Eagle1993

What I find interesting, is that Circle 10 signed off on their targets in October of 2020, and at that time, predicted they would have 44,000 scouts by the end of 2020. Now, nearing the end of 2022, they see 33,000 as growth. I can't imagine that is a good sign (they were targeting 46,000 scouts for end of 2022 only 2 years ago).

I found a strategic plan online from a Circle 10 discussion in late 2020. Their goals then: 2020 - 44,000 2021 - 44,700 2022 - 46,000 2023 - 48,000 33,000 is concerning, at least vs the plan 8146795-StrategicPlan-2021-2023-1647373160710.pdf

My district is short it's goal by about 50% or just over 160 Cub Scouts. That is as of October. They will probably close the gap a bit, but will end short of plan. I am concerned about Troops. Several are down to 1 patrol in my area. One Troop in my town who always had 50-60 scouts even as of 2018/2019 are down to 9. I talked to that Scoutmaster who said a former SM took over who was really strict and a rules guy to the point most of the scouts just quit. My pack recruited well and our Troop is fairly healthy. However, I am seeing some dark clouds on the horizon. BSA will need major changes to survive.

A bunch of filings hit over the last few days. BSA financial update ... unrestricted liquidity now at $73M (as of end of August). Down $11M from July and down $161M since start of bankruptcy. Notice of Appeal to District Court filed 9/22 & 9/23 5afa7f6b-ff0b-4f3b-be07-7ddd14903ae9_10466.pdf (omniagentsolutions.com) c2df4ef0-e46e-4f47-9fde-73c0837abd91_10472.pdf (omniagentsolutions.com) Then several detailed filings of those appealing the order... So far, I don't see the DOJ; however, I'm not sure if they would send anything or just argue in court. In general, it looks like the non-settling insurers are going after this case individually (I see 15 different insurance companies) along with a couple of groups of claimants. Arch Insurance Company - 52790349-974a-4ece-95e7-6dc5b77eb59d_10507.pdf (omniagentsolutions.com) National Union Fire Insurance - b92529d9-9786-44d3-b7b1-625a67a1726c_10508.pdf (omniagentsolutions.com) Travelers Casualty and Surety Company - 9298c20f-f03b-4f0a-afff-f620d04e4c32_10509.pdf (omniagentsolutions.com) Indian Harbor Insurance Company - aa9ba6a0-d4e5-41c9-99fc-646c3b30469b_10510.pdf (omniagentsolutions.com) Munich Reinsurance America - aa9ba6a0-d4e5-41c9-99fc-646c3b30469b_10510.pdf (omniagentsolutions.com) Arrowood Indemnity Company - aa9ba6a0-d4e5-41c9-99fc-646c3b30469b_10510.pdf (omniagentsolutions.com) General Star Indemnity Company - 1aefc7ec-86d1-4666-b296-37c13cbf4664_10513.pdf (omniagentsolutions.com) Continental Insurance & Columbia Casualty - 2a28ea5e-3cdb-413b-808d-b2b8f978c40a_10514.pdf (omniagentsolutions.com) Argonaut Insurance Company& Colony Insurance - e26ef6b9-ba5e-40ac-965d-82b6946d923d_10515.pdf (omniagentsolutions.com) Allianz Global Risks - 5629d276-6abe-4a66-9559-1bd7f81f1513_10516.pdf (omniagentsolutions.com) Traders and Pacific Insurance - 8e25629a-a98e-4d46-84d1-2525253646c8_10517.pdf (omniagentsolutions.com) Liberty Liberty Liberty - https://casedocs.omniagentsolutions.com/cmsvol2/pub_47373/6b294191-1490-4029-9ebc-fcd714777bc0_10518.pdf Old Republic Insurance - 6cb0fa22-8ad6-45f3-8cf2-ddb13e0ca2ae_10519.pdf (omniagentsolutions.com) Gemini Insurance - b3c41443-693a-486f-a5e7-e1bb0ab01e1a_10520.pdf (omniagentsolutions.com) D&V Claimants - 12bee4e1-f6e3-45ca-ae69-fc1a67f0019d_10521.pdf (omniagentsolutions.com) Great American Assurance Company - 48bfe057-add5-482f-82db-21b0f56319f4_10523.pdf (omniagentsolutions.com) Lujan & Wolff - 63f20f61-5d67-4cbe-8bde-7288d615dd5a_10526.pdf (omniagentsolutions.com) & b3990d44-3023-41e1-bdfd-ad932e0a7cdf_10527.pdf (omniagentsolutions.com)

