David CO

We don't know that the unit had anything to do with it. The letter came from the council. It is entirely possible that the complaint was made directly to the council, or to the BSA hotline. The CC's annoyance might be the result of being left out of the loop and not having any information to share with the parents.

I have been considering the discussion on a recent topic about Star Wars and feminism. I don't think the SW movies have become a springboard for feminism so much as they have become an attack on organized religion. The original trilogy presented the fictional Jedi religion as a good and civilizing influence on the SW universe. The prequel trilogy presented it as clumsy, ineffective, and morally ambiguous. The sequel trilogy discredited it and burnt its temple to the ground. Luke went from being an idealistic young man, eager to become a Jedi master, only to become a despondent old hermit who has lost all faith in the institution he once loved.

I wonder if we will be hearing from ScoutMama43 about the phone call. It's possible that the SE read her the riot act, insisting that she not talk about the incident on social media.

Au contraire, nerdy sci-fi arguments are very scout like.

Yes. It's about time we grandfathers get our own clause.

So do I. I also like to teach my scouts to follow the rules, but that becomes almost impossible when BSA creates ridiculous rules that are totally impractical to follow. I am a teacher. We don't have two deep leadership in the classroom, so it isn't possible for me to follow the BSA guidelines 24/7. It just can't be done. My concern is that BSA is creating rules that it knows we will have to break. By doing so, it is teaching boys to not respect the rules.

This can happen if the COR (Chartered Organization Representative) is also a member of the unit committee, creating a sort of super-committee. I don't think this is a good idea because, as you mentioned, it tends to undermine the authority of the Scoutmaster/Cubmaster.

That is an excellent question. I think you are asking if the Chartered Organization can over-rule the unit leaders. Yes, it can.

I have never been under the false illusion that virtue sells better than sin. Violence and sex are popular and profitable themes in Hollywood movies. If the Disney studio decides to take the course of greatest profitability, my guess is that is this is the direction they will be going.

Count your blessings. If this had been a girl making an accusation, things would be much worse.

I'll take it. It's better than being shameless.

...and we are seeing a steady drop in youth participation as a result.

The unit committee and other unit leadership are chosen by the CO. I doubt that this will change.

RememberSchiff, That was a lot to say in one post. You covered a lot of territory, but you seemed to have forgotten that scout units are owned and operated by Chartered Organizations. You never even mentioned the CO's.

I wasn't expecting the Spanish inquisition!

Good. Now some over-zealous social worker can come after you for posing a threat to your son. That's much better.

I wonder if the Chartered Organization is a school. There are some new rules in schools relating to students making a terrorist threat. This is a reaction to the recent school shootings. If someone is accusing the scout of making a terrorist threat, this could be a big deal.

If this letter is coming from the district/council, it is already going up the ladder. This may be the problem. If this letter is coming from the unit/Chartered Organization, it really isn't appealable to district/council executives. It's a unit matter.

Ambiguous pronouns. Does the highlighted him (in the quote box) refer to your son or the 1st year scout?

I don't know how much of these changes are due to youth protection. I think some of it has nothing to do with YP. Even in a school with a properly run, well-supervised locker room, we get some mothers who object to having their children taking showers after gym class and extra-curricular activities. It is not safety they are concerned about. They object to group showers. As a boy, I never felt that I needed much privacy. Privacy was a girl thing.

It has had a huge effect on the Physical Education curriculum. Boy's PE used to be a very active rough-and-tumble class. Now it's just like the girl's class used to be.

I disagree. If council actually acted like an independent organization with a charter from BSA, instead of behaving like a wholly owned arm of BSA, you might have a point. But it doesn't. BSA says jump, and the council asks "how high". Council deserves to share the blame right along with national.

I am separating this from my previous post in order to make it absolutely clear that I am not referring in any way to the CSE. As a Health/Science teacher, I have taught boys about testicular cancer and how to do self-examinations to detect it. Since this disease often first appears in the teenage years, it is important that boys receive this instruction. My awareness of this disease makes me mindful of just how intrusive it might be to ask someone why they don't have children. I understand that there might be many other reasons, both medical and social, but this is the first one that comes to mind. For this reason, I would never ask someone, in either a professional or social situation, why that have not had children.

This is getting a little too personal. I would never use this as a criteria for hiring a coach or choosing a unit scout leader. I would not want BSA to use parenthood as a basis to discriminate in their hiring or promotions. It's wrong.

Don't just voice your displeasure. Cancel your subscription. Stop donating to FoS. Stop selling popcorn. In short, hit em where it hurts.