Please excuse my ignorance…..

[smincz]

After making Eagle, and leaving the hometown for the big Green Machine at 18, I took about a 26-year hiatus from Scouts. Ive been blessed at having the opportunity to help restart a troop here, and be its first Scoutmaster for about 2 years now. Being literally at the end of the road, at the far end of Central America, we fall under Direct Service. Other than having one of the greatest ladies in the world in Irving to process our paperwork, we do not have a Council. After reading too many stories about bad blood in here, I dont know if that is an entirely bad thing. My heart goes out to folks who still trudge forward with delivering the promise to the younger guys, without the comfort of the feeling that you can count on everyone to be in your corner. (But then, I have GOT to believe that there are many Councils out there where there is a great relationship! Theres gotta be but maybe thats a different thread)

 

The down side is that quite often, we still run across a situation where were the blind leading the blind. Thats where this forum has been of particular help. We dont have Round Tables available (yet) to hash things out, nor do we have Commissioners to bounce things by. So know that I for one really value the discussions here, regardless if whether or not I agree.

 

Trying to get to a point here In trying to get a better grasp of how things are set up as they are supposed to be (and better understand some of these discussion), does anyone know where I can maybe find (hopefully online) a schematic, or org diagram that shows the different positions for Districts and Councils. Understanding who is Professional, and who is Volunteer is my biggest goal. If you can share anything on the Regional or National Level, that would be good too (but maybe a bit over my head for now) Along these same lines does anyone know of a map that shows the location of the different Councils? Am I asking too much? Ill be greatful for as much or as little info as anyone has time to share.

 

Thanks again, and keep fighting the good fight!

God bless....

 

MH

An Expatriate, but never an ex-Patriot!

 

[Beavah]

This is a pretty good, if longwinded, review of the structure from the National Council on down. It only covers the volunteer/governance side, not the executive/staff side: http://usscouts.org/aboutbsa/bsaorg.html

 

Here's a typical organization chart of the paid staff of a council: http://www.illowabsa.org/office/OrgChart.html

That's fairly straightforward, eh?

 

Here's a lose description of the functions of a district, which is the only council level most units have contact with outside of summer camp: http://www.bsa-gyc.org/sections/districts. District leadership is often called the "Key 3" - the District Executive (paid staff), the District President (oversees membership, finance, program committees), and the District Commissioner (oversees unit commissioners, who in theory provide direct service to units).

 

[smincz]

Beavah... Ya' always be da man, eh! From what I've seen, we can always count of you for good input. Thanks! MH

[epalmer84]

I appreciate your position. When I was in Transatlantic Council I never went to any roundtables. The district office was three hours away and we saw other units maybe twice a year. We did have an annual conference that was always a blast. This was pre-internet, so we did not even have e-mail or discussion groups.

 

I don't know of any maps that would show all 306 councils. The offical council locator is at:

http://www.scouting.org/councils/

 

Ed