InquisitiveScouter

Ahh... our procedure is to "Approve" as soon as the BoR is complete... same date. And OP did specifically ask about what happens in SB. BTW, @Alec27, you can go back in SB and manipulate an "Earned" date to match the BoR date, if that is an issue.

Approved. You can accumulate several ranks in Scoutbook "to be awarded". But, you should not be waiting until a Court of Honor to award a rank or badge. You should be doing this as soon as possible after the rank or badge is earned. Read your Scout Handbook, approx page 414. "As soon as possible, you are recognized for your achievement at a troop meeting where you recevie your badge. (You'll later be recognized again at a special ceremony call a court of honor.)" Once we "award" at a troop meeting, we mark it in Scoutbook. Then for your future Court of Honor, you can run the "Scouts BSA Recognition Report" backdated to your last CoH, for a complete list of everything to be recognized at the upcoming CoH. Our Scouts rarely wait more than a week to get their badges... just enough time to get to the Scout store to purchase. Fortunately, our Advancement person lives a few blocks from the store, and has a weekly routine of going the day of our Scout meeting to pick up items. Your mileage will obviously vary...

Concur, to a point... We had a Scout who was working on Tenderfoot. He did not take good care of his book, and his requirements page ripped out, and he lost the page with his progress. I sat with him, read through the requirements, and asked him if he could remember which requirements he had completed, and with whom. I was going to help him verify, and was prepared to take him at his word for many. For some, he said he could not remember. He asked me if he was going to have to re-do the requirements, and I told him yes, for the ones you cannot remember or that we cannot verify. Later that week I got a message from his Mom that he was leaving Scouting. Now, there were many other factors at play with that young man, and I know he was having a rough go in other areas of his life. This seemed to be one thing he simply was unwilling to stick with, given the speed bump he had hit. I do believe, had his items been backed up in Scoutbook, and allowed for an easy recovery from this, he'd still be in Scouting today. We tell our Scouts that the primary written record is their Scout Handbook. But we warn them (this Scout included), that written records are fragile, especially in the hands of an active 12 year old. We are happy to help them by recording things in Scoutbook, but the responsibility for seeing that is done is on their shoulders! About 80% of our Scouts are diligent in syncing the two systems of record. Very few do not have anything recorded in Scoutbook, and we do as @curious_scouter does above... when they meet their BoR with their Scout Handbook, the Advancement chair records the BoR in Scoutbook, and we award the rank. Without a backup record, it is only a matter of time until this happens again. We also tell Scouts to take a picture of their requirements page, as a sufficient record, especially if it becomes detached. We have reconstructed a record in Scoutbook from a picture like that....

All great ideas... - You do not need a flag pole. You can make own. Pretty easy with some staves, rope and stakes. Check out the Scout handbook Woods Tools Section for round lashings. Lacking staves, you can throw a rope over a tree branch to raise a flag. (My preferred method.) Just need a long rope and a flag for that one... - For your astronomy, recommend you invest in a modest pair of binoculars (instead of a telescope) and/or a green laser. I use the laser all the time with Scouts to point out stars. Be careful not to use when aircraft are in the area you are pointing. (Flashing aircraft with a laser is a felony! https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/protecting-aircraft-from-lasers ) In March, you might be able to catch Orion. Pretty cool and easily recognizable constellation and has the red giant Betelgeuse (pronounced Beetlejuice). The color of the star is very noticeable to young eyes. Old farts might need the binoculars for better acuity. You can project forward in time with Heavens Above interactive sky chart to get an idea of what you might see. https://www.heavens-above.com/skychart2.aspx?lat=0&lng=0&loc=Unspecified&alt=0&tz=UCT Then, you can also download and use some good apps on your phone for real time sky chart. - Webelos are allowed to use bowsaws! You could incorporate some sawing. https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/HealthSafety/pdf/680-685.pdf - We always plan for a faith service on camping trips. "Scout's Own" The challenge to our PLC is that they have not met the Gold Standard unless they have a flag ceremony and a worship service. - How about some Leave No Trace principles?? Lots of stuff to do there...

Could Mom stand on her head??

If the registrar likes you, you will have no problems with recharter 😜 Want to get the registrar to like you? Complete your paperwork properly, file it in a timely manner, and have sufficient funds to cover registrations... Pretty simple recipe.

Agreed. That is the primary resource for the Scouts. Scoutbook is the primary tracking tool we adults use, as it provides much more utility.

After reading the memo, I cannot help myself... Duck, Duck, Moose!!

