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How are district boundaries determined?


eisely

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This is inspired by a post on the other thread where the poster was faced with a district consolidation. Our council subdivided districts about two years ago, any many are still adjusting. How are these decisions made? Is there an optimal size district? What are the considerations besides space and population? Are there any national guidelines?

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Eisely,

Looking to recycle some past topics? ;)

You were involved in a string with the identical title last March. Here is the reprint of my response. It's the best way I can explain it.

Bob

 

 

In most cases Council and District lines are drawn by County and or school district boundaries. Overall size is determined by population density and financial strength. As an example, there is no point in drawing a council/district area over an expanse of land where there are few scouts (mountains) or enough income to finance camps and services.

 

The who that makes the decision are committees made up of a variety of volunteers and professionals at local, regional and national levels.

 

When it happens depends on many things, local school and government consolidations. Scout Councils going broke, Population shifts, can all cause scout boundaries to be re-evaluated.

 

Hope this helps,

Bob White

 

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Bob,

 

Thanx for refreshing my recollection. Nevertheless there have got to be some rules of thumb behind all this. What is financial strength? How is it measured? What is the maximum population in an ideal district? Aside from headcount, what other demographic characteristics do people think about? When I read some of the posts on other issues from other forum members in rural areas, I can see the difficulties some of these folks have getting district level support. Does BSA have some notion of maximum geographic area to be encompassed by a district?

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It is more a responsibility of the region and Council than National. sice the district boundaries often floow school district lines yo would need to ask "are all school districts the same geographic size and population?" the answer is no. Do all school districts have the same financial make-up? No.

 

There is a recommended ratio of Disrtrict professionals to District population, but even that is a guideline not a rule. The District I live in meets the qualifications in Geographis size and population to have 4 De's. We have 2.

 

The more districts a council has the more administartive costs (professional payroll). The balance is to have enough professionals to get the job done, enough budget to afford good programing, and enough fundraising to pay for both.

 

Bob White

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eisely:

 

A number of years ago, I was ask to serve on my Council's ad hoc committee to address our district borders. During that service I learned that a district should contain at least 30 units, Packs, Troops and Crews (Learning for Life groups are above and beyond) and be able support the FOS goals in family and community campaigns. Geographically, the district must be in the Council borders, which are set by National. Changes in districts are submitted to the Council's Executive Board and when approved, National is updated. Note also that a council normally have one professional (DE, Senior DE, SE, etc.) per 1000 youth.

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