Eagle1993

The online systems works ok overall for new scouts; however, we ran into a couple of issues. - The system seems to only work ok with certain browsers and parents have stated they had to try multiple times to enroll. - There were issues with the credit card system early this year that led to multiple parents being charged 2-3x for the same app. It took well over a month to get credits back from BSA. - Some parents who were confused accidentally registered existing scouts (the system should flag someone if it notices the same name/birthdate/Pack for a scout app). It doesn’t, and charges the parent and creates a BSA number. As CC I can reject those apps but they go into a black hole and take 6 months to credit the parents back. The benefits is that you can auto load Scoutbook and it handles the payment to BSA. As mentioned earlier, I would love to add Pack dues as parents can be confused that there is an additional charge (even though we added a clear message in the online system). This is definitely a step in the right direction, they just need to keep working on the tool.

Our Wolf neckerchiefs are yellow. Lions will now get the yellow neckerchief and Wolfs will go red. That makes sense as the badge is already red.

Note the color changes as well. Each den has a color which will match hats, neckerchiefs, belt loops and books. I believe Webelos neckerchiefs are still plaid. Have no idea how many girl pictures are present, I’ve just seen outside covers. Note that these should be available starting June.

Info came from a Facebook group I am a member of. Info came from someone in Nationals. More pics below. This is a bit of a flashback to the old cover designs. 1940s Wolf Book is also shown

If district and council agrees a situation requires banning a parent then you made the right call.

I’ve never heard of parents being banned from activities unless there is a court ordered restraining order. As a Pack, I don’t believe we would have that right unless the parent was disruptive or we were aware of any safety concern from our scouts. That said, as he is not the legal guardian or parent then there is likely a higher bar. In fact, multiple people (including my sister) with felonies have been approved by BSA as leaders. I think it depends on your council, DE and CO along with what the conviction is for.

Or “scout” “youth”... Pictures are still used but there will be both girl and boy Cub Scouts integrated.

New Cub Scout books will be available in June. They are integrating the new requirements (that were previously in an addendum), rewording for gender and using the new Cub Scout color scheme. Old books still work if you have the addendum. See pic of the Wolf book attached.

I definitely like the split in Cub scouts. There is a big difference between the K5-2 and 3-5 grades. Perhaps keeping Boy Scouts 11-17 makes sense if BSA puts more effort in making Venturing sustainable. That gives some older scouts an outlet while perhaps keeping them engaged as leaders in the Scout program. When I’ve talked with a few (small sample size) crew leaders, all told me their crews start up with a group of friends, typically with girls, then fizzle our at that group ages out. The issue is that there is no natural continuous feeder program for Venturing. One thought is the BSA4G will kill Venturing (as girls can simply join Girl Troops). There is the other option that Venturing crews could be reinvigorated and can be the pure coed program of older scouts from Boy and Girl Troops. Who knows.

I’ve actually never seen a school in my area where junior high and high school are in the same building. I guess it varies by region. I personally am not a fan of Jr High kids hanging around high school students.

I like how the UK broke up the age groups. Beavers (6 - 8) .. our Lions,Tigers and Wolves Cubs (8 - 10.5) ... our Bears, Webelos and AOL scouts (10.5 - 14) ... our Boy Scouts Explorers (14 - 18) ... our Boy Scouts/Venturing Adult Network (18 - 25) ...our Venturing I could see this helping on a number of levels. I’m sure there are reasons not to go down this route.... but it is enticing.

#1 By far lifesaving was my favorite. I was a fairly accomplished swimmer but diving into a deep lake with 0 visibility to retrieve a 10 pound weight felt like an amazing accomplishment. I still remember diving down ~10 feet seeing nothing but blackness and placing my body flat against the muddy bottom in an attempt to feel the weight. Nothing stuck with me like that experience. #2-45...remaining badges #46 .... getting hit by a truck #47....basket weaving. I remember soaking the materials in water and spending hours at summer camp weaving a basket. I dreaded that class (as did the MBC).