It is best if you can get Scouts to "take care of themselves" as @mrjohns2 indicates. However, this requires a few things: 1. The Scout must have an email address to have their own Scoutbook account. (Many parents balk at this for 10.5 - 12 year olds... don't get me started there.) 2. A parent who is connected to Scoutbook and can reasonably navigate the application. 3. The parent must invite the Scout to connect to Scoutbook and finish creating their account. 4. The Scout has to find out how to enter logbook activities, which is not an intuitive process. 5. A Unit leader who monitors Scoutbook routinely and goes through the process of approving entries. Now, imagine if you will, 20 Scouts went on last week's camping trip. Not all 20 are gonna make an entry. Of the ones who do (say 10), they are gonna call that activity 10 different names and will put in 10 different accounting for days, nights, miles hiked, frost points, service hours, etc. Our solution: for every event, we have a youth planner (who reports to the PLC), and an adult planner who mentors that youth through the process. At the end of the event, there is an accounting (if you will) of everyone who went on the event, how much it cost, how many miles, nights, hours, etc. This is done with a spreadsheet. The adult planner is responsible to work with someone with edit access to input all data in Scoutbook. Scouts should absolutely track all their data in their Scout Handbook, reconcile that with Scoutbook from time to time, and point out discrepancies to whomever is designated to handle that stuff (in our unit, that's their assigned ASM, and/or the Advancement Chair) One technique we use is that, any time a date or data is input into Scoutbook, we then highlight it in BLUE in the Scout's Handbook. Makes it really easy to tell what is new stuff, and what has already been input. If you have a more elegant solution, I'd love to hear it and copy your success!

Check your roster in my.scouting.org ---> MENU ---> Your Unit ID ---> Roster Once this is updated, your Scoutbook roster update should follow within 24 hours. Any youth who aged out may linger on a bit longer. Our recharter went very cleanly with 52 Scouts / 28 Leaders. The absolute key is to have all your roster updates / applications processed BEFORE you submit for recharter.

Putting bling on their uniforms is gonna be tough!

And, if you are paying someone to create a good program, do you think they are going to come back to you and say, "The solution is less programming, and and more emphasis on unstructured fun in the outdoors!" ??? https://childmind.org/article/why-kids-need-to-spend-time-in-nature/

Mad props to that Scout!!

Define religion... you could make a statement that Boy Scouts is your religion, and that you worship Lord B-P. If the state gives tax breaks to a "religion" but not to other non-profits, then that is a state "establishing a religion"...

Could you enter this in a will? Disposition of a settlement in your favor, that is?

We offer an orientation to parents, and spend a great deal of time on "How do we keep your kids safe?" Removing adults without children in the program is a recipe for failure. They're the ones with the "bandwidth" available to make such an admittedly complex program as Scouting work (well). We encourage our new parents to camp with us. We require YPT, and background checks (usually free) per our state law in PA. We did have a parent wish to camp, without sufficient time to complete the above. We allowed it, but said they must, at all times, be with one of our registered adults. They were allowed NO supervisory role, including driving Scouts to the outing (other than their own), per our state law for volunteer clearance requirements. It is a mixed bag here. Our experience is that there is safety in numbers... of adults that is. It is unusual for us to have fewer than four adults on a trip. We are often in the 8-10 range. Makes for a nice adult Patrol

When we disguise our feelings as thought, we make all nonsense possible.

You are correct: the G2SS states "registered leaders" versus registered unit leaders. I asked this same question regarding MB counselors to our council three years ago, and got conflicting answers through DE and FD, and was asked by our FD to ask the YP folks at national (which he later denied --- wished I'd had that one in writing, as in our conversations he relayed he had spoken to SE about it 😜 ) YP national folks generated a somewhat scathing response, delivered by Michael Johnson himself, that I should just listen to council and stop trying to circumvent their registration policies. LOL. The letter of the law answer is ambiguous, at best. From national, 'MB counselors do not qualify, but clarify with your council.' From our local council, 'just don't get us in trouble, and have you made your FOS contribution yet?' The spirit of the law answer is: get approval from your COR to take them with your unit One final thought... G2SS now says "Adult program participants must register as adults and follow Youth Protection policies." I interpret this to mean adults (parents) may observe our program just fine. But if an adult wishes to participate in the program (like camping overnight), then they "must register as adults." NOTE: it does not delimit which positions qualify as a "registered adult" So, MB counselors would fit into the criteria of that wording. Bottom Line: If you really want an answer to your question, you must get your SE's read on it, if you can 😜 In general, any time there is ambiguity in policy (and it is written in there intentionally, I often think...) then National will defer to your Scout Executive's ruling. As some here are fond of saying (paraphrasing)... Never ask for a rule: you won't like the answer you get.

