BSA Leadership Course Revisions for 2010

[SR540Beaver]

I got home late last night from attending the Southern Region's Wood Badge Course Directors' Development Conference sponsered by the Sam Houston Area Council at their beautiful Camp Strake near Conroe, TX.

 

Here are some of the WB changes for 2010 in a nutshell.

 

Who may attend? Participants 18 years old and older may attend regardless of their registered position as long as appropriate Youth Protection policies are followed.

 

(This means that Venturing youth who are Crew members and not registered adult leaders may now attend WB. Questions were raised about how YP issues should be handled with Patrol camping and what would they do for a ticket pretty much went unanswered. Seems the decision was made, but no rationale was provided for the decision or how the fin points will be addressed.)

 

Th Day Two Inclusiveness presentation and the Day Four Diversity presentation have been combined into a single Day Two presentation called Leveraging Diversity thru Inclusiveness. The hole in Day Four is filled with a new presentation called Generations in Scouting. This presentation actually does cover diversity as it talks about the generations from "the Greatest Generation" thru the Millenials".

 

The Communications session on Day Two has been revised and has a new patrol game/activity. It also has a section that covers the internt, facebook, Twitter and texting mediums.

 

The Patrol Chaplains Aides meeting has been moved from Day Two to Day Three so participants will have experienced the instructional and model Interfaith service before meeting.

 

The Venturing Induction has been moved to the beginning of Day Four.

 

--------------------------------------------

 

Other BSA Leadership Course Revisions

 

 

I am retyping what was in a handout from the course.

 

NYLT will be open to Boy Scouts and Venturing members beginning in 2010. We are developing a program nutral (or inclusive) version of NYLT for council to use if they wish. Work has begun on this project and an overview will be handed out at the NYLT CDC's in October and November. Official pilots will be conducted with the new syllabus in th summer of 2010 with a roll out of the new version scheduled counncil-wide in 2011.

 

NAYLE will also be open to Venturing members in the summer of 2010 and will enlist Venturing staff from previously run coed NYLT courses. Will likely use Philmont Leadership Challenge syllabus format and module content.

 

Powderhorn is being rewritten to a) include youth participants and b) focus more on the primary goal of educating units (adult and youth) about exciting program opportunities to enhance recruiting, retention and FUN. The new PH program is program neutral and no longer focuses exclusively on the Venturing Ranger Award but instead highlights many advancement and recognition opportunities. We held a successful pilot in Marin Council in July 2009.

 

Mentoring is a new course under review. We are drawing from material for teen mentors from the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. The new course should be completed by November 2009.(This message has been edited by sr540beaver)

[John-in-KC]

SR540Beaver,

 

Thank you. Now we have a baseline documentation point for our musings and ramblngs on training. I'll take a little time to let this sink in before thoughts.

[emb021]

There is a two-page document of youth leadership course revisions that was posted to the venturinglist yahoo group. There is a lot more then what SR540Beaver has posted here.

[ntrog8r]

Thanks for the updates; like John-in-KC, I need to ruminate for a bit. Though I'm always open to see things improve.

 

This is a great example of this forum's strengths. When I get back in town I'll need to ask around about these changes as well.

[ScoutOne]

Note, there are no "YP issues" with this change.(This message has been edited by ScoutMKE)

[John-in-KC]

MKE: You missed the key sentence...

 

This means that Venturing youth who are Crew members and not registered adult leaders may now attend WB.

 

That means there are YP issues involving youth members of the Boy Scouts of America. The last time I checked, a Venturer under 21 is a youth program member. In fact, Venturing YP protection training discusses some of the issues, including coed housing, in detail.

[Oak Tree]

Why make a problem of it? Just say that for Wood Badge purposes, all members over 18 will be considered adults. That would seem to be the intent of letting them take the course anyway - because we recognize that they are in fact adults.

 

I must say I'm not a fan of moving the Venturing induction up. Seems like that's trying to force Venturing on what are, by and large, Boy Scout troop leaders. But c'est la vie.

[ScoutOne]

-(This message has been edited by ScoutMKE)

[Eagle92]

Scout,

last time I worked camp, there were 4 catagories that determined who slept where. Under 18 in one area, 18-20 in another, 21+ in a third, and management/medic/chaplain in their areas. This was for a camp with only 1 female on staff, the medic.

 

Also while YP lists anyone 18+ as an adult, VENTURING YP, which is a separate training from standard YP and required for venturing leaders, states that anyone UNDER 21 is a youth.

[emb021]

"last time I worked camp, there were 4 catagories that determined who slept where. Under 18 in one area, 18-20 in another, 21+ in a third, and management/medic/chaplain in their areas. This was for a camp with only 1 female on staff, the medic."

 

NOAC follows something similiar:

 

under 18 boys.

18-21 boys.

21+ male adults

21+ female adults

 

 

 

[Eagle92]

emb,

can you post a link to the 2 page document? Thanks in advance

 

[emb021]

"can you post a link to the 2 page document?"

 

I can, but if you don't have a Yahoo ID, and you aren't a member of the Venturinglist on Yahoo Groups you won't be able to access the file.

 

http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/kNXlSoElL5D99oSZneP5jSDC6-0tPaLMMbebHwnhppQrfwdxxQ7vaG0BAhjegU56qLLfu8N9wBdMWI2fIbkj/2010%20Training%20Changes.pdf

 

I do wish National would make this available from their website, just as they do their training updates.

 

[SR540Beaver]

It might be the same document I received at the course since it was two pages as well. I was typing on a netbook and didn't want to reproduce the whole document.

[ScoutOne]

Eagle92, exactly except Wood Badge is not a venturing program activity so 'standard' YP would be followed. In doubt, you could just register them as an adult Boy Scout leader.(This message has been edited by ScoutMKE)

[shortridge]

ScoutMKE,

 

I would disagree with your interpretation that Venturing Youth Protection rules would not apply to Wood Badge if Venturers were allowed to participate. They are not participating as Boy Scouts, but as Venturers. And contrary to your statement, Wood Badge IS apparently now going to be a Venturing activity. It stands to reason that the most restrictive YP rules - that of Venturing - would apply, thus requiring four groupings: 18-20 males, 18-20 females, 21+ males, 21+ females.

 

Philmont is not the ultimate authority on program guidelines, either.

 

As a practical matter, though, we're basically talking about separate tents, designated shower times, both male and female adult leaders/staff members, and an "occupied" sign on the latrine. Nothing too onerous.(This message has been edited by shortridge)