How often does this happen?

[jamist649]

My son joined our Pack in Fall of 2007 as a Tiger. At the end of that season, the CM and ACM (husband and wife, son was Webelos II) left the Pack and joined the Boy Scout Troop in a leadership position. These two were powerhouses in local Scouting (and still are). The only role they play in the Pack now is COR, which we NEVER hear from (which is fine). The departure of these two left the Pack in a little bit of "limbo". Our CO is a local church that has chartered our Pack since the mid-1940's. The Wolf ADL (also a member of the CO) took over the following season and did a great job.

 

I (NOT a member of this church) got a call from the then-CM over this past summer asking me if I would take over CM from him so that he could focus on his son's Den (Webelos I) as DL.

 

I agreed and have put 110% into this position. We've done more in the past 2 months (with the DLs help) than we've done in the previous 12.

 

My question is: How common is it for a CM to not be a member of the CO? I (not really educated at the time on Scout leadership) didn't really put much thought into it at the time, but I've found since taking over the position, despite attempting to open dilogue with members of the CO, that I still feel sort of like and "outsider".

 

How often does this happen?

 

Thanks

 

[nolesrule]

The CM and CC of a Cub Scout pack I serve as unit commissioner have been in their positions for about 3 years at a Methodist church. The CM is also the CC of that UMC's troop (my old troop from way back when). They are members of a different church that has their own units.

 

When I was a scout, my first SM was Catholic, second SM (and later CC) was Catholic, my third SM (and later CC) was Jewish. All at the UMC troop.

 

Chartering organizations do have the right to limit who their leadership is, but sometimes it's better to have a leader who wants to be there and understands the program than one who doesn't.

[AlFansome]

In the case of units chartered by community groups (Kiwanis, Rotary, Lions, VFW, etc..), it is very rarely the case the a CM or to some extent even SM would be a member of the CO. Usually, it's the parents of the kids and with the rotation in and out of boys, those parents typically aren't members of the CO.

 

Check out my reply to http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=257086 for some info on how to get closer to your CO. It was directed towards getting the unit closer to the CO, but if you do that, then your personal relationship will improve as well.

[Stosh]

I have operated effectively under both scenerios:

 

In my troop, there are no members of the troop committee that are members of the chartering organization. The troop committee is made up of parents of the boys. Our CO is the American Legion.

 

On the other hand all of the members of the troop committee are members of the chartering organization, or former members of the chartering organization. For the past 4 years I served as Institutional Head AND Crew Advisor. Our committee chair was the previous institutional head. The boys are viewed as an "auxillary"/"training camp" of the CO. Boys that are too young to be members of the CO are members of the Crew.

 

So it varies from one situation to the next.

 

It takes a basic understanding of how this all works for the differences in leadership expected. Under the troop, I am 100% boy-led, patrol-method, but in the crew, I am 100% adult-led. Both approaches are expected by the CO and the SM and CA must make the adjustments to the different approaches.

 

If one is having difficulty with the politics of an approach, it's going to take a few friendly cups of coffee to work them out so that the boys benefit from the program and are not damaged by the politics of the adults.

 

Stosh

[Oak Tree]

With churches, it seems to vary a lot by denomination and by church. LDS, for example, chooses their leaders from within the church.

 

Our pack and troop have always been led by a member of the church, but the pastor indicated he'd be happy to consider others if there was no good person from the church available. A lot of it depends on how the church views their purpose in chartering the unit in the first place. Some see themselves as offering up meeting space for community organizations. In this case, they may not care at all whether the unit leader is a member. Others view it as more of an outreach program, with a tighter link to the CO.

 

My experience is that there is a correlation between the conservative/liberal position of the church, and how likely they are to want the unit leader to be a member.

 

I don't think there should be any real problem in not being a member of the CO. But you don't want to feel entirely like an outsider. Take AlFansome's advice, and get closer to the CO.

[Novice_Cubmaster]

How common is it for a CM to not be a member of the CO?

 

I'm Jewish & was the CM for 5 years in a Pack chartered by a Methodist church. Did I ever feel left out - no, but then again, our CO was fairly hands off. However, I did interact some with the church's youth program leader - I happily announced some of their events at our pack meetings that might be of interest to our pack families.

 

My sons & I attended more Scout Sunday's at our CO than Scout Sabbath's at our temple; I felt I had to show support for our CO & encourage other pack families to attend. Out of respect for both my religion and the CO's, I just silently meditated instead of praying.

 

NC