David CO

Not always. I got laid off during the shutdown. My position wasn't needed for a school while doing distance learning. Was it gut wrenching? Nope. With the federal add-on to my unemployment insurance, I actually got paid about 10% more than my teaching salary. I don't understand it, but I'll take it. The hard part is not seeing the kids everyday. That is gut wrenching. I really miss them! But, with the shutdown, that would have happened anyway.

I don't think we're allowed to say they deserve it.

Yes. They have killed the organization, but they can't kill scouting. Scouting is a movement. Scouting will continue long after BSA is dead and buried.

Well, you could do that. But then you would have to sew on a skydiving patch.

I get what you are saying, and I suppose I actually agree with you (about half way). I don't want to protect actual child molesters. I don't want to protect the people who shielded the child molesters. I'm fine with extending liability in these cases. However, I wouldn't want some types of behaviors, behaviors which were deemed acceptable 40 or 50 years ago, but are not allowed today, to become retroactively criminalized. I can think of several examples. 50 years ago, we didn't normally regard a child's backside as a NO TOUCH ZONE. I'm not even talking about spanking. As a football coach, I used to slap players on the behind. It wasn't child molestation or corporal punishment. It was the football coach's equivalent of the high five. It was how we let players know we thought they did a good job. I know that this isn't allowed anymore, and I have no problem with that. But I wouldn't want it to be retroactively criminalized either.

Oh, how I pine for those innocent days of youth... blissfully ignorant of the district/council structure. [Sigh]

Nobody at council saves any units. They kill some units, but they never save any. If you're interested in saving a unit, be a unit scouter and try to do some good. Let it melt. The Chartered Organizations and the unit scouters will get together to rebuild scouting after the councils are gone. Good riddance to them.

or $0.00 (depending on how you look at it). I wonder if there is any way federal officers could imbed a code into some Bitcoin to infect the cybercriminals' systems.

Yes and no. If the question is about whether or not the unit will have a uniform hat, then it is something the PLC should discuss. If the unit already allows patrol hats, then the selection of the color and style should probably be a patrol level decision. Either way, the policy of my unit would still be that individual scouts are not required to buy a uniform. That policy would still apply regardless of the question of unit versus patrol hats. Patrol leaders would be cautioned against creating any undue pressure on patrol members to buy the patrol hat.

I am not going to just dismiss your "thinking" out of hand, but you will need to add some justification for your reasoning. If this is a scouting event, you will need to do the testing. No question about that. Are you thinking that this is not a scouting event? Is it being organized and publicized at the unit meetings? Is the unit paying for it? Are you getting a group discount? Are the scouters supervising the event? My school participates in an after school roller skating event that is not a school sponsored activity. It's just a fundraiser. The school gets a percentage of whatever the kids spend at the roller rink. The roller rink gets to promote their business and the school gets a donation. The school doesn't organize, supervise, or transport students for the event. We also do a similar thing with a couple fast food restaurants. Is this what you are doing?

I am not going to let a boy go into the water (or on a canoe) unless I am confident that it is safe for him to do so. I really couldn't care less if BSA is satisfied. I don't even care if the parents are satisfied. I need to be satisfied. My Chartered Organization needs to be satisfied. If that's not acceptable to someone, then they need to go out and find another unit.

The unfortunate truth is that we have all gotten so accustomed to the current social trends (everybody gets a trophy, everybody gets an A, etc...), that parents have come to expect that everyone passes the swim test. An automatic pass has become a social entitlement.

The executives have know for some time now that BSA is doomed. Their goal is to secure (for themselves) as much as they can before the final breakup.

I've been complaining (for some time now) about the frequent use of profanity by our boy scouts. I won't tolerate it in my classroom or my troop. I agree with what you are saying. Some of these older kids have no filter. We haven't used any scout camps for years. We mostly use church owned campgrounds. Sorry about the misunderstanding. My first impression (from your post) was that the parents' concern was a YP thing.

This is the issue. All of the units assets are the property of the Chartered Organization. The CO needs to be informed immediately. Stealing is a very serious accusation. If the accusations are true, somebody could be facing criminal charges. If the accusations are false, the CO could be facing a lawsuit. The CO needs to get on this right away. This can't be ignored. Even if the ASM is removed, the accusations will still have to be resolved.

Knot tying would be the least of the complaints on my list. In fact, I would suggest it be left off the list entirely. Youth leaders should be teaching the knots, not the ASM. When personality conflicts occur, there is a tendency to pile on. We should try to avoid that. Keep it simple. Don't bring in a whole laundry list of complaints. It makes people look petty. It is important to know who brought the ASM into the unit to start with. If the IH or COR personally selected him, I would be careful about making waves. If the SM brought him in, make it his problem. If the CC brought him in, deal with it yourself. Don't bring a lot of people into it. Don't make it a community project. No group discussion. Don't turn it into the scouting equivalent of the Jerry Springer Show. This is not a council issue. Don't try to slough it off on the council. It's the unit's problem to solve.

Yes, I do think there is a difference. If I understand the history correctly, stock car racing (now called NASCAR) was started by prohibition era bootleggers who wanted to show off their souped-up cars and compete against each other. It was a celebration of lawlessness. The confederate battle-flag was used primarily as a symbol of their lawlessness. I am generally uncomfortable with those who glorify lawlessness, whether it be NASCAR, movie studios, or music groups. For that reason alone, I think we should support a change in symbolism and attitudes. The irony is not lost on me that BLM, a group that promotes and glorifies lawlessness, is objecting to other groups who use historical symbols to promote and glorify lawlessness. Sadly, scouting is losing popularity, possibly because it doesn't promote and glorify lawlessness.

Sorry. I'm not sure I understand. Aren't most public pools and beaches open to children of all ages? Don't most restaurants (like McDonalds) serve children of all ages? Why would parents get upset over their child using a swim area or dining hall (at scout camp) that serves children of all ages? I should think their kids are already very familiar with the concept. I just don't get it.

OK. Fine. Tether them to a rope, from the center of the pool, and let them swim in circles. Good grief!

Sort of. You can't change the requirements of the test. You can't insist that they run the mile on a specific course, or take the swim test in a specific pool or lake. But you can say that we are taking the test today at a specific time and place, and if you don't want to do it today, you will have to take it on another day, or not take it at all. We can't change the requirements of the test, but we don't have to cater to their every whim.

I had a very annoying argument once over the issue of pool depth. My school had an indoor pool with both a deep end and a shallow end. The students/scouts would jump in (over their heads) in the deep end, but complete the swim using both the deep end and the shallow end. The swim was disqualified if a kid let his feet touch the pool floor. This is the way the swim lanes were designed to be used. Of course, someone argued that the entire swim must be completed in a deep end, with the water over their heads. Ugh! It just goes to prove that, no matter how explicit you think the instructions are, there will always be someone who will have a different interpretation.

True. Nothing specifies the length of the pool, but it does say that the water must be over his head. Most backyard pools aren't deep enough.

Yes, try to avoid power struggles. Especially so if the person you are struggling with has all the power.

Yes, I have some thoughts. We used to give kids more freedom, but we also demanded accountability. If scouts misbehaved while out on the trail (unsupervised), there was hell to pay when they got back to camp.