Don't forget the scouts who do not renew membership fall off the books after recharter (early 2023). The number I am interested in will be posted in February. I have seen a big uptick in scouts dropping during recharter. I think in the past, parents would see $25 and figure they would renew even if they don't participate much. Now scouts who rarely participate drop off. We need to continue to see growth feb to feb every year or BSA is in trouble.

These companies do not need the BSA. Why would they pay the BSA? Rocket League has, on average, 90 million users every 30 days. Madden sells about 150 million copies and has even more users. I don't understand how an E Sports tournament ties into the BSA, but if setting up an E Sports tournament allows BSA to advertise their offerings and helps recruiting I'm all for it. Now, if there was patrol based e sports game that would be a much better path.

I'm curious is they expected us to be closer to the goal by now.

I'm curious if these were 22s and a variety of shotguns or something beyond what is approved by Scouts BSA. It sounds like the guns were not stored properly. There should be no chance a unsupervised scout should have access to firearms at camp. Hopefully a warning to anyone who doesn't take the shooting sports rules seriously. I've never seen anything close to this at any camp I attended. Firearms are always secured when the range is closed. Sad story, hopefully never repeated.

@ajherkert Welcome to Scouter.com. Sounds like you have a lot of great experience. I'm sure others will provide guidance as well. As a former leader of a pack, the best way to help a pack is to be a great den leader. Personally, I think having great energetic den leaders is the most important aspect of a healthy pack. Perhaps watch how den meetings are run and get a sense of the pack culture. Find some areas where you may be able and provide some suggestions. If you see a need for major changes, that is a whole different topic. In terms council, attend the district meetings. That lets you meet fellow scouters and allows better local discussions about scouting topics. One caution is to be careful of burn out. Being a scouter is a marathon not a sprint. I ramped up quickly, den leader, Committee Chair, Scoutmaster and district committee... It was too much and now I backed down to solely Scoutmaster. Looking back, it is better to do one job great than a bunch of jobs half assed. it sounds like you can bring a lot to scouting, I would just hate to see you burn out early. Hope this helps & good luck! It is a blast to see the kids mature through the years in scouting.

We had Lions in 2016. They started a pilot program for Packs that were willing to jump through some hoops.

Just for some info. My first Lion den had over 30 scouts. Those scouts are now in 6th grade and 3 crossed over. I had 4 den leaders... 0 of their kids crossed over (and clearly they didn't as well). I asked why and nearly every parent said they were done with scouting.... They felt it ran it's course. I explained Scouts BSA was different but it didn't work.

I used to be a fan of the Lions program as it provided an early scouting experience and aligned with GSUSA Daisies (plus the timing when many kids start sports). However, I am seeing local evidence that both volunteers and youth burn out on scouting at a higher rate if they start as Lions. I'm not sure if that trends across my council or nationally. We kept Lions to a one meeting OR outing per month. Very limited attendance at Pack meetings. We charged no pack fee and didnt have them sell popcorn. The high BSA fee is a turnoff. In terms of uniform, you could skip the Lion shirt and just have them buy the Cub Scout uniform. It only needs to last through 3rd grade. BSA should make Lions very cheap, $25 only with no council fee. Their pricing on Cub Scouts and the length of time in the Pack is damaging the long term health of the overall program.

So take the over on my 9 month guess. Hopefully BSA has a record setting recruiting year. I'm not 100% convinced they can last 18 more months in bankruptcy without some major cash infusion or a big recruiting surge. Hopefully the pace of bankruptcy legal fees drop.

Purdue took about 3 months to see their settlement rejected in District court. Then another 3 months for the bankruptcy judge to approve a modified plan. They were then heard by an appeals court in April and are still waiting on a decision. So, Purdue is at 1 year post initial plan approval. My understanding is that the District court response was fast for Purdue. I'm setting an over/under plan effective date of 9 months (mid June 2023). Just a wild guess. That pains me as I hope it is faster, but looking at similarly complex cases it seems like this is going to take some time.

