A district without a committee

[Abel Magwitch]

Has anyone out there experienced this?

 

In a nutshell, our district charter year ends at the end of December. Our district annual meeting has been held the first week of January. But this year, it did not happen.

 

Our former district chair supposedly sent her district nominating committee suggestions to the council president back in September of 2009 to the council president for his approval. This was in line with the district nominations procedures.

 

October, and November went by. In December, I emailed the DC asking why there has been no announcement of the upcoming district annual meeting. I also wanted to know who the nominating committee was. (They are supposed to be identified to district scouters 60 to 30 days before the annual meeting.)

 

The response came as an email from the DC that her term was up and that nominations for the district committee could be made to the DE and one of the council VPs through the DE.

 

Turns out that apparently the DC nominating committee suggestions never got to the council president. Instead, the director of field service decided to disapprove the list.

 

There was no district annual meeting in January.

 

Since then the DFS assigned our district with another DE. He just announced that we would be having the district annual meeting on May 3, 2010. This notice just got sent out on April 8.

 

I contacted the council VP and let him know that none of the procedures for district committee nominations and elections has been carried out.

 

So currently, my district has no district committee as all of their terms ended in January along with the district chair. The VP agreed and I just received an email from the DE stating that the business meeting has been postponed until June 14, 2010.

 

So quite frankly, units within the districts geographical boundaries are technically Lone units not being served by any volunteer committee and won't have one until 6 months after the beginning of the charter year.

 

Anyone else out there ever hear of such a debacle?

 

Abel, COR

 

[sherminator505]

I have never heard about this sort of thing happening before. A question - why did the director of field service decide to reject the list?

[Abel Magwitch]

I don't know. Nobody wants to answer the question. I have made contact with one of the council vice presidents. Supposed to have a meeting with him in the near future.

 

I didn't think anyone out there ever heard of such a fiasco. I do forsee a council merger on the horizon though. Things ought to be getting interesting this summer.

 

Abel

[JFL49]

No, I haven't seen this either.

 

Whether there are rumors of a Council merger in the future, or not, I would pose the question to the Council VP whether redistricting or a District merger is being considered. There would obviously be less resistance to a restructuring of your District if the District Committee was not operating.

[Abel Magwitch]

merging with another district. Yes that was actually announced. My current district is too small. Only 7 troops, over a dozen packs a few venture crews and ships. In the 7 years of its existance, there has not been one boy scout activity; not enough troops. The previous council exec decided when he came 7 years ago was to go from 5 districts to 9. But the districts became too small.

 

There was word that we were going to merge with the district next door. But that district protested and did not want to merge with a city district. So here we are going to have our district business meeting 6 months into the charter year.

 

Abel

[moosetracker]

Actually our district came close to not meeting their deadline. At our district meeting we had the list of Member "at large" (that's what it sounded like they were saying, bear with me I'm very new to this).. Any way the voting members of the district committee was read and to be voted on.

 

Many had issues with the list, people left off (the current DC for one, who was stepping down but remaining on the committee).. Other members. Some members were left on though they never came.. The nominating committee was not selected by the chair. No one from the nominating committe was there to answer question. Many did not get some letter in the mail, or get phone calls about thier positions, and their wish to stay on.... on and on..

 

We were debating rejecting the list. Someone from council (don't know who, to new for the name to register).. Said, that if we did not approve this list, someone at the council would do so for us anyway, because we surpassed the time limit. And that if we did vote it in, we could amend it at the next meeting.

 

So it seemed like if we voted it in or not, it would be voted in for us..

 

Now, I don't know what would happen if you had no list. Council may still vote in (maybe last year's list).. Or this "If you don't, Council will do it for you", may be only our Council's policy.. But, that's what info I have on the subject. Right or Wrong.

[Eamonn]

While I have never seen or heard anything that is in any way that might be seen as being "Official".

When I was a member of the District Key 3, we always aimed to be able to raise enough money through FOS, Popcorn sales and special District Activities, to cover the cost of having a DE.

I very much doubt if a District with only 20 units can raise this sort of money.

There are sometimes reasons why there might have to be a small District.

 

I of course don't know why the previous SE wanted to change things?

For a while there was a big push that we would have a DE to serve every 100 youth members.

It might be interesting to know if when the Council went from 5 Districts to 9, if the Class of the Council was changed?

If it was? I would have to wonder if the SE might have had his own reasons for the change.

My guess is that the FD is now between a rock and a hard place?

Trying to merge two active Committees is not ever easy. This would mean having to ask people to step down and this can cause friction.

Allowing one Committee to just not be there any more and then just announcing that "This is your new Committee!" Might seem like the better path to take.

