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Everything posted by MikeS72
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Completing Troop Detailed Assessment
MikeS72 replied to Saltface's topic in Open Discussion - Program
Yes. The leaders not trained list and YPT status list would then just be a print out showing those individuals. -
I have spent the last 42 years in the public school system, so I am very familiar with special needs children. I work with a number of those children on a daily basis, and fully understand the amount of patience that can require. It is a little different in the troop than it is at work however. We do need to make reasonable accommodations in Scouting to give every child every opportunity to participate; in the situation you have described it sounds as if your unit has done a lot to help the boy. I also get the sense that part of the problem stems from the parent, who also sounds as if he may not be the most adept at following directions, planning ahead, or seeking information on his own. At some point the boys is going to miss out on an event due to his, and his parent's, lack of communication skills. That is unfortunate, but may be what prompts change for the better.
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Completing Troop Detailed Assessment
MikeS72 replied to Saltface's topic in Open Discussion - Program
Just did one of these a couple of weeks ago, as a UC. Section 2 information can be pulled up by your Key 3, or any Commissioner. You are looking for the number of leaders who are current with Youth Protection (right now we are also looking at who needs to take the new YPT before Oct. 1), are there any current leaders whose YPT has expired, do you have any leaders who have never taken YPT (that answer, hopefully, is no, especially since we now need to include a copy of the YPT certificate with the adult application). Training data as of would be the date the report was pulled. How many of your leaders show on the report as position trained (a challenge for my own unit, that we are working on). A list of who is position trained and who is not (that report will show what they lack to be position trained - it is amazing how many SM/ASM folks do not realize that in addition to the online training they must complete IOLS to be position trained). The YPT status list shows all registered leaders and when YPT expires. Youth/adults registered in unit is just how many are currently on your official roster. -
Very brief time as a Cub in 1961 (we were a military family, and after a PCS found ourselves in a small town with no Pack). Got back in as an 11 year old Scout in 1964. Being military meant changing troops several times along the trail to Eagle. Elected to OA in 1969, Brotherhood in 1970 & Vigil Honor in 1972. Chapter Chief and Chapter Advisor, along with many years of ceremonial teams. Served on camp staff for 6 years in 2 councils. Attended Woodbadge in 1972, at the ripe old age of 18 (first year the age requirement dropped from 21 to 18), BEAVERS ARE BEST!! Woodbadge staff in 1974. As an adult I have served as an ASM, SM, Chapter Advisor, Explorer Post Advisor, ACM, Webelos Den Leader. Currently serving as a Lion Guide, ASM, UC, and getting ready to move into Cub Roundtable Commissioner. At our first Commissioner meeting after the decision to admit girls was announced, one of the ladies in the room commented that the people most likely to object to that decision would be the 'old timers'. My response as one of those 'old timers' was that we have had girls in the older programs for many decades, and that it is about time we joined the rest of the world in opening all of our programs to girls. I see that as no different to my telling a Cub leader who felt the new AOL requirements were not fair to the boys who had been in Cubs since Tiger, that the only thing that would not be fair is to tell any boy who wanted to be a Scout that he could not join. I can now rephrase to say any child who wants to be a Scout.
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National Annual Meeting 2018 - May 23-25, Dallas
MikeS72 replied to RememberSchiff's topic in Open Discussion - Program
I think @ParkMan may have been referring to a video with the OA National Chief and Vice Chief, in which Bryan & Anthony appeared to be wearing a neckerchief/t-shirt combo, common in a lot of countries. -
BSA published policy / guidance on phones and electronics
MikeS72 replied to fred johnson's topic in Camping & High Adventure
Our Troop allows phones prior to the meeting. Once the meeting is called to order, they must be put away. Scouts may bring them on outings, to be used in the car on the way to and from. Once we arrive at the event, they are to be put away. We do have the occasional request for a phone to be used for pictures, which is granted when appropriate. The Scouts may use them in their tent at night, until lights out, and with headphones only. -
IF everything holds true, this is how things should work. A CO may choose to remain a boy only pack, with no changes. They may choose to sponsor both an all boys pack and an all girls pack, who operate independently of each other. They may choose to make the existing pack co-ed, with dens that are gender separate; girls in one den, boys in another. At this point there should not be any co-ed dens. If a pack chooses the co-ed model and does not have enough girls for separate age appropriate dens, they may have a mixed age den of girls. (kind of like back in the dim past, when dens were made up of boys from the same neighborhood, regardless of age) The current plan for troops is that if a CO chooses they may remain boy only. If the CO wants to bring in girls, it will be in a girl only troop. That troop can share a COR, committee, and ASM's, but must have a different SM. At this time there should not be any girl patrols in a boy troop. I do not know if this will hold true a few years from now, but as of now it is the way things are supposed to work. There are numerous published records and charts detailing these options, they just do not get reported accurately. I am sure that most of the news coverage has been done by people who do not take the time to actually research the facts before writing or going on air with an inaccurate report. Time will tell. Regardless of how things play out, I intend to do whatever I can to see that the pack and troop that I serve in, and the units I serve as a commissioner succeed.
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Putting the pieces together - Where are we headed?
MikeS72 replied to FireStone's topic in Open Discussion - Program
Those socks (with the garters/green tabs) were the bane of every camp staff member, when at the end of a long summer we had that tiny tan that went from the bottom of the shorts to the top of the socks. -
Putting the pieces together - Where are we headed?
MikeS72 replied to FireStone's topic in Open Discussion - Program
Entered the program in November 1964; and in it for the long haul. If we cannot adapt and change we will indeed wither and die. As for OA, chapter meeting tonight. Chapter Advisor is female, as are 3 other senior adult members. -
Putting the pieces together - Where are we headed?