Started new topic.

Now that the judge has confirmed the order, BSA plans to take the show to district court. Feel free to discuss, but please keep this to the legal case only.

If it helps pay to keep camps within BSA and has limited impact on scout programs I have no issue. I'm sure many families could be interested and it would be a unique experience. I expect BSA will have to be more creative to gain revenue streams and at least this one doesn't involve selling off camps.

Letter from The Honorable Judge Silverstein re: language for paragraph 51(b) Filed by . (CMB) https://casedocs.omniagentsolutions.com/cmsvol2/pub_47373/07463674-d994-4157-8aa6-809221601f3c_10304.pdf The judge asked both the non settling insurers and BSA to submit their own versions of a section of a plan. She said she would pick her favorite. Here you can see she replied. Now just waiting on plan approval. Once approved, BSA will quickly move to District court. So, the saga will go on. It will be interesting if anyone outside non settling insurers keeps up the fight.

Hearing in a short recess as we look at Tanc's ceiling fan on the zoom call. So far so good, Judge is approving changes and said she doesn't see any of these as a change to the plan (just addressing order issues).

My 99% is increasing to 99.9% ... Judge is approving paragraph of the Section M about the insurance for Agana. Dam is breaking .... Judge said if Archbishop of Agana didn't like it, they should have showed up. More to go, but that was big.

Final plan & exhibits were uploaded last night. Century supports the updates; however, we may see some fireworks with Guam and possibly the judge. 3b0d7c7a-ca0e-4eab-ad84-f43950dc2b65_10299.pdf (omniagentsolutions.com) Basically, the issue comes down to the insurance for the Archbishop of Agana. While the judge said that cannot be included in the settlement (as it is held up in a different bankruptcy) Century does not want to simply leave it free and clear. Guam likely disagrees. So, it will be up to the judge. Otherwise, I'm not sure if anything else will cause much of a disagreement. Time will tell.

The issue about vetting came in from the mass tort lawyers that spent no time vetting claims. I expect most who sought out the bankruptcy on their own, filled out a claim form and signed with their name are legitimate. The ones I question more are those that came in from the midnight TV ads and call centers. The Judge approved the trolling for claims, only if lawyers reviewed and signed off on those claim forms. Through discovery, it was clear that many law firms did little to no vetting of the claims. The quickly back peddled when asked to defend the claims same lawyers were saying, no that is my law firm, not me personally signing off on the claim. The judge was very upset, but it is too late to fix that now. BSA was very concerned and pushed back on any vetting saying the cost and time would be too great an ask and could lead them to liquidation. So, the great compromise is the judge will see the vetting occur through the trustee. I expect that was always the plan, but her bar will likely raise based on what she saw in this case. My guess ... the threat of the vetting will scare away many if not most of the fraudulent claims.

I don't think this will happen. But, if Ch 7 occurred.. All assets (essential HA based and Trademarks including Eagle) would be sold to the highest bidder. This includes all merit badges and program materials. I could see a "new national" BSA form who would buy most of the trademarks and materials (but not HA bases). Then scouting would proceed. The most likely path for BSA is that it is going to get very expensive regardless of Ch 7 unless they start getting big donations and large increases of youth. I wouldn't be surprised to see scouts Canada fees ($150/year), HA bases charge $2K+ for 7 day trips and summer camps head towards $600+ for a week. BSA will exist, but if our course doesn't change it I fear it will be for those that can afford it.

I believe this was added to the plan to make sure BSA didn't low ball their business plan to get out of paying more to the settlement. So, if BSA high adventure attendees exceed plan, I believe the have to pay $150 per attendee. Similar to registered scouts, if they exceed the plan they own $50 per scout. I'll see if I can find that section in the plan...

Very good point. I don't think the Guam claimants can disrupt this much. However, if Century pulls out then the plan is dead. Tanc made an ominous appearance just before the zoom call ended. There is one piece that is being discussed that Tanc indicated was critical to not change materially. The judge went back and forth with Tanc and she said as long as it is consistent with the plan she is fine.... and Tanc seemed to agree. However, it was a bit disconcerting. I still think 99% chance this is approved and agree, it should have been done tonight.