Pack Trainer

[BBB96]

As a new Council Training Chairman one area of concern is Pack Trainer. My Council has not had a very postive repsonse to recuting or encouarging Packs to have a PACK TRAINER. In reviewing the national job description Pack Trainers are to help keep the pack on track for trained leaders and to get new leaders to training. Plus help with orienting new leaders.

 

Does anyone have any success examples or lessons learned as they tried to get the Packs to recruit Pack Trainers?

 

Did anyone modify the job description?

 

Does anyone have Pack Trainers join the District Training Committees?

 

How much training are Pack Trainers doing in your District or Council?

 

Thank you in advance

 

 

[Lisabob]

I served as a pack trainer and it was the first time the pack had filled this position. I came in as a leader shortly after a major leadership blow-out regarding proper responses to allegations of child abuse. A primary cause of the problem was a lack of proper leader training so they were "ripe" for having someone step in as pack trainer. Admittedly I used the position as sort of a bully pulpit for convincing leaders to do YPT at a bare minimum. (I just interpreted the Quality Unit requirement to have someone in charge of YPT training as meaning they needed a pack trainer to do this - fait accompli) If it hadn't been for that particular situation I doubt the pack would've had any interest in filling this position. They were having enough trouble just filling the "essential" committee jobs at the time. This seems to be a common problem. I don't know of any other packs in our area that have a pack trainer.

 

Looking again at the job description, the major thing I changed was that I did not do a new family orientation with every family within a week of them joining. I focused more on getting the leaders fully trained and then left it to the DLs to orient new families. However, I did put together an orientation booklet for new parents (and leaders too I guess) explaining the program, the ranks, awards & advancements, uniforming, pack guidelines, etc.

 

While I was the pack trainer I offered to help with district and council training matters but I never got much response. They seem to have their core of people who do training and it doesn't change much from year to year. I'm pretty sure there are few or no pack trainers involved in our district and council training team because nearly all of the people on the training team come from the boy scout end of the BSA program anyway.

 

I think it would be helpful to get more pack leaders of any kind involved in the district and council training committee and staff because it would help keep the district/council staff up to date with regard to changes in the Cub Scout program. My experience is that most people involved in pretty much any district/council committee are pretty far removed from Cub Scouting and their memory of how the program works (let alone, how it has changed since their involvement) can be...err...hazy.

 

Good luck and let us know how this all works out for you!

 

Lisa'bob

A good old bobwhite too!

[Cubmaster Jerry]

Well, I was lucky. I happened to have a fantastic new Tiger Leader who offered to step up and take the Pack Trainer responsibilities from me when they were offered. She is equally fantastic in this role and I think that our Pack will meet the Quality Unit requirement for trained leaders for the first time in quite a few years because of her effort.

 

As far as the job description for the Pack Trainer, I instilled in her the need to inform leaders of all opportunities, track the progress of all leaders, push on a constant basis the requirements for training knots (don't forget your four roundtables!), and make sure council has current information (why is that always a problem!) She also works with me during our new leader orientation sessions. I am always fearful that she will overwhelm a new leader with all of the info she passes out but more is usually better than less! She also helps coordinate car pooling with those who are going to training. We have about 25 registered leaders and when one wishes to attend a training session, they go through her and she puts them in contact with each other.

 

Don't know how much of that jives with the 'official' job description but doing those things made my tenure as Pack Trainer successful as it is her's.

 

What is she doing at the District level? Well, I have just recently stepped up myself to be a part of the District Training staff and have asked her to come with me. The county that our unit (and others) belong in is on the fringe of our geographically large District. It takes us about 30 min to drive to Leader training and more than an hour to drive to Pow Wow and U of Scouting sessions. The majority of our District's training sessions are split and scheduled on weeknights, usually ending past 9p.m. New Leader Essentials one night, Specific another, etc. As you can imagine, that plays a big part in getting our leaders trained. She (hopefully) and I will be members of the District training staff that will bring Leader training sessions closer to our area.

 

Jerry

[BBB96]

Thank you both for your responses. The information is great and I will put it good use. This exactly the feedback I was looking for as I start to figure out which direction to go with Pack Trainers.

 

Keeping new Trainers coming up to the District Level to train is important in keeping the training fresh and exciting.

 

I replaced a Council Training Chairman who had been in place for 8 years. Yup, 8 years, needless to say things are changing.

 

Thank you Both,

 

BBB96

 

 

 

[MarkS]

In many cases packs (including my own) are lucky to have enough leaders just to maintain their charter much less have the "luxury" of having a dedicated Pack Trainer. Therefore, while I am on the charter as a WL, I also wear the PT and Advancement Chair hats.

 

I took Wood Badge in the summer and made PT one of my ticket items with a goal to teach a training class to bridge the gap between "no training" and District "basic training." Think of it as an in-class Fast Start tailored for our unit. Another part was to get enough leaders trained to qualify for Quality Unit this year (leader training was the only thing that kept us from earning the unit award last year). Anyway, I got two of the four leaders that need training trained in the first round offered by District and am working on the other two for the next round in January.

 

To me the real role of the PT is to continually keep other leaders aware of upcoming training opportunities and that you are there to offer advice if they need it.

