Either Charter Is Wrong, or the Cubs are in the Wrong Den

[Eagle92]

Ok this is a new problem for me. When I was reviewing the charter I noticed that one of my Cubs is listed as being in the 3rd grade, not 2nd. I am going to get the correct info tonite. Knew the Bday, and wasn't concerned as it is oneof those late bdays where some go in on time, others are held back.But if he really is in 3rd grade, and not second, what are some ways to handle it? Should I let him stay in my den of wolves and just let it go? Should I move him up to Bears, and let him skip Wolves altogether? Should I think outside the box?

 

And this problem aslo affects his twin brother, who isn't on the charter at all. At least I know how to handle that problem.

[DancesWithSpreadsheets]

I'm not sure that you really have a problem, since Wolf Cubs is for boys 8 years old or in second grade. At least around here you have to be 6 or quite close to it (I think by Oct 1) to start first grade, then a typical third grader would be 8. If he has a late birthday and is in third grade, he should be 8 years old, and therefore eligible to be a Wolf, correct? I suppose a boy with a late birthday could start third grade as a 7 y.o., which would lead make him eligible for Tigers or Bears, but not Wolves, is that the situation here? If so the problem goes away when he turns 8.

 

I wonder if the age/grade requirements are deliberately out of synch to address situations like yours.

 

Regards,

 

DWS

 

 

[Basementdweller]

Fighting that problem too, our charter is a mess, previous CM really did a poor job last year. It was a month late, didn't recharter a number of boys, many more did not get boys life, Missed a couple of leaders, rechartered boys who had quit the Pack. on and on.

 

I will fix all of this when I start to work on it tonight as well.

[Eagle92]

Dances,

I was told that the age part of the requirements came from LDS packs that still use the old 3 year CS program.

 

Base,

good luck with fixing the charter. My pack had someone go over it with a fine tooth comb last year, and we still had errors, i.e. I was not listed as a TCDL until MAY, one leader is still not registered, etc. With no committee, yet anyway but we are working on it, It's come down to a few of us to get the charter done correctly.

 

On another note, After how many years since Tigers became fully integrated into Cub Scouts and not being a separate program, i.e. wear the blue uniforms, earn Bobcat before their Tiger, etc, Why isn't Tiger Cub listed as a rank on SCOUTNET still?

[Twocubdad]

Talk to the parents. With boys whose age/grade are out of sync, I always left it up to the parents to decide which den to put the boy in. My strong suggestion was to put him in a den with his buddies, if possible.

 

Around here a trick many of the private schools use is to push boys -- boys, not girls -- back a grade, but trust me, you don't want me to get started with that. One of the things that does is puts the private school kids off a year from their buddies in the neighborhood. When it comes to joining a den, I strongly encourage the boys to go into the den where their friends are, as long as we can legally do so in terms of EITHER age or grade.

 

And it worked the other way, too. When boys would recruit friends from school into the pack, we would put them in the den based on grade, not age.

 

I found that being a scout group with your friends, whether Tigers or Venture, makes a big difference.

 

This may be an accommodation to the LDS units but it's in the regs so use it to your advantage.(This message has been edited by Twocubdad)

[Basementdweller]

I have our Roster printed out of Scouttracks, tonight the Den leaders are to verify each boys information is correct. We are going over boys we have not seen in a while and contacting them and seeing if they are interested in Cubs still. I have all of the adult leaders youth protection certificates in hand, I have mine and my ACM's training certificates in hand. I also have all of the den leaders training in hand to be turned in with the charter.. Our leadership is 100% trained for their positions.

 

 

Now to tackle the boy mess. It doesn't seem that difficult.

[John-in-KC]

E92,

 

What does your Registrar say?

 

My son was a school year behind his age mates, malice aforethought. As others have said, seek the parents input on where they want the kids to be.

[ScoutNut]

The age/grade flexibility is not just to accommodate LDS. It is also there to help with Scouts who are held back, moved ahead, or otherwise out of "regular" sync.

 

As others have said, talk to the parents. First confirm what their actual age, and grade is. Then, if there is really a problem, find out which level the parents feel their boys would fit better, and register them there.

 

However, keep in mind that the boys must be at least 10 years old (with AOL) in order to cross to Boy Scouts with the rest of their den. If going into Bears now could cause a problem down the road with when he is eligible to join Boy Scouts, let the family know up front so that they can figure that into their decision.

 

[Eagle92]

Thanks all.

 

2 CUBS

I'll be talking to dad tonite. I have a feelign they will be stickign with me though

 

Base,

Understand completely. I asked our DE for a copy of the charter, one of ther benes for being on the dist. comm., to find out who is in my den as the pack's records are a mess at the moment. made phone calls this past weekend to discover who is staying and who quit. Although a few no longer have active phone numbers, inc. one scout who signed up a few weeks back but haven't seen since.

 

John,

DUH why didn't I think about that. But then again we do a registrar vacancy at the moment I beleive.

 

Nut,

good point.

[AKdenldr]

Eagle92,

 

Once you submit all your changes, ask the council registrar for an updated report for your Pack. We've found that this increases the quality of the work, especially if you entered a slug of changes. You can catch anything that was that needs correcting while all the details are fresh. Most likely all the errors were not created by the past CM.

 

-- AK

[Eagle92]

Looks like I need to wait a week to talk to the parents as the pack meeting was cancelled tonite about 25 minutes ago.

 

Not a happy camper at the moment

[ScoutNut]

Someone in your Pack should have contact info for this family.

 

Were they in your den last year? Who in your Pack keeps copies of the Youth Applications? Do any of your other Cubs know this family, and are they able to give you contact info?

 

Phone book?

 

Call council for the info.

 

There is no way you should have to wait a week to contact them.

 

[Eagle92]

'Nut,

 

I have their contact info, and if I can get a hold of them, or if they will return my phone call or email, I will get them.

 

Sorry about that last post. VERY frustrated with the pack again. Found out at 2:12PM today that the pack meeting is cancelled. Not only am I upset about the meeting being cancelled at the last minute, but also at the fact that I wasted my Saturday calling all the registered Tigers as well as all the registered Wolves and a few extras. Our TCDL hasn't been around in 2 weeks, and I saw 2 TCs at a birthday party Friday nite who are registered in my pack, but have switched to another pack. No one in our packs knows about the transfer either. Plus I called everyone who I know is active and the unknowns in my den, the other wolf den, as well as the new Wolves to remind them about the meeting. In all over 30 folks.

 

Oldest son has 2 or 3 friends in the den still. Most of his friends are in another pack. He knows I am getting frustrated and asked if we transfer, can we join one of two packs he has friends in. I was going to wait until May and help the pack out, but this is getting worse.

[Basementdweller]

I am told that National only updates the membership info in the local council database quarterly at best. I became CM in June, submited new signed app and yp, and I am still listed as ACM on the charter. Our boys that crossed over in March 2010 are still on our Charter and on their new Troops charter.

 

Something Ain't right.

[Eagle92]

Well I found out something about my "twins" tonite from one of the other leaders; they are not twins and and one is just now old enough to be a TC. Going to confirm this later this week. If true I will not be happy about this one bit.

 

As for national updating info, if memory serves from my time as a DE when SCOUTNET was just being used, individual councils can update records at anytime. However speaking from expereince, councils will add youth a lot faster than adults.