Committee Members ought to go camping (or visit an overnight camping trip) to observe the performance of the SM Corps. It is not the ideal that MCs would be there as the required adult supervision. Totally concur with @fred8033... except one point... Scouts should ideally work with Committee Members for their Positions of Responsibility, where appropriate. e.g., Scribe, Webmaster, Librarian, Chaplains Aide, Historian, etc. etc., as these are administrative in nature. For other PORs, it is ONLY appropriate to be under the mentorship of someone in the SM Corps... e.g., SPL with SM, OA Rep with ASM OA Advisor, Troop Guide with ASMs, etc. etc. IMHO, and in a perfect world, each Scout in a POR would have an adult (or older Scout) mentor to help them develop and execute SMART goals for their POR. We hit that mark about 25- 30% of the time.

Yes. You will not find specific direction to have IOLS to take youth camping. CAVEAT: Your council may invoke stricter requirements that the G2SS!!! Check your council's unit leader training policy. If your Council says you have to have IOLS, then you must. Read through the entire G2SS. Depending on the activity, different levels of training are required... For example, under the Camping section, ONE leader must have Hazardous Weather Training: Supervision of camping activities must include qualified, registered, adult leadership. [no specifications for "qualified" other than the verbiage that follows] At a minimum, one leader present is current in Hazardous Weather Training for all unit types. It is recommended that all leaders complete this training every two years. https://www.scouting.org/health-and-safety/gss/gss03/ And for Swimming: Adult leaders supervising a swimming activity must have completed Safe Swim Defense training within the previous two years. https://www.scouting.org/health-and-safety/gss/gss02/ And for Snorkeling: In addition to Safe Swim Defense training and the 21-year-old minimum age, the supervisor must be an experienced snorkeler. At a minimum, the supervisor must possess skills and knowledge matching the Snorkeling BSA Award and have experience with environments similar to those of the planned activity. https://www.scouting.org/health-and-safety/gss/gss02/ And for "boating" activities ( " All activity afloat..."): At least one leader must be trained in first aid including CPR. https://www.scouting.org/health-and-safety/gss/gss02/ etc., etc., etc.

This, but the primary point is that those adults are approved by your CO to be registered in their Scout program. The CO approves and has authority over ALL adult leaders in their chartered Scouting program. If the CO doesn't want someone involved in their Scouting program, they (through the COR) can direct them to leave. The only reason council would intervene is if the adult does not meet BSA Membership Standards (usually revealed in criminal background check). This is why two units are not to intermix activities without council approval... Council would ask if the CO's approve the inter-unit activity and "accept" each others leaders. If the two CO's approve of the inter-unit activity, council really doesn't have a dog in the fight. If council pushed it, then the way around council? Each units' leaders and youth would multiple-register in the other unit... (for free and can be done by the members/units themselves now on my.scouting.org ... no need to involve the registrar) 😜 And BTW, all that background info on the Adult Application ? That is for the CO!! Read the fine print on the CO approval: "APPROVALS FOR UNIT ADULTS: I have reviewed this application and the responses to any questions answered “Yes,” and have made any follow-up inquiries necessary to be satisfied that the applicant possesses the moral, educational, and emotional qualities to be an adult leader in the BSA" Notice the slightly different wording above the Council approval: "APPROVAL FOR COUNCIL AND DISTRICT ADULTS: I have reviewed this application and have made any follow-up inquiries necessary to be satisfied that the applicant possesses the moral, educational, and emotional qualities to be an adult leader in the BSA." Yes, Committee Members can serve as adult supervision on outings. If BSA required them to be registered as SM or SA, then they would say that. Now, two registered and fully trained SM / SA types are the best scenario...

That is so sad. Form without substance... The lesson for that son is that the outward man is more important than the inward. We will all suffer from the fruits of that mentality. See above...

I'll channel Jefferson: Time indeed changes manners and notions, and so far we must expect institutions to bend to them. But time produces also corruption of principles, and against this it is the duty of good citizens [Scouters] to be ever on the watch, and if the gangrene is to prevail at last, let the day be kept off as long as possible.

YGBKM!!! No, I can attest to these issues as well... but I am not undecided on the issue of Insta-palms.