 

I have PowerPoint slides for my training class. Send me a private message and I'll email them to you.

 

[Eamonn]

Hi and Welcome to the forum.

We have a rule in our Council that Council Chairman Positions can only be held for 3 years.

I was Council Training Chair. When the new Pack Trainer position came along.

I have to agree with MarkS, we found that nearly all of the Packs were having a hard enough time filling the leadership type positions and that there just wasn't enough manpower to fill the Pack Trainer position. It was very much the same thing with the Den Leader Coach.

I'm a little unsure why Pack Trainers would attend the District Training Committees? Our Training Committees:

Look at reports and identify units that have untrained Leaders.

Organize Training Events.

Select Course Leaders and Presenters.

Review past courses.

I can see where a member of the District Training Team would want to work with the Pack Trainer and maybe a session to go over what they are to do. But Lord knows the last thing any of us needs is yet another meeting to attend!!

Good Luck in your new role.

Eamonn.

[scoutldr]

When the PT role was announced, the idea was that Cub training (Fast start, NLE, Leader Specific) would occur at the unit level. The District Trainers would "train the trainers". To be "Trained" as a PT, you have to take the BSA Trainer Development, which in my opinion is pretty useless in it's current form. I agree that PTs do not need to attend Training Committee meetings, but they should attend Cub Roundtable where perhaps they could have their own breakout session. In our area, we have Packs with 15 dens...with that many parents, there's no excuse not to have a PT. Smaller units could share PTs, much like Unit Commissioners, that other mythical creature.

 

For various reasons, the PT never caught on in this area. I have also heard "pushback" from District trainers, who don't want to "give up" their jobs to "amateurs who won't do it right."

[Lisabob]

Really? The PT was designed to do NLE and Leader Specific within the pack? That's definitely not how it was portrayed to me! My frst thought is, that would be much more convenient. We're situated at the far end of our district and council and training nearly always takes place at least an hour drive away from here (often further). I've often thought it is ironic because despite our location on the geographic fringe, we're also the fastest growing part of the district/council.

 

Second thought though: if packs could do all their training in-house they would never get to know anybody outside the pack. Plus sometimes it can be helpful to have trainers who are outsiders "enlighten" errant leaders about what BSA policy is, rather than have someone who is close to the situation like a PT would be try to do that. So I guess I'd be less worried about PTs "not doing it right" and more worried about further isolating pack leaders from the local scouter network.

 

Lisa'bob

A good old bobwhite too!

[MarkS]

Yep... in the Cub Scout Leader Book it does say that the PT is supposed to train each new leader and pack committee member for his or her specific position, using material supplied by the BSA.

 

However, my district has a pretty good training program which is why I limit my role to keeping leaders aware of what is available through district. I just try to give them enough info to run an effective meeting and continue to "nag" them until they go to district training... Maybe national should change the role to Pack Nag.

[Lisabob]

OK I gave my copy of the Cub Leader Handbook to a new leader so I can't go back and find this right now. Mark, does the book suggest that the PT do this new leader training in place of Cub Leader Specific Training? Do districts then count the new leaders as 100% trained for purposes of quality unit, etc.?

 

I definitely did a lot of training for new leaders but I viewed it as supplemental to the NLE and CLST courses offered by our district.

 

Lisa'bob

A good old bobwhite too!

[BBB96]

MarkS and LisaBob,

 

I have to check too but I thought it said "orient" to their new den leader position. I was a Den Leader Coach and I didn't train but I did orient and I develop a "how to" for new leaders. I coached them through their frist few meetings etc.

 

I will check the book.

 

BBB96

[bbng]

Here is the Pack Trainer form found on the national council site:

 

http://www.scouting.org/cubscouts/resources/13-152.pdf

[Cubmaster Jerry]

A PT breakout session at RT. What a great idea!

 

 

[MarkS]

My Cub Scout Leader Book is a 2001 edition. It states that a PT is responsible for training each new leader and pack committee member for his or her specific position, using material provided by the BSA... It also talks about conducting orientations for new families and pack leaders regarding den and pack management but doesn't say (not that I found) whether the training offered by the PT is supposed to replace or support district training.

 

Anyway I think that having the PT support and supplement district training is the best way to go. All a pack really needs in a PT is someone who keeps track of what training is available, keeps unit leadership aware of this training, and knowledgeable enough to provide advice when needed. The 2004 publication provided by bbng is more in line with what I actually do.(This message has been edited by MarkS)

[fgoodwin]

The PT used to be responsible for position specific training, per the 2001 edition of the Cub Scout Leader Book. That is no longer the case as of 2004.

 

One can speculate as to why the change was made: was it because Council & district trainers wouldn't give up the responsibility? Or was it because unit volunteers didn't feel qualified to deliver such training? Who knows -- but the fact is, now the PT "encourages" unit volunteers to attend position specific training.

 

One other major responsibility that no one has mentioned: keeping track of adult training records in the unit so those adults can be awarded their training "knot".

 

Also, in the past, it wasn't clear whether the PT was actually a member of the Committee -- the new description make that much more clear ("is a voting member of the pack committee").