Bob White

Congratulations, and thanks for taking such an important post. It was the new training materials and the creation of unit trainers that motivated me to resign my positon as a District commissioner and become District training Coordinator. On to your questions. There is great flexibility offered the councils and districts in this area. I can tell you what our council and districts are doing and why. First the why. National has set a goal to have 100% of registered adults trained within their first year. I think that is a great goal and worth exending extra energy on to accomplish. Now the how. Unit Trainers have been added to the adult unit structure. Their primary job is to get all adults through Fast Start and then to promote and encourage attendance at council and district training events. Also to act as a resource to the unit to give on the spot training when needed. Our Council, along with many others are taking it a step further and making use of the new training tools and unit training workforce. We are putting on two sessions a year of the new Trainer Development/BSA 500 training course and making an all out effort to put all Roundtable Commissioners, district and council training team members and Wood Badge Staff along with unit trainers through this excellent course. Once a unit trainer has completed Trainer development, the District Training chairs are allowing them to borrow appropriate training kits, and present leader training within their own unit. We are requiring that an experienced trainer monitor their first presentation. If the district trainer determines you are able to solo then you can borrow training kits again. In addition to this we are offering leader training evry month in every district. each of our four districts picked a different Saturday of the month to train. volunteers can go to training at any council location they wish. On top of that they can train in unit using their own trainer, or set a unit date and a district trainer will come to them. In the last 10 months in just the district I serve we have had 134 scouters take New Leader Essentials, 51 take Cub Leader Job Specific, 19 take SM Leader Specific, 40 take Troop Committee Challenge, 45 took Youth Protection, 35 took BALOO, and 29 took Trainer Development. In the next 12 months we have 35 training sessions scheduled in our District alone. Keep after your District committee. Insist that they take nationals 100% trained leaders seriously and provide the training opportunities you need. I urge you to find a Trainer Development/BSA course and attend ASAP. It will give you the tools you need to deliver the new materials. Best of luck, Bob White

jethehiker and slontwovvy, There is no race...there is not even a specific scout. Read the original post, there was a question asked as to the history of the program and the minimum required time to reach Eagle. No matter what the requirements might be at some point there is a measure of minimum time. It has changed slightly over the years. We were just replying to the question there was no insinuation or suggestion of a race.(This message has been edited by Bob White)

DDHII, Are you registered in a troop? Did you use the Boy Scout requirements or the Venturing requirement? Who specifically have you spoken to at the council office? Here is a web site that may help. http://www.bsa.scouting.org/awards/hornaday/index.html Bob white

Reverence isn't found only within a church and neither is the origination of a reference letter. A scouts duty to God is displayed in his everyday life in the way he cares about others and respects the life that God has given him. Get a letter from someone he knows that can attest to those attributes. Best wishes, Bob White

I agree that the gentleman should be allowed the knot under these circumstances. Twocubdad is correct when he says that no one can register in more than one position in the same unit. jmcquillan wrote "If this fellow is serving as a Cubmaster, he's registered with his "primary" position being Cubmaster, not his "only" position. He should have dual-registration showing that he serves as the Tiger Den Leader, too." That is incorrect information. See section I of the Guide to Safe Scouting under "Youth Protection and the Adult Leadership" Dula membership aand "primary" positions only come into play if your membership is in different units or different levels of scouting. Bob White

Close but not quite...take a look at this article from the C&F Report out of Washington DC. A homosexual former Boy Scout leader is claiming discrimination because the Boston-based Massachusetts Minuteman Council rejected his application to be a scoutmaster. Mark Noel, who had written about his homosexuality in a column for the Detroit Free Press on Sept. 7, 2000, said he thought the council had adopted a new policy regarding homosexuality. Minuteman Council Executive Brock Bigsby, whose release of a written Policy of Nondiscrimination on July 19 triggered news stories that the Scouts had adopted a dont ask, dont tell rule on homosexuality, said that Noel had violated the policy by discussing his sexual orientation. Bigsby told CNSNews.com that his decision was consistent with the national Boy Scouts policy, since scout leaders would not be permitted to discuss their sexual orientation. Noel said that he thought the policy meant only that his sexuality could not be discussed around Boy Scouts, and that the newspaper column shouldnt be a factor. Bigsby, who was interviewed last week by C&F Report, had not returned three subsequent phone calls from C&F Report at press time. The Boston Globe had quoted Bigsby previously as saying, Gay Scout leaders would be permitted as long as they did not discuss their sexual orientation in scouting. Bigsby told C&F Report that the Globe had misquoted him and that the national Scout policy of barring homosexual leaders was still in force. He said, however, that the Scouts did not ask any applicants about sexual orientation. Minuteman Council simply put a policy in writing that that they feel is in keeping with the national membership requirements of the BSA. They are trying to please both parties in this debate. Bob White (This message has been edited by Bob White)

Sorry no, I started a new project a couple weeks ago and havenot followed up. I will try to call him back this week. sorry for the delay. Bob

I'm very sorry to hear about the accident. My family will keep your injured in our prayers. I hope everyone recovers quickly. Bob White

I see that as making boy scouts wear cub uniforms as work clothes. These boys are going to be excited at having moved on to the "older" ranks. A better solution would be to get some fabric paint and have them bring in t-shirts to a den meeting so they can make their own den shirts, to wear when the dress uniform would not be appropriate. Bob White

