David CO

I knew we would get here eventually. Everyone who takes the position you are taking eventually refers to the Chartered Organization as a sponsor of the unit. The CO is not a sponsor. The CO is the owner of the unit. In Girl Scouts, the sponsoring organization actually is a sponsor. They do not own or run the unit. They just provide a meeting place and support. The girl scouts own the unit. The sponsor is just a sponsor. It is not that way in boy scouting. The CO owns the unit. BSA doesn't own the unit. It is perfectly acceptable for people to take the position that BSA should change this relationship. They're entitled to have that opinion. It is certainly possible that BSA might some day do that. But, as it currently stands, the CO is the owner of the unit, and the CO does have the right to use the scouting program as a part of its outreach program.

This is one of the main problems with scouting today, and the reason so many units are failing. The majority of the time I see a unit fold or move, it is because the scout leaders see the CO as just a meeting place and assets. A CO is much more than that. I'm sure the boys in my unit, school, and church do not see the CO as a meeting place and assets. If you polled our current and former scouts, you would lose that bet. They would tell you that the school's, history, traditions, and spirit add greater depth to the scout unit. They would tell you that our faith adds greater meaning and purpose to our scout activities.

Of course, the unit cannot "withdraw" without the CO's permission. The CO owns the unit. People can withdraw as individuals, and like-minded people can get together to withdraw at the same time, but the unit stays with the CO if they want to keep it. Even if every single leader and every single scout were to suddenly announce that they were leaving the unit, en masse, the CO could still appoint new leaders and recruit a whole new group of scouts to fill the unit. The CO owns the unit. Yes, you and I do often disagree. I would say the scouts and volunteers are not the unit. They are temporary participants in the unit. When they move on to do other things, the unit still remains.

I actually thought that you dodged my question by answering a question with a question. That's OK. You are under no obligation to answer anyone's questions if you don't want to. I don't mind. In any case, I think I did answer your question. BSA doesn't get involved in saying who is, and who is not, a member of the CO.

There is nothing "back-door" about it. When you voluntarily walk through the front door of our church, you are fair game for proselytizing and conversion. It is bad enough that some "non-Christians" insist on removing every vestige of Christian religion from the public square. When they start insisting that we can't freely practice our faith within our own four walls, that's too much.

That's very true.

I don't think so. The relationship of the unit to the CO is at the very heart of the original topic.

Really? Can you find any documentation to support that opinion? My impression is that BSA doesn't get involved at all in saying who is, or who is not, a member of the CO. They wouldn't touch that with a ten foot lodge pole.

Catholics believe the Church includes everyone, even those who do not believe. Technically, we feel that everyone belongs with us. God doesn't love just the registered parishioners.

I would argue that the act of joining our scout unit makes him a member of our CO. He may not be Catholic, but he is still one of us. He belongs.

Not all students at my Catholic school are Catholic. Some belong to other churches. This doesn't mean that they don't belong. The school is a part of our parish and church, and the non-Catholic students are part of it. The same is true of our scout units.

I disagree. The unit is a subset of the CO.

Though I disagree with you on the retaliation issue, I think you are absolutely correct in your criticism of the council encouraging people to form paper CO's. This is the real problem. A scout unit needs to have a strong, supportive, active, and responsible Chartered Organization.

I don't know what BSA could or should do in the event that a community chooses to "retaliate by social pressure" against someone. BSA has little control over the Chartered Organizations. It has no control over the community at large.

You lost me here. What does this have to do with the gender of the parent? BSA doesn't have a retaliation policy. This is true regardless of the gender of the person with the grievance.

It all depends on how the parent "brought forward" concerns. Even if BSA had a retaliation rule, it might not apply to this situation. I am a teacher. My school has a retaliation policy. This policy would protect me if I were to make a statement to child protective services. It would not protect me if I were to start bad mouthing my school at PTA meetings, sporting events, and parent/teacher conferences. Retaliation policies do not give me free reign to shoot off my mouth whenever and wherever I please. People have different interpretations of the term corporal punishment. Some would apply it only to hitting kids. Others would include physical exercise punishments like doing pushups or running laps. I'm not sure what this parent thinks is corporal punishment.

The shadow knows.

Some end-of-the-year activities and trips can't be rescheduled. The kids may have to do them as scheduled and then return for another week of school. That will feel strange.

The children must be so disappointed.

Same here. Some school districts don't always cancel the full day. Instead, they might delay school by 2 hours. This way, it counts as a school day, but you still have to make up the 2 hours.

If we get a waiver, I'll have to cut one of my units this semester. It would probably be First Aid.

I suppose so. That might make the numbers work. I wouldn't want to just add busywork to the kids work load. I carefully plan my units and lessons to give the kids a valuable learning experience. I try to not waste their time.

Does Pittsburgh actually have Snow Days? I always assumed that all the black soot from the steel plant chimneys would melt off all the snow and ice right away.

Today is Snow Day #8 for my school. We had only scheduled 5 on our calendar. Some nearby public schools have taken as many as 20 Snow Days already. They are talking about extending the school year into the scheduled summer vacation time. Some schools are even considering having school on Saturdays. 😦. This could cause havoc for those who have already planned and scheduled their summer camps. Is anyone here on the forum having that problem?

Can a unit politely decline? I guess that would depend on your understanding of the relationship between the unit and the CO. The CO owns the unit. It's their unit. An individual certainly has the right to politely decline. The CO then has the right to politely tell that individual that their service to the unit is no longer needed. The unit is a different matter. I would say a unit does not have the right to decline.