Basementdweller Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 ---- Support from your DE and district staff Cough cough, what sort of support....never receive any. Got a new DE in the August time frame....I seen him once.....Thank goodness we don't need any help. ---- Where your hang files are put for roundtable no idea what a hang file is.....so it isn't important or relevant. ---- Coordination - Popcorn sales Hmmmmm, No it is a council thing, we attend regional training not district training. ---- Coordination - FOS Yes our DE forced his way into our blue and gold banquet....but mercifully he came away with $5. I will not encourage FOS or participate in FOS. ---- Coordination - Recruitment They do nothing for us but collect the applications and fees. ---- Advancement - Approving eagle projects No this is done at the troop level. ---- Advancement - Eagle boards of review No this is done at the troop level. ---- Advancement - Disputed situations Nope, council does it. The AC resigned because of it. ---- Advancement - Leader recognition No I turn them into the scout office and they do the certificates while I wait then I go to the scout shop and buy the knots. ---- Advancement - Any special awards, heroism, hornaday, etc. no idea about this...I would take it to the council office probably. ---- Order Of The Arrow - Elections Never seen or heard from the OA crew in our district or council ---- Order Of The Arrow - Chapter meetings No idea, guess our chapter isn't active. ---- Membership - Signing rechartering paperwork Just drop it off at the council office. ---- Membership - Signing new member applications This might be the only thing the DE does.....But last fall I took them to the Council office to turn in and pay the fees. ---- Communications from district / council Nope councils website, District doesn't have anything going on to communicate. No district cub events, we did have a camporee. Fred you have absolutely no clue what your talking about..... What exactly are district Awards??????? Oh those are where the Roundtable commissioners award each other at the awards dinner. Funny they don't seem to do anything. Do your own thing.....pick up your charter from the council office, attend other districts round tables, camporees and training......Take your FOS dollars and invest it in your local program. (This message has been edited by Basementdweller) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeattlePioneer Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 I'm guessing that if district did all the things Fred describes, Basement might be inclined to cooperate with the district leadership. Normally I'm a supporter of working with your district. But if your truly have lousy district leadership, I'd probably adopt Basement's methods too. Basement, What are you going to do next time if the DE shows up univited expecting to do a FOS presentation? Maybe you need a bouncer!(This message has been edited by seattlepioneer) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred johnson Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 Basement ... I'm sad you've had such a bad experience with your district. I question whether the bad situation is a two way street. The items I described are pretty standard for a district in our council. And I thought in most councils. Nothing special. Nothing imagined. But to be fair, I forget how differently councils can run things. Our council has 1400 units and 24 districts. So our districts are signficiant in size and resources. Our district itself has 100 units. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGreyEagle Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 BD, your stories fascinate me, on the Eagle Workbook page 10 there is a space for Council or District Approval. Are you saying this is not signed for your Eagle candidates? And the Eagle Board of Review, only Troop level people attend? No Rep from either the District or Council? I don't doubt what you say, I keep getting told how if the project isnt District or COuncil approved, it is not going to count. Same thing with the Eagle Board of Review. I find the difference between what we get told and what happens astounding(This message has been edited by OldGreyEagle) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred johnson Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 SeattlePioneer "Personally, I never recall seeing a district activity limited to units in the district." I agree. Camporees. Klondike Derbees. Training. Etc. Generally, not limited. BUT ... I've received very strong strong hints that a District Pinewood Derby was only for a specific district and that ours was only for our district people. So we never ran in the other district. It happened when our district scheduled the pinewood derby ... poorly. With that said, I do know some parents and leaders who are ... extremist about their pinewood derby ... and would protest in a second. They would raise a royal stink. And I could understand and agree with them. Because it affects their son's chances to win a trophy and to advance to the council race and win a trophy there. I've seen parents watch inspections to help disqualify cars. Heck, if the district pinewood derby races were really open, I know parents who would go to multiple races just for the fun of seeing their son win a trophy. ..................... SeattlePioneer "But perhaps better than struggling in a district with district leaders who are a pain in the neck." I'm just saying make it official and get the council to recognize that your unit is now assigned to the other district. If you don't, you can pretend to be in the other district but your contributing to your own pack/troop having a bad experience at the district level ... because you can't fully separate from your own district and your experience with your own district won't improve until you get involved with it. ..................... Personally, I've seen seven DEs in my 12 years. Some lasted a few months. The longest was about 30 months or so. I'd bet that is fairly normal. If your DE isn't cutting it or is a pain to work with, let people know. Get others to protest. My experience is that you can get a new DE. District leaders tend to turn over too. Some district leaders do tend to grab onto their position like a tick and not let go. But that's generally not my experience with most district staffers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eamonn Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 While units can often latch onto and play with any District that they might feel like doing so with. The truth is that when it comes to Councils and Districts, the only thing that really matter is the CO. Most CO's see the reasoning why they are in the District that they are in. The IH if he is lucky? Meets with the DE about once a year and has no idea if the DE is good, bad or indifferent. If the unit is blessed with a real and a active COR? Maybe things both good and bad might get back to the IH. Once the Council has that Charter Agreement filed, chances are that the Charter will remain in the District no matter what the volunteer adult leaders want or think they want. Ea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Meyer Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 "Basement ... I'm sad you've had such a bad experience with your district. I question whether the bad situation is a two way street." It's most definitely a two-way street. Some of the people here are so angry and bitter that it makes one wonder why on Earth they bother with the program. Then they have the audacity to criticize anyone who dares to help them. I guess if I were an uncooperative, angry malcontent, my DE would stay away, too.