New Troop Arrangement - Suggestions?

[andrews]

My wife and I are planning on starting a troop at our church this fall. The pastor is very supportive and sees this as an important part of the church's outreach to the tough area we are located in.

 

In many ways, we will be the "heads" of this "ministry," which is different than most troops. Initially our plan is for me to be the SM and my wife to be the COR and CC. I know that it isn't recommended that the SM and CC by husband and wife, but we don't have any other volunteers right now. In the long run, we expect to get some other adults involved.

 

My question is, which position should my wife ultimately target? Would COR be the best, but still allow her to be very active in the troop? I think we both would like to find a separate CC to provide some outside family views of things.

 

I am pushing her (with her consent) through training.

 

Down the line, it wouldn't surprise me if she ended up being the venture advisor if we start a crew, though I am more the over-achiever, so I may end up doing that too.

 

(I am already the CC for another nearby crew.)

 

Productive ideas appreciated.

 

Brad

[ScouterPaul]

andrews

I am also starting a Troop this spring. We will cross over 8 Webelos in April. My thoughts for what they are worth would be for your wife to start out as the CC with the Minister as the COR. As soon as possible recruit someone to be CC then your wife could become ASM and all possible conflicts would be resolved.

 

Good Luck!

[sctmom]

Does the church have a youth minister that might help?

 

Glad to hear the pastor is supportive. Sounds like a great way to reach kids who really need to something good to believe in and to believe in themselves. I wish you the best of luck.

 

[andrews]

The middle school leaders have their hands full with that, and personally only have girls, so I wouldn't want to place a burden on them.

 

The pastor's wife is currently filling in as youth leader, and I don't see her personally doing (or having much time for) stuff directly with the troop. Everyone in the church that is active is really active.

 

I don't know if my wife will be an ASM type, she has not been that outdoors focused in the past. I may have jumped with my thoughts on a possible crew, and given a misleading impression. She wants to work with me all she can though, and since my two sons are also going to be involved, it will be a partially a family affair until we get growing. I do suspect she would be happy being advancement or membership chair if we could get others involved.

 

Brad

[Dedicated Dad]

In many ways, we will be the "heads" of this "ministry,"Brad, I like your perspective of seeing this as a ministry. Praise to you. I wish I could offer you some insight as to your domestically challenged scouting dilemma but it looks like you have few alternatives. I think we work at our best, though not comfortably, under stress and it looks like you both will have plenty at the beginning. I have no dought you both will well survive these little trials and tribulations, and be sure Gods help will be with you all the way. Good Luck

[slontwovvy]

I'm not sure how much of an "option" this is, but ask the pastor if you could go in on a Sunday and recruit some leaders. Ask for an announcement and be standing outside, or do some arrangement like that. If leaders is what you want, chances are you'll get a few. If Scouts is what you want, chances are you'll get a few of them too.

[evmori]

You might want to check with the district commissioner in your area & find out if there are any adults in other Troops that are unhappy. They might be willing to sign on with you.

 

Ed Mori

Scoutmaster

Troop 1

[Bob White]

Congratulations on organizing a new troop for your church. Your questions have sparked alot of good conversation. Let's look at how scouting is administered and the responsibilities of the various parties involved.

 

First, who should be the Committee Chair, Chartered Organization Representative and Scoutmaster.

 

At this stage you are both unit organizers and should be working with your local District Executive, District Commissioner or Unit Commissioner, District Membership Committee and Training Committee to see that you have all the scout resources available to get the troop off to a strong and correct start.

 

Secondly, it is the Charter Organization Executive Officer's responsibility to select the Charter Organization Representative and together they select and approve the Committee Chairperson. The Charter Organization and Committee Chair select and approve all other adult leaders.

 

This process is important as part of our youth protection emphasis. As long as the spouse is not the only person to sign the adult applications there is nothing wrong with them being a signature. In my experience as a long time volunteer I would strongly recommend not to have a spousal team of Scoutmaster and Committee Chair. The political messes that can arise are obvious.

 

However since she is a member of the church she would be perfect as the Charter Organization representative or as a Committee Member.

 

Third: As far as not having enough adults yet, keep in mind you will not have a charter to operate until you have at least 5 registered adults; COR, CC, 2 committee members and Scoutmaster. In addition you need at least 5 Scouts.

 

Take your time, do things right and use the resouces available from your District professional and volunteer staff.

 

Best wishes for successful scouting!

[k9gold-scout]

Again congratulations, the youth of America need more scouting. The best way is to find the boys who like the idea of being a scout and ask the parent. If they were scouts in their youth, remind them of a little saying found in their handbook; "once a scout always a scout". With over 100 million scouts there is a good chance that some of the parents have been in the program and if the program worked they should be willing to help. Another idea is to plan campouts with an established troop. Many troops have a sister troop, they take turns planning trips.

