guardian, and whom he lives with? Since it is the non-custodial parent signing this boy up, I would ask for some kind of permission slip from custodial parent, giving approval for the boy to register, and the dad to be his Tiger Partner. I would make sure to use the position code "AP" on the adult application, and have the dad complete the online Youth Protection Training. Turn in to council the Scout's Youth application, the dad's Adult application, the dad's YPT certificate, and a copy of the permission slip from the custodial parent, together. This man is registering ONLY to be the Adult Partner to his son, nothing else. If your CO does not approve of him as a Pack leader, then all they need to do is not register him again once his son's Tiger year is over.

In order to be able to charter a BSA unit (Pack) you need to file the papers to become an actual organization (Friends of Pack 123). A not-for-profit is best. I would talk to your District Executive (DE) to get info on what you need to do. There should be a council volunteer who works with the council financials who might be able to help you also.

AS, as I said, the plans in the Resource Guide are based on 2 den meetings per month. If you are cutting back on some meetings, but still want to follow the plans, and want to have all/most of your Bears done by February, then you simply have to add a third den meeting into some months. Since you are taking off three weeks, add back three meetings. Do meeting 1-3 in September, 4-6 in October, 7 in November, 8 in December, 9-10 in January, and 11-12 in February. Keep in mind that it is perfectly fine to NOT to be finished with the rank award requirements by February. Cub Scouts have until the end of the school year, or even a bit longer if they really want, to finish the requirements, and earn the rank award for their Cub level.

A Local Tour Permit is something that councils are given discretion in creating rules specific to themselves. In other words, while a Local Tour Permit is required by BSA National for trips under 500 miles, a council has the ability to state WHICH trips under 500 miles THEY do, and do not, require a Tour Permit for. Councils are all over the place on when they actually require a Local Tour Permit to be filed. Contact the person at your council in charge of approving Tour Permits to get the correct rules for YOUR specific council.

What types of devices is he currently using to get around? Since he was extremely active prior to his injury, he might already be prepared with something that helps him to stay active now. I agree, the SM should talk to the camp about their handicapped accessibility. The camp might already have facilities, and/or equipment in place.

Just a reminder - in order to be able to wear the BSA uniform during your fruit sale, you must get permission from your council's SE to do so.

Many not-for-profits are restricted by the United Way from holding fundraisers during the UW campaign dates. If the United Way blackout dates are not honored the NFP runs the risk of having their UW funding cut, or eliminated. There are few (if any) NFP's that are rich enough that they can afford to thumb their noses at the UW. Many BSA councils have already had their UW funding cut, and can not afford to loose much more. If you want to sell fruit during the popcorn sale, fill out a Unit-Money Earning Application, and see what your council says. If it is a no go, then do your sale at another time. You can always do popcorn now to get some unit operating funds.

Have you looked at the den meeting plans in the new "Den and Pack Meeting Resource Guide"? The den plans are geared for completing rank award requirements by February doing two den meetings per month starting in September. You can purchase the Guide at your local Scout Store, or online. You can also find the den meeting plans on the BSA National web site - http://www.scouting.org/sitecore/content/Home/CubScouts/Leaders/DenLeaderResources/DenandPackMeetingResourceGuide/BearDenPlans.aspx

What, exactly, is against your council's policy? All of the BSA National policies are listed on the back of the "Unit Money-Earning Application" - http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34427.pdf How do the money-earning polices of your council differ?

After reading your response, ScoutNet is not for use by the entire Pack, or for tracking each requirement. It is the BSA Computer network that your council's online advancement reporting interface works with. If you have internet access on your phone (i or any other) it is quite easy to use the online programs I mentioned above to record your son's, or your den's, completed requirements, electives, activities, etc, on the go. (This message has been edited by Scoutnut)

Sorry, I looked at it, but I can not see why I would use your program instead of one of the online programs like ScoutManage or ScoutTrack. Yes, yours is free, but it is EXTREMELY limited, and if it follows the trend of other free sites, you will soon be charging for access too. I don't see the point. I use ScoutManage, and love it.