SM196

Hello We had a meeting at Council and had 7 of 8 packs attend. It went very well, the DE and District Membership Chair was there and had the breakdown of the School district. Everyone agreed to all of the ideas that were posted here before I had a chance to share anything. All packs are going to stay as they are and we are going to work with our sister schools to do a coordinated recruitment and a joint newsletter to be sent out through the schools inviting the boys and parents to recruitment night. Very positive meeting considering that not a lot of parents are happy about the realighnment and the fact that one school was closed. All the politics were put aside and the best interest of the program was first like it should be. Thanks for your helpfull replys to my post! SM196

Hello All I am still involved with the pack mostly because my son is a den chief for 4 years and I am a Scoutmaster so i guess I am a little rusty on the Bear/Wolves. I'm not sure about Lions but I heard our current CM talking about it with enthusiasm so I thought I'd mention it (not sure if we are going to do it or can). The schools are divided so that they are fairly close and there will be 4 K-2 and 4 3-5 all within reason of each other. Shortridge you hit it on the head that is exactly how most of us feel. I also like the idea of having the program with the full range of age groups and I like Kens idea of having a coordinated recruitment night. In the long run if the boys don't move they will end up going to both schools so they will always be with there friends. This could also lead to the packs having a better program because of the peer pressure from the boys about what kind of activities thast they do. Thanks for all the great responces so far!

There is supposed to be a meeting next week at council. If the packs stay the same where does the school with the 3-5 grades get their Tigers and Bears? I only heard rumblings that council dosent want to merge the two packs and I think that is because they will loose 4 packs even though the amount of scouts should remain the same. Thanks

Hello Our pack is charterd through the PTO, I believe some others are also. I know that at least one is through a Church and another American Legion Post. We all meet at the schools. Now 2 schools will be "sister schools" as they call it. Both of these schools already have a pack chartered. Should one pack only do Lions?, Tigers, and Bears for K-2 School and the other pack at the sister school run Wolves, and Webelos. Should each pack swap their scouts and send them to an unfamiliar pack and how it runs. The only school that can potentially keep their pack running the way it always had is the K-2 school. they can start with Tigers and keep them in a familiar place through Webelos but that will shut down the other pack and it wouldn't be fair to them just because they are the school with 3-5 grades. Thanks

Hello All Our School system is going from a K-5 program at all the grammer schools to a K-2 and a 3-5 with sister schools or feeder schools. They are going from 9 grammar schools to 8 and then there will be 4 schools K-2 and 4 schools 3-5. Does anyone out there have this kind of school system and if so how do you run your packs? There have been talks about merging packs and also doing Tigers, Bears, and I think Lions are starting up again at the K-2 and then have the other school 3-5 do Wolves and Webelos. We cant change the school system so we have to make it work somehow. There will be a meeting at Council to discuss this next week and I am just looking for any ideas that may help. Thanks SM196

OGE I do not want to be on the advancement committe but I just want to help get the list straightened out and up to date. Council will welcome the help and maybe a nudge or someone to get the process started will help jumpstart someone in Council to get it completed. Thanks

Hello Just an update, I bought up the subject of MB counselors and how other Troops handle the MB process at our RT this week. I learned that most Troops had the same frustration with our council not having an updated MB Counselor list and that most Troops use in Troop MB counselors. I offered to help compile a list from the other Troops to bring Councils list up to date, and asked other Troops to offer MB's to other local Troops which most seemed to be ok with. I think one problem is that most Troops think that the council list is a joke (which it is by being at least 5-8 years out of date) that they only offer MB to their own Troop but are willing to do so if asked from another Troop. I offered to do MB counselor training to any Troop or person and one Troop took me up on the offer so far. I have someone at council who offered to help me and I have the presentation that was sent to me by Brent that should allow me to properly train everyone. I am glad that this came up early in my Scoutmaster tenure so that I can correct what our Troop used to do and go forward with a much better understanding of the program. Thanks for all your help.