[andrews]

I got several leads for possible involved adults on Sunday when we did our own "Scout Sunday".

 

The pastor mostly looks to me to find the leaders for the troop, in good part the way he operates with any of the other leaders of ministries in the church.

 

I did talk with the leaders of the middle school group about one of them being the COR since that is a reasonably close fit with their work, and most of the boys we have will fit in that group.

 

The problem with finding another CC is that no one else is willing to commit as much time to things as my wife and I. Hopefully we can make our arrangement temporary, until another leader shakes out down the line. I did find one Eagle Scout adult in the audience, and another man who is interested in working with us.

 

As to the numbers to start the troop, once we can sell our house and move over there I don't expect that to be a problem. While I was aiming toward the fall, I very well may push ahead and get things rolling as soon as we move so I could build up a small core of leaders in preparation for a wider recruiting campaign in the fall.

 

The DE told me that the district has 15 packs, but only 5 active troops, so I figure there are plenty of boys to target, and that doesn't count the boys who don't even do any scouting yet.

 

It is also "good" that I have two sons, so with my wife and I, and my sons, we can almost start a troop already.

 

Brad

[Bob White]

That's great andrews. Just a reminder that the COR should (needs to) be a member of the Chartering Organization.

[andrews]

Is there as much of a perceived issue if the COR and SM are married as when it is the CC and SM?

 

Ultimately, that might be the best role for us, and if that is the case, we may live with my wife being COR and CC, knowing she will transition to COR only when we find a CC.

 

Brad

[Chippewa29]

Going with the subject of the post, my suggestion for you has to do with the youth leaders. I learned this from a friend who built up an inner city troop while in college and have applied some of the same principles to my troop as we are rebuilding.

Be careful about giving out positions to Scouts that aren't ready to handle them or having positions that are more honorary than needed. My friend's troop didn't have an SPL for the first two years they were in existence because my friend and the other adult leaders didn't feel they had anyone who could handle it. At first, they didn't have any positions. Then, as the need arose and the Scouts showed they were able to handle them, he gave out positions and made sure they fulfilled their obligations. After three years, they had a pretty full complement of leaders doing their jobs and the positions were seen as an honor and commitment rather than a patch to wear on the uniform and a check for the next rank.

 

My troop has been doing something similar. We only had a PL for a while. Last fall, we added a scribe, QM, historian, and librarian. They have all done a good job and should be ready to become patrol leaders once we get some new Scouts in over the next month or two. Once we get a second patrol up and going, we'll elect a senior patrol leader. Eventually, once we have enough quality leaders, we'll appoint an ASPL to oversee the troop staff (thus relieving the SPL of those duties). We have a couple of Scouts in my troop that want positions, but I don't feel are ready for them yet. Hopefully, in the next couple of months, they'll be ready for a position as some of the ones currently in a staff position become patrol leaders.

[Bob White]

HMMMMMM, She gets to be both the CC and the COR? Kinda like getting to be the President and the Vice president at the same time.

 

Actually if you look at the first policy in the Guide to safe scouting, (policies are in bold lettering) an adult is only allowed to hold one position within a single unit. This would preclude her from chartering in two registered positions within the same pack.

 

COR is probably the best way to go and then she can select the CC.

 

As far as junior leader positions keep in mind our goal is to train boy leaders. the way we do that is while they are in office. The Troop is Boy led from the get go. Oh things may not run real smoothly all the time, but that is not the purpose of the program. The boys run the troop the Scoutmaster trains junior leaders.

 

Happy scouting

[andrews]

Being COR and CC is the one case where a single individual can hold both positions. If we were to "recruit someone" from who is available now, we would either not have a troop for lack of a CC, or have a completely inactive CC. I expect that situation to change, but it will take a while for the "right one" to shake out.

 

Having started one troop before, I have seen the value in "boy led," but I also fully realize that it is not a panacea. Some boys won't lead, even if they are the oldest and in a position of authority.

 

My own son is Life, soon to be 13 years old, and almost expects to be the SPL. I have told him many times that the position is far from guaranteed to him, and that if a more qualified boy comes in, the other boy may get the job. Of course I expect he will be SPL, and he has a great deal of experience for his limited age, including going through the other troop and working through some personal issues. He has also been through our current Council's JLT, and that should help.

 

For those who wonder why I am starting another troop so soon: We are moving across town to be closer to the church we have been a part of for the last year and the pastor there really wants a Scout-like program for the youth. He was thinking of Royal Rangers, but I talked him into Boy Scouts.

 

On the question of leadership and young boys - I see it as a balance. We need to led youth "grow into the job," but we also shouldn't hamstring the troop by having lots of token positions before they are needed. And the latter is probably the key. If the troop is the size of a single patrol, a full leadership core is probably not as vital.

 

Brad