Bob White

As far as the responsibility of the Scoutmaster...it is to train junior leaders. As far as behavior....(according to the Guide to Safe Scouting)it is every members responsibility to behave in scout-like manner as represented in the Oath and Law. As far as punishment and dicsiplining a child, that is the responsibility of the parents. When the child's behavior interferes with the goals or activities of the scouting program or endangers his own or another scout's welfare, it is the responsibility of the unit committee with the parents involvement to resolve the problem. That resolution can include removal of of boy's membership from the unit. Scoutmasters are neither trained, or expected, to punish other peoples children.

Troop Committee Challenge is the leader specific course for troop committee Chairs and Troop Committee Members. If you are asking how close it is to Pack Committee Leader Specific, they are nothing alike. Pack committees set the pack program. In a troop that is not the method. Program is decided by the boys and the committeee supports the boys' decisions. BW

Bobwo, Scout Spirit is not about troop participation. Certainly the Board of Review should ask about Scout Spirit but in the proper context. According the the Boy Scout Handbook, Scout Spirit is about how the scout lives the ideals of the oath and Law in his everyday life. I have seen lots of scouts that make every meeting that are terrors outside of the troop meeting. They do not have Scout Spirit irregardless of perfect attendance. For all you know this young man, as he goes to school, work and in his family, is a living example of the ideals of scouting. THAT is Scout Spirit. You need to inform the Board members of what the handbook says so that they ask the question correctly. Bob White

I'd like to offer a different view from Red Feather's. If you teach scouts to follow Patrol Leaders and other Junior Leaders because they speak for the scoutmaster, what you are saying in effect is "the scoutmaster is in charge" and not the Junior Leaders. Patrol Leaders do not need the force of the scoutmasters authority. What they need is for the patrol members to understand that by the act of electing their own patrol leader they make an agreement to follow them. The same holds true with the Senior Patrol Leader. The patrol leaders should follow him not for fear of the SM but because the Senior Patrol Leader was chosen by the majority of the scouts to lead the Patrol Leaders. We should be teaching the structure of our society of elected representation. As citizens we hopefully follow the laws of our community not for fear of the police but for respect for our chosen government and the decisions we we elected them to make on our behalf. The purpose of a police force is not to scare people to follow laws but to protect those who do. The purpose of the SM is not to scare people into following, but to train those who lead. Junior leadership needs no other authority than that which is given them through elections. They need to be taught how to lead not through the SM authority but through understanding the needs and characteristics of those they lead and a clear understanding of what they are leading them to. Bob White(This message has been edited by Bob White)

The mission of scouting can also be found in the handouts given during New Leader Essentials, on the BSA website WWW.scouting.org, and I believe it is in the SM handbook and the Cub Leader Handbook as well. BW

Chicago is an awfully big place. Could you be more specific about what part of town your activity will be in so we might help you better? Bob W.

The one and only post to this string I will make as well. Membership rules of the BSA apply to all registered members. All employees of the BSA are required to be registered members. The BSA can remove any member for any reason. As a private organization we have that legal authority. If a person talks or behaves in any fashion that detracts from the purpose or mission of scouting, they can have their membership revoked. Bi-sexual? see previous paragraph. The rules of the BSA not only restrict you from discussing sexual topics with youth but prohibit it completely, except for information regarding youth protection policies of the BSA or the reporting of child abuse. As for the last question, I guess the BSA will deal with that if and when it ever happens. BW

The TCC takes a full three hours to do. It works best with all the participants being from the same committee. Much of this course is team building and dividing responsibilities so to do it on a district level is counter-productive. I would ask your training team to follow the BSA syllabus so that you will get the most from the training. In our district you must have attended Trainer development/BSA 500 and be approved by the the District Training coordinator in order to borrow a trining kit and present any course. We currently have about 14 trainers. In the last 12 months we have had about 80 scouters take TCC. BW

The method of patrol configuration is a method that use to be in the Scoutmasters Handbook. By creating a graph where all the scouts names appeared in columns and then agin in the order in rows. You would take a boys name in a row and plce an X in the column of a friend he wanted to be in the patrol with. Once you had graphed the entire troop you could not only visualize the best patrol configurations but also pretty well deduce who would be elected patrol leader. Where a problem is created was in not forming the patrols first, and then having patrol elections for the PLs. BW

I know of no reason why the cub application is being requested for transition to webelos. A health history from 4 1/2 years ago would not be helpful and the boy Scout Application has a new history on the back for the family to complete. the transfer form has all the pertinent advancement info. So those two forms are all that is required. I would talk to the individual at the troop and find out why this information is being requested. Bob White

RMV is right. You ned to be talking to the professional staff that are looking at the bigger picture. As far as what it costs to sustain a council, I believe the current average is around $170 per youth member served, but don't quote me. As far as training, most training can be arranged to be done within your locality and more is coming on-line for self study. BW