MikeS72 replied to FireStone's topic in Open Discussion - Program
Maybe it was being in a troop on a military base in the 60's (Eagled in '71, a month before turning 18), but those berets reminded us of the Green Berets on base. My troop went to the beret and we loved it. -
Welcome, from a fellow Beaver. MT-14, 1972
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I would try Goof Off. I have not had grease on my uniform, but did use it to get rid of the staining left behind after finding that our local Scout Shop used a spray adhesive on uniforms before sewing on the Council Strip and World Crest.
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National, Religion, Membership, Oath and Law
MikeS72 replied to Hawkwin's topic in Issues & Politics
Having been in troops on military bases for many years, we did indeed know how to make that beret look like Special Forces. In fact, some of our Scout leaders were Special Forces. -
Unit number change and embracing the new
MikeS72 replied to FireStone's topic in Open Discussion - Program
You state that you were part of a consolidation of Packs. Are you are no longer with the original CO? If so, that may be why you had to take on a new number. It is not unusual for a CO to ask to keep the Pack or Troop number, so that it is available should they decide to jump back into the fire and sponsor again. -
Unit number change and embracing the new
MikeS72 replied to FireStone's topic in Open Discussion - Program
Have to remember that one when the next name discussion comes up at our Commissioner meetings. -
Based on the second link, they were modified by someone who did no research as to what patches go on that shirt.
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National, Religion, Membership, Oath and Law
MikeS72 replied to Hawkwin's topic in Issues & Politics
A lot of people are misinterpreting this requirement. The new requirement is not 72 total hours in a year's time, the 72 hour rule is that if a single event covers 72 hours, adults must be registered. In many cases, this means either summer camp with the troop, or Cub resident camp (in our Council Cub resident camp is 4 days). -
How will you talk about girls troops and packs?
MikeS72 replied to WisconsinMomma's topic in Issues & Politics
We do not look at it as freeloading, as the DE is the one in our District who sets up school nights, is the one who visits all of the classrooms at the school, arranges and pays for the building use permits. All we have to do is show up at the school on the designated night, explain the Pack's programming and organization to parents, and sign up those new Scouts. We are not in any way against the decision to allow girls into the organization, our current boy only model is due to the size of the meeting place available to use via our CO. I understand that school night may well be done differently in your area, and if we expended a great deal of time and expense to set up a recruiting night I might feel the same about another unit coming in uninvited by us. I would however, regardless of how the recruiting night is organized, be more than willing to tell any parent with a daughter interested in being a Cub Scout which local units offer a girls program, along with contact information for that unit. -
How will you talk about girls troops and packs?
MikeS72 replied to WisconsinMomma's topic in Issues & Politics
DE. It was not said in a 'this is what happens if you don't take girls' manner, but rather to state that if the Pack that normally host the school night at that particular school will not be taking girls, they will try to find a nearby pack that is going to have a girls program attend school night, thus giving those family an alternative. In our area, each Pack has one or more elementary schools that we draw from. Not that we are restricted to children from that school (we have children from all 4 of the schools within 5 miles of our meeting place), just that we do not actively recruit as a Pack from the other 3 schools. If a child wants to join because he has friends in our Pack, that is his choice. -
How will you talk about girls troops and packs?
MikeS72 replied to WisconsinMomma's topic in Issues & Politics
Not necessarily. A CO can choose to remain an all boy pack, they may choose to sponsor an all boy pack and a separate all girl pack; or they may open the existing pack to girls, who will be in gender specific dens. In those case where a pack does not have enough girls for a grade level den, there can be a multi-age den of girls. We were told that no pack will be told they must be co-ed, but that when we have school nights those pack who choose not to accept girls will have representatives from other pack present to offer those families a place to go. I cannot imagine that if we have a family come in with both a son and daughter who want to join, they will put the son in one pack and the daughter in the one who accepts girls. Those packs who choose to remain all boy will have to understand that they may lose some boys due to the resulting family decision as to where they can enroll both children. -
1971 - "Scouting/USA"....2018 "Scouts USA"
MikeS72 replied to Jameson76's topic in Issues & Politics
You are not suffering from memory loss, at least not when it comes to the older Cub uniforms. Back in the days before the strip was changed to read 'Boy Scouts of America', it did indeed say 'Cub Scouts BSA.' Those of us who are old enough (I first joined in 1961, back when you had to 8 to be a Cub) remember that uniform; along with Lion being the top rank (no Webelos back then), rather than an introductory Kindergarten program. We also remember the brief period in the 70's when the Boy Scout uniform was changed to say 'Scout BSA', rather that the previous and current 'Boy Scouts of America'. -
As an Arrowman who did Ordeal, Brotherhood, and Vigil all as a youth member, I will admit it took a little while to get used to the idea of female Scoutmasters and female OA members. I do not see the potential for girls to be eligible for election to be sad, but simply a natural evolution of bringing young ladies into the broader Scouting family.
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Significant youth protection changes
MikeS72 replied to fred johnson's topic in Camping & High Adventure
The way this was explained in one of our Commissioner meetings, is that if the activity is 72 hours or more (read: summer camp), all adults must be registered. We were told that part of the reasoning for that was the people who would attend Monday/Tuesday, skip a day and come back for Thursday/Friday to try to skirt the 72 hour rule. -
I very much remember watching things unfold as NASA worked to get them home safely. Just a riveting as watching the Apollo 11 landing, although I will admit with that one I shed a few tears upon hearing the phrase the Eagle has landed.
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We do not allow electronics out during the day, they can chose to bring and use them in their tent prior to lights out, as long as they are either muted or have headphones. A couple of them found out on a recent backpacking outing that the phone is useless after the first night unless they add weight carrying a battery pack.