Some are sisters which definitely helps. The three key attributes which helps us get through the program quickly: 1 - Small dens. Many of the adventures cycle through each scout. When you only have 3 in a den you can get through the adventures more quickly. 2 - Parents and Scouts are motivated. These are the girls and parents who really wanted to be in cub scouts. They don’t miss meetings and do the homework. 3 - Girls, in general, have better attention spans and more focus at this age. So while boys may need to get their wiggles out from time to time we can power thru. Again, not ideal and we won’t be looking to get scouts advanced in 2.5 months in the future.

There is no program change. Same program, just accelerated. Note that this will only occur this spring due to early adopter rules. That was a requirement for early adopter Packs. Other requirements include minimum of 4 girls, YPT female adult present at all meetings/outings with girls along with a few others.

It definitely can be done. I don’t recommend it as you don’t have time for any of the electives and the focus is simply completing required adventures. Some items require a bit more “homework”. Normally we wouldn’t push to have scouts who join at this time to advance, just enjoy the game Pack meetings and gain a few adventures during the den meetings.

It isn’t about bears going to the camp, it is about not enticing them to enter tents. Anything that had a “smell” would go in our food pack and be suspended appropriately on a tree limb. I would guess that used tampons would have to be included in a sealed bag. I don’t think those would belong in a back pack in a tent. Adult leaders who understand this type of camping would consistently remind our SPL to ensure policy was being followed. Not a major deal, but male leaders may have to feel comfortable talking with female SPLs or scouts about handling tampons in the back country areas. I know some Venturing groups already deal with this. Separate point, on one trip deep in the BWCA we had a camp location on an island with no trees. We were told that if we ever encountered that situation to lash our food Pack under a canoe and then put paddles, pots and pans on top of the canoe to scare away the Bear. Needless to say, at ~2am we found that bears do not scare that easily.

I do think it will be a topic to cover in bear country. I remember we talked about using non scented soap, etc. to prevent bears from being attracted to your tent. I think leaders (male and female) will be comfortable enough to talk to girls who may be having their period in the back country, especially with bears.

Update on more girl (and unisex) uniform options. (Olive green skorts) is on the list. Adjustments to the blue skort are already in the plans (like pockets). On the list is also a Capri pant and new unisex shorts made from a performance fabric.

Our council has interpreted the rule as March 15 is the deadline as all girls added now should rank advance by the end of May. Other councils have interpreted the rule as the last date early adopters can start.

We are shutting down registration for new girls tomorrow based upon our council’s interpretation of the March 15 deadline. I think we are done after registering three girls this week (11 in total out of a pack of 85 Scouts). So far no loss of any boys or complaints from parents, but it is still early. Several of the girls are either sisters of existing members or daughters of Eagle Scouts. One of the girl’s father was a scout in Northern Ireland. He said he remembered when girls wanted to join back then and he wasn’t a fan. We are definitely getting a lot more visibility from the council, which I expected. At our annual breakfast fundraiser the girls were invited to participate in speaking roles (and did a great job). Many of the donors commented on how excited they were that girls were finally going to be able to become Scouts. I think we may have underestimated the impact this may have to big financial contributions from United Way and other large donors. The Bear girls and boys are joining forces for the carnival and we have a few overnights upcoming. Will continue to monitor, especially as we enter the new Scout year.

BSA is one of the largest youth organizations in the USA in terms of revenue and membership. BSA won’t go away. It may be smaller, different and even have to restructure debt, but I don’t see BSA vanishing.

We’ll need something stronger than that.

#4 at state was also fired today. Was it phone calls, Tillerson backing the British over Russia or North Korea? Who knows, but I’ll go with blaming the British. They got us Tillerson fired AND girls in Cub Scouts. What’s next?? 😀 Historians will be busy for decades to come.

All but one of our dens have ADLs. Some of our ADLs also handle some Packwide activities (planning a B&G, etc). They have been immensely helpful.

100% agree. I would add make sure you find the right den leaders. I’ve seen den’s collapse when we had a den leader who was overextended and did a poor job proactively scheduling/canceling meetings. I can deal with suboptimal CMs and committee members, good den leaders are critical.