Actually BubbaBear the Guide to Safe Scouting policy you refer to, says that an adult cannot hold more than one positon in the same unit. This is to keep one person from monopolizing a unit or allow someone to authorize their own membership application. It is acceptable to the BSA to hold multiple positions in different units or in different levels such as unit and district positions. Bob White(This message has been edited by Bob White)

Depends on where we are going, what we will be doing, what the weather is...etc. We always have or uniforms handy, but we don't always have them on. I get a kick out of units who make the scouts wear their uniforms in the winter when no one sees them and they have little or no insulation value. There are times to wear the uniform and times not to. We played in our "Sunday best" sometimes too, but my parents or another adult never "made us" do it. Bob White

Spork, Congratulations on achieving the Eagle Rank and I support your opinion that individuals should hold themselves to high standards as they advance. However, you what you don't realize is that the advancement requirement for scout spirit is not what you think it is. Read page 108 of the Boy Scout Handbook. Also, nowhere is it written that it is the scoutmaster who must sign that requirement. It is not the Scoutmasters job to determine who advances and who doesn't, that task belongs to the Board of Review. Best of luck as you continue in scouting, Bob White(This message has been edited by Bob White)

Spork, You forgot a couple ranks didn'yt you? I agree that it takes a minimum of thirty days to earn Tenderfoot. If you go by the average of troops going on one overnight a month, would take two months to get to Second Class and another three to get to First Class. However because of the number of extra troop or patrol events needed to achieve First Class it is unlikely that it would be completed in under 9 months. Then as you pointed out a year and 4 months minimum to Eagle. So a real aggressive scout could possibbly make Eagle in 1 year and 10 months. Given that the minimum joining age is 10 1/2 It is technically possible to get to Eagle in 1 year and ten months or at age 12 and 3 months, but it is very unlikely . There are however a number of boys each year who earn Eagle while they are 13. Bob White

Actually bubba bear we haven't been a a country of majority rule. We are a republic not a democracy. We are a country ruled by elected representatives, and even they are not always elected by a majority. For that very reason troops are run by an elected council and not by majority rule of the troop. Not that I disagree with the fact that when adults don't play nice together, kids get short changed. Bob White

My point exactly. It is not that the uniform isn't a good quality for what it was made to do. It is not a good quality for what some people use it for. Bob White

OGE, you said "The president of the PTA could possibly be both an atheist and gay," that is true of any charter organization head. Remember the CO head is not a member of scouting. They must agree to select members who meet the BSA membership requirements, and to operate the program according to scouting, but since they themselves are not members of the BSA they are not personally held to the scouting standards. If they do not agree with those standards that's OK. No law requires them to sponsor a scout unit. But, as a Mom Mom couple, they are not restricted from being a CO head, they could not however be a COR or other registered member of the BSA. You wrote "I dont think its a good idea for schools to charter scouting units." They don't. The PTO or other neighborhood parents group sponsors the unit, not the school. There is a difference. A public school is not a community organization and is subject to different laws and restrictions than the PTO is. The unit meets at the school that is is supported by the the parents organization. The unit has a legal right to do so. Bob White

SouthPole Scout, If you are reffering to the dress uniform, one problem is that it is not meant to wear for all scout activities. It is not designed for or recommended for many scout activities. The various boy and leader handbooks all say that the scout should dress appropriately for outdoor activities and that the dress Uniform is for some troop meetings and for formal situations such as parades and Courts of Honor. No piece of clothing is designed or constructed to fit all activities in all weather all the time. It sounds like you expect the uniform to do far more things than it is designed for or required for. Bob White

But OGE, the US government charters the BSA, military bases all over the world charter scout units, we hold our national Jamborees on government property. Remember also it is not the school but the PTO, the parents of the community, who charter the troop or pack. It is not the Principal who is the Charter Organization head it is the volunteer president of the PTO.

There is nothing illegal about chartering a legal organization. You are welcome to dislike it but that does not change the fact that it is legal.

Maybe this is part of what establishes the legality of the BSA membership rules, it is our constitutional right. At least that was the judgement of the US Supreme Court. Even the The American Civil Liberties Union aknowledges the BSA'a right to meet on public property and excercise its legal right to determine its own membership. In fact the courts and the ACLU agree that to not allow a scout unit on public property is illegal. Just a thought, Bob White

The Charter Organization through the approval of the organization executive and the Charter Organization representative are responsible for the selection of adult volunteers in the unit. The charter organization can remove the membership of any adult or youth for any reason they choose. The Council has the authority, under specific conditions, to revoke charters or individual memberships. This is rarely done, except in the instance of safety or youth protection violations, violation of national membership requirements, or violation of state or federal law. Bob White

I agree that Unit Commissioners are spread thin. It is a difficult position to fill effectively. One correction, the DC is not appointed by the DE. He or she is selected by the DE and District Chairman and approved by the Council Commissioner. Bob White

I certainly don't mean to promote secrecy. I have no trouble dicussing the leadership skills taught in Wood Badge with anyone willing to learn. My concern is that we don't play Wood Badge staff to someone about to begin the program. He paid his money he should be allowed the experience of his own course. Bob

Advance On, as you say the instructions were given to you by your course's staff. OGE and the staff of his course should be allowed the same opportunity. Not every staff delivers the program exacvtly the same and for us to start OGE on his way before his staff has instructed him might not be beneficial. Consider letting his course faculty work with him. Bob

Troop elections for SPL are determined by the boys, acoording to every resouce of the BSA I know of. If you want to take a scout out of the running consider giving him another office to help him realize his value to the troop.