Check in the Senior Patrol Leader Handbook and the Patrol Leaders Handbook. I think you'll find that it is left to the Patrol Leaders Council to determine. The age and experience of troops vary widely and can even change from year to year within the same unit. For those reasons, it would be impossible to have set requirements that would function for all units. The scouts are the best judge of the human resiources available within the troop, so they get to decide the requirements. Just be sure that the requirements are broad enough to allow a choice to elect from. By the way that would just be for Senior Patrol Leader. The Patrol Leader is elected by the patrol members and each patrol is self governing. The APL is selected by the elected PL. The ASPL and all other troop positions are selected by the SPL much as a President chooses their Vice-President and cabinet members. Hope this helps, Bob White

Mark, Just for clarification. The BSA program says that a Patrol activity can take place without adults present with the permission of the Scoutmaster and knowledge of the parents. A troop activity "requires" two deep leadership. That is why the BSA now "recommends" 4 deep leadership on outings so that in case of an emergency requiring adults to leave, two leave while two stay. Bob White

I always said that smoking in front of the youth and violating the policies of the Guide to Safe Scouting made one a bad leader. I never said that just because a person smoked they were bad leaders. I am far more worried by leaders who don't follow the scouting methods than by ones that have gotten hooked on nicotine and smoke away from the boys. Bob White

One of the difficulties with the newer Youth protection requirements is that the older structures on Scout properties were designed and built long before YP was ever conceived. Remember that the goal of YP is to protect the youth and the adults. The privacy barriers are to block your veiw of the scouts,as well as the scouts view of you. We simply explain that in order to stay within the YP requirements we will need to increase the cost of cabin camping to accomodate separate quarters for any female adults that participate. BW

Just a guess OGE, but how many insurance companies would sell us liability insurance if the leaders who were driving scouts as well as supervising; fires, firearms, axes, rapelling, caving, and water activities were told it was OK to drink while responsible for the safety of other peoples children? Drinking alcohol affects desion making. Even a little can slow the process or completely muddle it. One could argue that smoking tobacco is a result of making bad decisions, but alcohol can cause bad decisions. Bob White

HMMM sounds like an opportunity for the scouts to complete the requirement for First Class 7c Use lashing to make a useful camp gadget. BW

OOPs! I'm sorry Eamon that last note was probably confusing, I meant to say "and it is my understanding that the BSA does not feel you are a bad leader if you smoke." BW (This message has been edited by Bob White)

I'm sure what the boys received was a feather dyed to look like an Eagle feather, similar to those used to make indian costumes. Federal law prohibits anyone being in possesion of an actual Eagle feather. There is a tightly controlled exemption I believe for American Indians. BW(This message has been edited by Bob White)

I don't speak for others Eamonn, but as for me I do not think you are a bad leader if you smoke, and it is not my understanding that the BSA does not feel you are a bad leader if you smoke. It's smoking in front of the scouts thats wrong. After reading all the posts arguing the language of the rule I seems to me the problem isn't with leaders smoking. Even the leaders on this board who smoke say they don't smoke in front of the scouts. I am beginning to think what they dislike is that the policy says that the leader may not allow others to smoke in front of the scouts and that is what they want to avoid. By saying that rule does not prohibit smoking but leaves it to an individuals choice, the leader avoids the need to tell a smoker to put the cigarette out or go elsewhere to smoke. By viewing the policy as ambiguous the leader does not have to exert the kind of authority over an adult as they do so often over a scout. I now believe that the leaders understand the harm of smoking and do not smoke in front of the scouts out of concern for them, but are not willing to confront adults for the scouts benefit. By the way I do appreciate your post and the courtesy you show to others. Bob White

The privacy wall addresses a separate problem from the amount of leadership on the outing. It has to to with respecting the youths privacy. The wall is easy to do regardless of ceiling height. Methods vary, the important thing is that the wall be above the sight line of the adults and youth not. Failure to follow the youth protection rules, (whether you agree with them or not) can result in your expulsion from the BSA as well as expose you to legal troubles. In scouting, as in your community, it's more important that you follow the laws than agree with them. Bob White

It is the headgear style worn by the Boy Scouts of South Africa at the World Jamboree in 1987 in Calgary, Canada. It was one of the most sought after souvenirs. BW

But look at it this way littlebillie If you have four people in your family and your wife has a baby. You now have a larger family regardless of what is happening with the world population your family has grown. You require more resources your spending increases, you need to develop age appropriate activities. Bigger is bigger. When someone asks if your family has grown do you really answer based on the world population trends? If we have more scouts in the program this year than last year then we have grown. BUT we also measure the ration to the potential numbers of members in the communityas well. And increase in either is part of the measurement of a programs health. Bob White

Eagledad, review the section on the New Scout Patrol and the requirements for the first three ranks. Many are to be done 'on a patrol activity' or 'for your patrol', or 'in your campsite' Very few merit badge requirements refer to patrol activities. The New Scout Patrol Method says that at the troop meetings the NSP meets separately from the rest of the trop to focus on the skills needed for Tenderfoot to First Class ranks. BW

That's quite a stretch littlebillie. I have a beer once in a great while, I don't do it at a scout campout or at the office, but I would not consider it drinking secretly. It is about being mature enough to know what behaviour is appropriate in a given situation and what is not. I will agree with you on your observation however, it had no real point. BW