MikeS72

Citizenship in Society has been Eagle required for a full year now. I have conducted multiple small group sessions with scouts from multiple troops, and have not yet seen anyone who decided to leave rather than earn the MB.

Does your council collect a council program fee, and if so, what does it cover? Ours does ($60) and covers the following: Members are excited this registration fee includes the Central Florida Council Program Fee which covers the event fee for Scouts and Scouters to attend: • District Cub Scout Shooting Sports and or Adventure Days • District Cub Scout Family Campouts • District Webelos Woods • District Scouts BSA Fall Camporees • District Scouts BSA Spring Camporees • Annual District Banquets • Certain District Adult Leader Trainings • Central Florida Council University of Scouting The Central Florida Council Program fee also provides a subsidy for each registration for NYLT and Wood Badge courses.

Or the New York Yankees!! 😁

This is the one part of your comments that I agree is a problem. It is not at all uncommon for a student to turn 18 early in their senior year of high school (or sometimes late in their junior year) and many of their scout friends remain 16 or 17 until late in their senior year or not at all before graduating. My own scout is on the other end of that spectrum, as he has always been among the youngest in his class, and crossed over as an AOL to the troop as a 10 year old. He attended his first summer camp as a 10 year old. ALL of his scouting friends will turn 18 between 7 and 10 months earlier than him expecting them to no longer be friends outside of scouting is unrealistic. As for the rest of the 'inside and outside of scouting' part of YPT, there are data driven reasons for that. I spent a lot of time before and during the bankruptcy reading letters submitted to the court, and many of the original reports sent to national after an incident occurred. An awful lot of those incidents did not take place at an official scouting event, but rather were the result of scouters (or youth members in many cases) who made themselves known to the families, and made those families comfortable enough to allow them to be alone with their children. The abuse then took place in their home, or some other non scouting venue. The 'inside and outside of scouting' recommendations at least show that an attempt was made to prevent abuse from happening, and that if it does happen it is 100% on the perpetrator and the perpetrator alone.

I do not normally comment on these types of posts, but I 'followed' as soon as I read the next line in the post: " I recently saw an ad for patches that celebrate the LGBTQ community, " people of color " and women in Scouting. Aren't the straight white male members being excluded or are the powers that be too week to make that available, or would that be racist or homofobic."

First time doing Wordle. Far too easy! 😀

I see the same in my district and council. When I look up a MBC in Scoutbook it is pretty much always someone who is also registered in some other position. My question would be how this will affect the new camping rules come September 1. Since MBC will now be a fee paid position will that allow them to be included in unit camping???

I would expect to hear something after the NAM wraps up next week.

As a long time Red Cross Instructor, I would encourage everyone to check with their local council, as BSA has an affiliation agreement with the Red Cross and many councils have ARC Instructors available to teach and certify people within the scouting community.

Is the unit a Troop or a Pack? If it is a Pack the question is moot, as Cubs can only do shooting sports at district or council events. (one of the big draws at Cub Day Camp)

Is this someone who was just helping out one time, or are they always there and always interacting with the youth? Is there a reason they are not registered? Have they been approached about registering and declined to do so?

Wasn't your SPL by any chance, was it??? 😄

We give our scouts multiple chances to sign up and make payment (if required) beginning about a month prior to the activity. Something like summer camp they start signing up about 3.5 months ahead of our camp week, which both gets a discount on the fee and also allows them to select merit badges and activities well in advance. As to your situation @5thGenTexan, I think as CC I would be having a serious conversation with your SM about prior planning. How often do you end up having to cancel an outing when transportation is an issue due to parents and leaders not knowing where the troop is going until the day before?

It was in my inbox when I got home from Roundtable last night. Not sure if this is going out to every registered adult leader, every OA member, or just a random selection. I did see that the link is specifically for the addressee and will not let you us it a second time, as it would not let my OA member scout respond. I will have him monitor his email to see if it is being sent to any youth members.

Curious as to what part of the GTSS you have to break just to have your scouts complete their advancement requirements.

What is commonly referred to as an AOL Den is made up of 5th graders who are working toward earning the AOL. Many are in their 2nd year of WEBELOS, some are in their first year of Scouting. A lot of the AOL Dens work toward bridging into troops in the February/March time frame.

Probably true as relates to the Episcopal church, but @T2Eaglewas referring to the USCCB, which is the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Agreed. It is always good to find someone who has Scouting experience, but that does not necessarily mean they have to come from within the organization. I am sure there are a plethora of former Scouts who have shown that they are capable of managing an organization such as ours who have never served in a professional Scouter position.

There is no way to enter anything in Scoutbook that was done prior to the registration date showing in the national system. I have had a few instances where paperwork was given to a DE who is no longer with the program and was lost and had to be filled out again. We looked at things like Scout rank requirements, knots, fire building, cooking, etc. that the scout did before the registration became official and entered those items dated after the scout became official. Don't penalize the scout for an adult's shortcomings.

"within reason"???

In what way??

This policy was the 'safety minute' discussion at our Roundtable last night. Just so happened that our Council President, Assistant Scout Executive, and Council commissioner were visiting last night. Yes, councils (and I would hope that includes all) do background checks for MBC applications. The money for all of those folks who have for years used the MBC freebie rather than paying the standard adult registration fee has to come from somewhere. While we did not ask our guest what the cost of the CBC is, I would think it would be similar to what I paid as a school district employee for a FBI background check, which 3 decades ago was $35. If the cost to BSA is anywhere close to that amount, I would not be surprised to see free MBC status go away.

We always ask those who are eligible if they are interested in being on the ballot. Over the last 5 elections we have had three who declined to be on the ballot.

@Alec27, Our charter was just processed. Once the council posts the charter it should reflect any changes in Scoutbook overnight.

I would believe that reference to 'adult program participants" means those 18, 19, & 20 year olds who are also a part of a crew, ship, or post; or who are registered as an ASM in a troop and still qualify as a youth at OA activities.