The Vice-President for District Operations should be the go to person for this.

I would have hoped that the Council Executive Board would have looked at any merging of Districts before any action was taken, if so the then District Chairman if he bothered to attend the Board Meetings should have at least some of the details.

 

Not having a District Committee for the most part makes very little difference to the Scouts in the District.

Units do what they do, with or without a District Committee.

To help clear the air I would invite the VP-District Operations to attend a meeting where a good many of the members of the District would be there. Maybe a R/T meeting?

Failing that I'd have the VP ask the FD to attend.

If the FD is there? I'd pay very special attention to what is said. Some professionals have a way of not always telling things as they really are.

Ea.

[jhankins]

You definitely have to read between the line with some professionals. What is not said is sometimes more important that what is spoken aloud.

 

The gold standard for unit-serving executives is 1 DE to every 80-90 units. This isn't always the case, but that's what was preferred when I went through training. In my former district, we had two DEs for 160 units, but mostly we had two because of the distance between the units. We covered 20,000 square miles.

 

In regards to the units being lone units, that's really not the case because even if districts are chartered entities, the units are chartered by the council and not the district itself. Scouting will go on in the units, and rank will be achieved.

 

In reality, if you ask a Tiger Cub which council he's in, he may just tell you he's in Mrs. Smith's Den 10. That's where the action is for him, and that's where the rubber hits the roads for what we do.

 

What I'm really trying to say is: What matters most is the boys, if the council sees fit to make 10 new districts are get rid of 10 -- the boys won't really be affected.

[JFL49]

Sometimes it helps to look at official guidelines. These might help:

 

http://ricksnews.pushies.com/Documents/Nominating_Committee_Worksheet_14-33156.pdf

http://ricksnews.pushies.com/Documents/34739_District_Operations_Guide_2008.pdf

 

Eamonn makes some very good points. The District Chair works for the VP of District Operations. Ask that VP to come to a meeting of the District. Also ask the Council Commissioner to get involved. Also, there are probably some members of the Council Executive Board who live in your District. Call them and ask them to get involved.

 

While the DEs are usually hard working and dedicated professionals, they are at the bottom of the professional food chain. They generally have the least experience in dealing with volunteers and in dealing with conflict. Go higher up the chain, to at least a Field Director, or better yet Director of Field Services, or even the Scout Executive.

 

Unfortunately, a dysfunctional (or nonexistent) District Committee could affect the kids. If the District Committee is not there to help raise funds through FOS, or hold Eagle Boards of Review, or organize District camporees, or run a Touch-a-Truck event at the mall, the youth suffer. Yes, Mrs. Smith's Den 10 will continue to meet, but the winner of the Pinewood Derby won't go on to compete in the District Pinewood Derby without a functioning District Committee. And Mrs. Smith will find it more difficult to get a tour permit for a Pack overnighter without the requisite BALOO training that a functioning District Training Committee would offer. And her older son in Troop 10 won't be able to start work on his Eagle project if there is no District Advancement Chair to approve the project.

 

Good luck. It sounds like you'll need it.

[Basementdweller]

I am in a district with out a functional committee. We have never had a district Pinewood derby, no biggy. I go to neighboring districts for my training, again no biggy. We do have an Eagle board, but it is a political mess, with horrible projects and specific organization benefiting from the projects.

 

The political games and egos are to big to over come. I was recruited to join the committee and after a single meeting decided the cost of dealing with the group was too large.

 

So how would you fix this district?

[ScoutNut]

This is NOT a District that has NEVER had a District Key 3, or District Committee. We are talking about a temporary, not permanent, breakdown in the District Committee. There are still trainers, commissioners, and leaders, in the trenches doing what they do every day.

 

 

>>"the winner of the Pinewood Derby won't go on to compete in the District Pinewood Derby without a functioning District Committee.">"Mrs. Smith will find it more difficult to get a tour permit for a Pack overnighter without the requisite BALOO training that a functioning District Training Committee would offer."

[Abel Magwitch]

 

 

Scoutnut, I have to disagree - the units are very aware of what's going on. The District Commissioner (the last true member of the key3) resigned several weeks ago. Told me he was tired of getting lied to by the DE. There are no unit commissioners to speak of.

 

The Council VP of district operations is now involved at my insistance. Again, there was time for things to be done correctly. Unfortunately, the director of field service had other plans. By the way, my district is part of the actual city. Urban scouting is now the main drive in the city. Learning for Life, In-School Scouting, paraprofessionals (paid Scoutmasters and Cubmasters). That is where the emphesis is being focused. The remaining "traditional" units in the district are being neglected. We seem to be more of a hinderance in the council's plans of increasing membership numbers through non-traditinal Scouting.