John-in-KC As of right now our district has an opening for that position and I am not going to ask questions and be nudged into doing it. I'm just like most of us and wear too many hats at this time. I am going to bring it up at roundtable as a discussion and offer my help on the MB training but I don't need another patch for my arm.

I am a little disappointed about the tone that this thread is taking. I would like to think that if we were all sitting around a campfire at a camporee that we would be able to express our opinions and respect what works for others. I wasn't looking to start a new movement or belittle what works for others. I just decided after 3 years of faithfully following this forum to becoming an active participant because I saw a lot of good information and common sense. I did take a lot of useful information and did further research and I found out our council dosen't offer MB training and I bought up at our committee meeting that I am going to send out parent talent forms that havn't been sent out for years to the parents and I am going to train our MB counselor's with the Power point presentation that was sent to me by Brent Allen. (thank you) I am going to bring up the training at Roundtable and see if any Troop is interested in joining us for the training or I may just pay it forward and send the presentation to them. And by the way I just had a 12 year old Scout come to me to do personal management and I explained to him how he needed to know how interest rates worked, have knowlege of the stock market, make a budget, etc. As he was giving me a deer in the headlights stare he said so can you sign my BC. I asked him if he was willing to do all that work when he never turned in the paperwork for the Metalworking MB he took with me 8 months ago or the 2 other partials he has to complete. I think I did the right thing in refusing to sign the BC, even though there is no age limit to begin doing MB's. I just hope that we all are kind and courteous in our responces. Thank you

Eagle 732 That is exactly what I am dealing with now there was no MB counselor training (like I said before I signed up to be a MB counselor turned in the forms and was on my way). I am not trying to stop the MB process I am just trying to learn the correct process and gain control of the situation. I did ask this boy to bring me his BC's to get my signature on them and I did let him know that my signature is required before he starts anymore. By the way has anybody tryed getting a current MB counselor district list? It took over 4 months to get and when we did get it it was 3 years out of date. With having to update every year who knows how good that list is.

Thanks again for your advice! As I said earlier the scout did not have prior approval from past or present (me) Scoutmaster for the MB's. When I sighned up for a MB counsler for Metalworking (good quess Nike) I just went to council filled out new leader ap. and a MB form. I didn't know that I was supposed to contact SM first although we are both in the same trade and I mentioned it to him that I wanted to do it just in conversation. I most certainly would have followed protocal had I known. This is a big learning experience for me and all you help is appreciated. I am going to PM you Brent for the training presentation and am glad that I am no longer a lurker on this forum. I will have that cup of coffee with parent and keep you informed. Also I am going to introduce the training at the next committee meeting and follow up on getting our MB counslers trained. Thank you

Hello Thank you for quick replys. As a new Scoutmaster I had an inactive Scout (medical issues) become active again with a list of 7 merit badges he is currently taking with his parent 5 Eagle required. He also turned in about 5-8 completed MB's with most of them being completed partials from summer camp. The Scout did not seek mine or the last Scoutmasters approval and the parent and their son didn't know his son needed to get prior approval from a Scoutmaster. The parent I'm told is one to make sure it is completed correctly but I don't know that first hand. If he works hard to make Eagle could he be denied because of this? We have other MB counselers for the Eagle MB's, should we transfer him to them? Should I sign the Blue cards even though proper procedure wasn't followed?(This message has been edited by SM196)

Hello How many Eagle Merit Badges should a parent be allowed to sign off on? We have a registered MB counseler who is a parent and is working with her son on multiple Eagle required MB's for thier 17 year old son and some other MB's also. Our Troop currently dosen't have a policy in place to stop this (I will be changing that) but I cannot find anything from BSA that this is forbidden. It goes against the purpose of adult interaction and reeks of special treatment but I cannot find any set ruling.

Hello According to the new tour permits don't you need a BSA certifed life guard to do any boating or water activities? I was considering taking BSA life guard at summercamp so our troop would have no problems going on events that require it but I am not sure how rigorus the actual swimming is. I'm out of shape and just missed blue swimmer last year. We have a boy that is taking it so that will help us.