Two District Chairmen With Different Ideas.

[Eamonn]

We had a meeting of all the Key 3's in the Council.

Things were moving along nicely till the District Chair from another District spoke up.

He proposed that when the District is holding a District Camporee that no unit from that District should be allowed to camp on Council owned property.

He was upset that a unit wasn't attending the District Camporee, but was camping at another Council owned campsite.

I thought he was joking. He wasn't.

I tried to explain to him that the Troop might be following a theme that the Camporee didn't follow. I tried to explain that we as Districts are there to support our units, but if they don't want our support we can't force them.

He just couldn't see where I was coming from.

What are your thoughts?

Eamonn(This message has been edited by Eamonn)

[OldGreyEagle]

"If you build it they will come"

 

which also makes the the reverse also true, if you don't build it well (as in have a program the boys want) then they wont come.

 

District and Council events supplment the unit program, they are not the unit program

[Its Me]

 

What if they make that silly rule and the unit still decides to skip the camporee? Would that satisfy him? Probably because he sounds like a vindictive person.

 

Scouting, as is life, is about choices. If a unit requests the use of a site and the resources needed are available, they should be allowed to go.

 

[fgoodwin]

I'm not sure I agree with the original idea to prohibit district units from camping anywhere but the district camporee.

 

But I will say this: when my son and I were looking to bridge from Cub Scouting to Boy Scouts, we were very hesitant to bridge into the "feeder" troop, because the CO's affiliated troop basically ignores all council and district functions.

 

They held their own Freeze-o-ree on the same weekend as the district Freeze-o-ree, so the Webelos dens (including ours but did not include any other packs) were limited to the activitites planned by the feeder troop. Had we camped at the district Freeze-o-ree, we would have been exposed to may different troops (maybe that's why the feeder troop avoids them?).

 

Instead, we crossed over into a troop that is very active in council and district functions.

 

So I guess what I'm saying is, rather than impose an external rule like the proposed, why not let the market decide? There will be families like mine who will gravitate towards troops that support district and council activities, and there will be families who prefer troops that do their own thing without regard to district & council programs.

 

Just my 2

 

[in case you were wondering, the feeder troop has no UC. One of the UC's responsibilities is to encourage units to participate in district & council programs. But the troop is one of the larger & more successful, so given the paucity of UCs, they are not assigned one. Oh well . . .](This message has been edited by fgoodwin)

[FScouter]

A solution cannot be found without first looking at the problem. It needs to be re-stated. If the problem is "poor Camporee attendance", then how does the proposed solution solve that problem?

 

First analyze the reasons for poor attendance. Dates? Cost? Activities? Leadership? Camping conditions? Then find solutions that address those reasons. Does that chairman's idea fix one of the reasons for non-attendance? If not, it's a non-solution.

[ManyIrons]

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[That's me banging my head against the keyboard!]

 

This Scouting stuff would be great if it weren't for the adults. The renegade adults that is.

[Eamonn]

While it is a little known fact that all District Chairmen can be right royal pains in the neck. This Chap, who is not a bad person seems to have his own ideas as to what the program should be.

He does have a very big ego, which is in fact helping the District that he serves. He was the District Chairman, sometime back he followed a guy who had the biggest ego I have seen.When his term was over I'm not sure where he went or what he did. I do know that the District seemed to fall apart and they were without a chairman for a very long time. In the end they must have asked him to come back. Which of course has him telling everyone that the District couldn't make it without him!!

Now he is back things do seem to going a lot better in the District.

I do question if he really understands this program?

Eamonn.

 

 

 

[LPasn]

This sounds like the District Chairman needs to ask why the unit did not come to the District Camporee. It sounds like HE is the problem.

[scoutldr]

Our new Dist Chair opened the meeting by saying, "I don't know anything about Scouting, but I can chair a meeting, and leave the details up to you, the experts." So far, he hasn't learned enough to be able to conceive any hare-brained ideas of his own, and he just "chairs the meeting" according to the agenda that the DE hands him as he enters the room. I think I kinda like it that way.

[Eagledad]

>>Now he is back things do seem to going a lot better in the District.

I do question if he really understands this program?

[FScouter]

"Our new Dist Chair opened the meeting by saying, 'I don't know anything about Scouting, but I can chair a meeting, and leave the details up to you, the experts.'"

 

That sounds absolutely perfect! His job is to plan clear goals and objectives and see to it that good people are in place to handle the functions of membership, program, and finance to achieve those goals. Now, when he's chaired a meeting or two he can write the meeting agenda to, with input from the DE.

[purcelce]

Sounds like this Dist Chair needs some serious schooling on how the BSA program works. OGE said it best " District and Council events supplment the unit program, they are not the unit program."

 

Send this guy my way for a weekend with my crew. My youth will get him steered in the right direction.

[EagleInKY]

So, let's say you go with this proposal and troops cannot camp on council property during the weekend of a district event. Two potential outcomes: (1) Troops start attending district events or (2) More likely, troops decide to start attending other council's property or private property.

 

So, you invoke a new rule, troops are not granted tour permits for short-term camps during a district event if they are not attending said event. So, again you have two potential outcomes (1) Troops start attending the events, or (2) more likely, troops shift their campouts one week to avoid the conflict.

 

So, now you invoke a 7 day buffer on the tour permit ban. Again, two potential outcomes (1) troops start attending the blasted event or (2) you kill the unit program and the boy leadership model.

 

Life is about choices. Choose wisely.