 

25 years ago, there were over 40 Troops on the west side of the city. Today there are only 7.

[Abel Magwitch]

jhankins writes - What I'm really trying to say is: What matters most is the boys, if the council sees fit to make 10 new districts or get rid of 10 -- the boys won't really be affected.

 

On the contrary, it does affect the boys. Our district in its 7 year existence is so small, it has had -zero- Boy Scout activities. None what so ever. With only 7 troops, there have been no camporees, no klondike derbies etc.

[Eamonn]

I agree with everyone who has said that having a District without a committee is not a good thing.

 

I think that I might be guilty of maybe seeing something here that maybe isn't? (Maybe it is a horse and I'm wanting to see a zebra?)

My feeling is that someone at some level has allowed this committee to fade away because they have a plan to do something. What? I don't really know.

 

A few years back we had a FD, who I have to admit I just didn't like and I really disliked some of the bad ideas he was coming up with and was having the DE's follow through with.

He was doing some very underhanded things with membership.

In one District he and the DE for that District went into a High School and signed up an entire grade as a Venture Crew. Over 600 kids. No membership forms just a new Crew and the Council paid the membership fee. The DE was listed as the adult in charge.

He tried this in the District I was the Chair of and I wasn't having any of it. In fact I called the principle and explained why it was a bad idea. She is a pal of mine. She still allowed him to present his idea to her, but sent him packing.

Working with Amer-corps, he hired guys to start Scout-Reach Cub Packs in low income housing projects. Again no membership forms and the Council was picking up the tab for membership fees.

I wasn't a happy camper.

I complained at the Executive Board meeting about spending money on membership fees when the Council was telling everyone that we had no money.

I complained that these Scout-Reach units were showing up as being part of the District, when no one in the District had anything to do with them. We couldn't provide Commissioner Service because these units met in the early afternoon, when everyone was working.

I complained a lot when no one was checking on these Amer-corps "Volunteers" just didn't show up or had quit and it wasn't know for a couple of months.

I really became a right royal pain in the you know where.

 

A long time back (Over 25 years.) the Council went from five Districts down to four. LFL was supposed to be a separate division. At that time LFL and Exploring were not part of the traditional BSA.

Soon after I started making a fuss, without anyone knowing we all of a sudden had a fifth District.

This was done without anyone on the Board knowing, it just happened!

Not long after this guy was promoted and has been promoted again, he is now a SE (God help us all!)

When the news about all the padding of membership numbers in some Councils hit the fan. The fifth District just disappeared!

The 600 strong Venture Crew was moved to LFL and soon after just faded away.

The NE-Region later went on to say one of the reasons for the big fall in Venturing membership was due to Councils having Crews that should have been in LFL in the first place being in the wrong place.

Of course by the time everything came to light this FD was gone and he didn't care what the heck happened.

 

Having worked with a guy like this. My faith in the BSA was deeply harmed. He knew what he was doing wasn't right. As did the SE (Who is now safely tucked away in the National Office where he can do no harm!).

Some members of the Board when this all came to light refused to see what had happened as being wrong. They were just happy that the Council had made Quality.

My point here is that if we the volunteers are not careful and allow over ambitious professionals to get away with stuff. It is us the volunteers who end up cleaning up the mess once these guys get promoted or get asked to move to Texas.

I'm not saying that we need to be in any way rude or obnoxious. We do have a system in place where we can find out what is happening. It comes down to asking the right people the right questions.

In my book, I think volunteers should talk with and deal with volunteers. Some professionals at times seem to think that the Scout Law and Oath just doesn't apply to them. (These professionals are the exception, not the rule.)

In what is happening here, I can't help but feel this FD is paving the way to do something which if there was a District Committee might get in his way. So allowing the District Committee to not be there will make things better for him.

 

Or maybe this poor guy is just trying to clean up the mess left by some-one else?

Either way, I think it is only fair that the people who do serve in the District are not kept in the dark and are allowed to have some say in what is going on.

Eamonn.

[moosetracker]

Abel - If they do combine your district that may be best for you to get things done. But if not, there must be other districts too small & struggling, seeing the Council Exec split you into little groups when you did not have the growth to be split. Therefore maybe you can find a neighboring district who is not doing things due to this, or doing the events but with a great struggle, and ask that if your twoo district can come up with a way to make sure the work is equally distributed (ie.. your are not just asking for a free ride).. That the two districts could combine your efforts.

 

We don't do it often, but we have combined camporees before.. Maybe you can do so more then us, due to need rather then our resons which is for a change of pace, and a way to get to know our neighbors.