(This message has been edited by Doc Meyer)(This message has been edited by Doc Meyer) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basementdweller Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 Oh Doc... New DE as of August......He has been to ONE roundtable, he failed to show at the popcorn training nights, He failed to show to our Packs sign up night, he didn't even show up to hand out the recharter packets. So irregardless of what you think of me....He has failed to deliver in any manner. Like I said seen him once the night he was introduced and he has been a phantom My Home district has NEVER, not since I became active, delivered a program of any sort......or course we have had 4 DE's in as many years, from the one that was playing golf every day, to satan, to the phantom, non seemed interested in the boys. I don't want to get the moderator smack down. Doc don't judge my situation till ya walk in my shoes. Did it ever occur to you that I wasn't always this cynical????? The last DE and the Good old Boys club woodbadge demand finished me off...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle92 Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 Unfortunately I've seen districts like BD describes. Sometimes it is professionals on the district or council level. Sometimes it's volunteers. Every district is different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanRx Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 Did I miss something, or did the OP mention in one of his follow on posts that the DE (or someone from the district) refused to let them recruit at schools without the district's permission? Hmmm, that strikes me a very odd. The DE's salary is directly affected by membership numbers. So, unless you were recruiting OUTSIDE your assigned district, I cannot imagine a DE turning their nose up at recruitment! If this is the case, my next stop would be the SE's office to ask him WHY you DE is undercutting your attmepts to bring more youth into the program. Dean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeattlePioneer Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 For some reason, I imagine Basement's Scout Executive and Field Director getting together to decide, "Well, I guess we tortured Basement with that current DE about as much as possible. But there's this real LOSER who came in for an interview the other day. I bet if we assign him to Basement's district he'll find NEW ways to torture Basement!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle92 Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 Dean, You would be surprised! I remember a school that was in one district's geographical territory, but served the communities in my districts well. that DE didn't want me involved in recruiting at that school at all, an my first FD agreed with him. A year later and a new FD,I was told to recruit there, and not worry about the other DE. WOW that was very interesting conversation when the other DE found out I was "poaching" as he called it. SP, You really do NOT want to know how petty some pros can be, and they know better.Not so much the DE situation, but other poor customer service things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSA24 Posted November 17, 2012 Share Posted November 17, 2012 > needing your leader apps and rechartering paperwork signed by the old district DE. That's not correct. Anyone in the council exec's staff can sign these. It varies from council to council how they are organized. The DE has a boss. He can sign it. The people at the council office can usually sign it. The CE can sign it. As for eagle projects, the council can approve them without you even speaking to the district. I've turned in completed eagle work without even notifying the district. Council takes it, stamps it, and it is approved and sent to national with no district involvement. Your district advancement committee is a paper tiger. You don't have to do anything they say or work with them at all. They have zero authority. If the council gives you any grief about the eagle award, a letter to national will result in instant approval and completion of the award. National doesn't fight over eagle badges. I have seen them approve one for a boy 18 1/2 years old just because he couldn't get his butt in gear. The district and council both denied it. National approved it. You really can just tell the district to go toss it and not interact with them ever again with no consequences.(This message has been edited by bsa24) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moxieman Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 Jumping in a bit late on this one. We've had two units (one former, and one current) that have switched districts with "council blessings". Case A: Unit formed in a town that was officially part of the next district over. Due to where the roads were, it was easier for them to join up with our district. No one complained and they were "officially" listed as a unit within our district in Council records. Unit eventually folded when leadership relocated and no one stepped up to fill their shoes. Case B: An old unit that was in a district that dissolved due to low unit numbers asked to join our district. The dissolved district covered two counties. Our district absorbed one county and another district got the other county. Said unit was in the other county in a town that bordered our district. Their request to join our district was approved by council. They requested to join our district even though it was a lot further for them to drive to events (ex: 90 minutes to Roundtable vs. 20). I guess, they liked our volunteer leadership more. Again, in both cases, the unit's town in question bordered the other district they asked to join. So, it is possible, but probably depends on the local council leadership's willingness to work with the unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basementdweller Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 Well seattle, I am hoping that he is off getting trained, I have no idea what is involved in DE training. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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