mrjohns2

If it isn't happening, then your approach is a good one to get troops going again. The concept, though, is that it is done within the troop. Our troop has made it part of our planning weekend. Mainly the PLC, but it is open to the whole troop, does an "end of winter" cabin campout that is a combo ILST / annual planning. It works well enough.

Agreed. If parents don't let a Scout shoot a rifle, they can't earn rifle MB. If they aren't allowed to have a pet, they can't earn pet MB. "But, but, this one is required for Eagle!" Not everyone earns eagle.

Same here. Our council is pretty good, but was surprised to see my BIL’s council list. Number 1, they had one, and 2, it was a long and great list.

My daughters were sad there wasn’t a Minecraft one. They would have watched.

Even that is hard with some charters processed in March. April?

We hired a magician to one school round up and balloon artist for the other. We had about 20 and 20 sign ups.

I don't think they said. It would be interesting to know the number at the lowest point. Is the lowest point normally January? Cubs that came in Sept and didn't recharter? I bet it is. Or is it in March since charters don't get done until March? 🙂

Our pack went from 33 last year to 67. All new cubs. It has been a crazy few weeks.

I assume all programs. I just noticed today that our one Scout who is a “multiple” isn’t counted in the district or unit numbers. She does show up on the roster. It is decently sophisticated. So, I think the data is cleaner than the past. But, what do I know.

It’s a snapshot in time. my.scouting has this by unit for districts. The system seems pretty clear that it rolls all the way up to national. It is more or less live, so when we register a Scout, they show up that day or the next. It shows also the YA (year ago) number. Neat comparison. Would love to have access to the same report at council, NST, and national level.

The presentation was about recruiting and they were just recapping where they were at YTD.

From the webinar. I assume that is BSA all in? Not sure if it includes exploring.

I guess it is rare, but our council made night specific flyers, gave us yard signs, contacted 3 schools to arrange talks, and did the 3 talks. The district had one membership committee member attend our round up nights to help. They then drove our paper apps to the office and helped us fill out forms for those that need financial assistance. About 5 Cubs received financial assistance from the council. It is a good idea not to expect much, but some councils help a lot.

Tigers have been around for 40 years now. One would think we had enough data on it by now. Back in the day (70’s and before) was better without the Tigers?

Oh no. So so sad. So easily handled at the start. Scout gets badge, council/camp get follow-up. Now, the whole darn thing is garbage. I’m sorry you had to go through this.

Agreed. Our pack just says we are sponsored by the school and all of the duty to god adventures are done as a family. We say just either sign it in the book, on Scoutbook, or just let us know it is done. We have never had an issue with families baulking.

@Mrjeff 1000% agree. Period. End of story for the Scout. All of the follow up would be with the unit and camp. There can be lessons learned so it doesn’t happen again, but for this scout, they are done. Now if this scout was qualifying to perform brain surgery, maybe the story would be different. They are not.

That will be a council-by-council thing. Our council does not advertise when these meetings are or where they are. My old council has it on their normal calendar.

Well, they can choose to not recharter the unit to a new CO, so they can dictate what they wish.

When we were smaller, we would usually easily have 2 (CC and someone else from the committee). We would then pull a parent and/or a leader from the boy troop.

Some troops (ours) has an NCS / NRA certified rifle instructor and 2 other certified RSOs. So, we could do a troop shoot. We have one planned for next year. Not many can meet this threshold.

No wavier for parents. You have to have a registered female adult at the activity. It isn’t per-den if that helps.

I totally agree. It is just not a shall, it is a should.

Agreed. It doesn’t mean there isn’t additional follow-up that the adults need to do to correct any issues going forward. These issues, though, aren’t to be corrected on the back of a Scout. Again, Scouts aren’t punished for the failings of of adults.

I thought I just read about this. From the national “advancement news” newsletter. I knew there was a should in there. Check it out. It “should” clear this up for you that the signature isn’t a firm requirement, but is part of the process. “GTA topic 7.0.0.3 states in part that “before working with a coun- selor or attending a group or virtual merit badge opportunity, a Scout should meet with his or her unit leader.” While this does not mean the merit badge will be denied if they do not, it does mean that, if at all possible, the Scout and scoutmaster should discuss in advance the merit badge and the presentation envi- ronment (in-person/online, group/individual, etc.). ” https://www.scouting.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/PUB-doc-JUL-AUG-2022-June-29.pdf