spider

Our troop has been to both types of camps. The boys that have been to Camp Freeland Leslie (patrol camp) cook more on their regular weekend campouts(alot less requests for hot dogs and pop tarts). This year we went to Napowan with a "dining hall". The boys who had gone to CFL previously were not happy with the quality of the food in the dining hall experience. The parents of the first year scouts really liked the dining hall idea because it gave their boys more opportunity to do merit badges. Average number of merit badges at CFL was 4-5, average merit badges at Napowan was 7-10. Most camps with dining halls also will do outpost cooking. You can make arrangements to get the food from the commissary and cook it yourself in the campsite. I think troops need to consider why they go to camp -is it for the camp experience (cooking, swimming, boating, etc.) or for getting merit badges?

Well, its been a little over a year since I asked for your advice, thought you should have an update. Both of my sons and I finally had enough and have switched troops. We have been in the new troop since October and wish we had made the switch earlier. This last January at the district Klondike, there was an incident with the old troop members and my son and his new troop patrol mates. The old guys deliberately ran my sons patrol over with their sled and also brandished a hatchet at the members of his patrol. My son's SM had a chat with the new SM of the previous troop and the SM of the previous troop decided it would be best if the boys just stayed away from each other. (As if we hadn't already tried that!) My son's SM wasn't exactly satisfied with that decision so the incident was reported to the district events committee. We'll see what happens next weekend at the district merit badge campout. As for school, they have admitted that there is only so much they can do and have encouraged us to go to the police and file charges whenever anything occurs at school. We did go to the police but did not file charges at this time but the Chief agreed to talk to the offenders and let them know that the next incident of any type, from anyone, will result in a complaint being filed. The Chief was a victim of a bully when he was young. He thinks that might be what led him into law enforcement. Thanks for all of the advice. YIS

Thank you, SR540Beaver, for your advice. Three quarters of the committee has had training. The sad thing is the Committee Chair, Secretary and I took training together and at one time we were all on the same page. Last night they had an emergency committee meeting and I am expecting a confrontation at tonite's meeting. I have always been included in committee meetings except for this one so I assume I was the reason for the meeting. I have written out my plan for the troop and I will offer it up to them tonite. We will see if their understanding of the program is still the same as mine. Wish me luck!

1) What type of scouting unit is it? Troop 2) Do you feel you have a well functioning committee? No. I assumed the SM position in December after the troop was foundering with an absent SM and trying to run the troop by committee (too many cooks!). Now the CC is unwilling to give up control so the program can function as it was designed to. Other members are confused by what is happening and don't know how to help the situation. 3) How many members are on it and what are their specific assignments? 12 members. 6 have specif jobs; CC, Advancement chair, treasurer, secretary, quartermaster and COR are the only ones with specific duties. Our secretary also handles fundraising.

Sorry, it seems a sentence got lost from my last post. It should have read: My son has asked the other boy to leave him alone, sort of an agree to disagree kind of thing, and reportedly the other boy has said "No, I like it this way."

Thank you all for your insights. Some of the committee was able to get together last night and others will be getting together today to talk about some of this. So far we are agreed to an ASM doing a SM conference and the committee having a discussion with the parents -probably no more than 3 so as not to make them feel we're ganging up on them. The discussions will touch all of the points; G2SS issues, scout spirit and rank advancement. Though the boy has been tenderfoot for over a year and seems to be proud of that fact, he has made comments as to what he wants to do for an Eagle project, so there may still be some hope. Eamonn- as to the history behind the relationship of the two boys -My son has asked the other boy to leave him alone, sort of an agree to disagree kind of thing, and reportedly the other boy has said You are absolutely right, no boy is a perfect angel, I've sent my own home from a campout before, so I am trying to stay objective. There are some family issues that make Scouting the ideal program for this boy to be in, but without his coooperation and effort, I'm afraid his behavior and attitude is going to affect the whole troop. I'll post an update after we do the SM and committee conferences to let you know how this step has turned out. Thanks again!

According to the other boy's mother, this is the latest craze going on at the high school. I checked the web-site for Sprintrelayonline.com and it says that no records are kept of the phone calls that are placed or what the content of the message is, so there is no way to trace the calls. According to my son, even the relay operator thought the call was funny -she was laughing as she repeated the message.

I've just read the postings for "A Patrol of difficult Scouts" and decided to throw another your way. I apologize for the length of this, but I want you to have a good sense of what's been happening. My son has been the victim of a bully in his school for over 4 years and Scout troop for 2 years. No one, besides me, has taken my son seriously, they(school officials, troop leaders/committee) believed he was overreacting or provoking the harassment. The mother's stand has always been "boys will be boys". The school officials have finally come around and have taken measures to minimize the amount of time the other boy and my son are in contact. My son is fed up and is ready to fight back by whatever means is necessary. I have attempted to convince him not to. He has agreed to refrain at school and at scouts. At our Klondike meet last month, the other boy verbally harassed my son and then shoved him down on the ice in the parking lot. My son had had enough and retaliated. One of the leaders at the event saw them wrestling on the ground, broke it up and reported the incident to one of our troop leaders. At the next committee meeting this was addressed. The committee decided to assign the two boys to work together on a service project and include the other troop members, also they would miss the next campout. The other parent and I agreed that this would be appropriate for their transgression. The service project (assisting at bingo nights for a local nursing home) has been going well. No arguments, no harassment, no abuse. Here comes the however part: The very next day after the first bingo night, the other boy calls my son using an online telephone relay service designed for assistance to the deaf to call my son a f****ng p***y. I mentioned it to our committee chair/active leader, and she called the boy's mother. Mom did not understand what this had to do with scouting as it happened outside of a scout function. She was informed that a Scout is... 24/7 and not just during scout events. This week, as my entire family drove down the street in front of the school where the boys just participated in a band concert, the boy gave us a full arm middle finger salute. I don't believe he is aware that I was the one to see it. Now the sticky part, I am the new Scoutmaster for this troop, I officially began back in December. I am a little hesitant to do a SM conference with this boy on these matters as he's apt to feel that I'm picking on him for the trouble he gives my son and I believe his mother would react the same way. The committee is now fully aware of this boy's behavior and they have discussed having a special meeting to work on this problem but I'm not sure exactly where we can go with this. That's why I've come to you for advice. HELP!

Thank you all for your prompt and comprehensive replies. I understand Bob White's point, the OA leadership should provide the adults necessary for supervising the OA function and our OA boys should be experienced enough to handle themselves properly. Most of the problem lies with the lack of information given to the rest of the troop that is not involved in OA. We are told that's the way it is and not given any reason, as if that part were as secret as the ceremonies. The troop committee is still nervous though because WE do not know who the leaders are and if there will be enough attending to ensure proper supervision. Another problem is that some of our OA boys have gotten the idea that since they don't need the adult leadership for OA functions, they don't need it at troop functions and chafe at the additional restrictions required such as tour permits and permission slips. I am not happy either, that OA functions do not require a tour permit, but the tour permit itself states that it's not required for local council property -presumably if they are on council property council should know about it already. We haven't run into a situation where our OA boys have gone to an OA function that has not been held on council property.

I need some advice in reference to Order of the Arrow camping events and adult leadership. The G2SS states that 2 adult leaders are required for all campouts. The SM handbook repeats the same requirement and adds that this applies to provisional troops and Order of the Arrow as well. Some of the leaders in my troop have been told by "someone" from our Council that OA is exempt from this rule. There are a number of leaders in our district that claim they were told the same thing but no one will say who told them. Maybe someone with OA experience can give me some advice on where to go with this.