Unit Awareness of District/Council Activities and Issues

[scoutergipper]

I think yours is a "horse to water" question. Units are independent entities - it's hard to "make" them do anything. About all a District or Council can do is put on good events and make sure everyone gets plenty of notice about them. It's to be hoped that Unit Adults will understand that a good District or Council program/training/etc can help make their jobs easier. Once, however, you have a reputation as not providing good programs, that's hard to overcome.

[Eagle94-A1]

'Gripper,

 

Yes, the district can't make them do anything. One the boy scout side of things, my district does very well getting the info out to the troops. That info is given out at RTs that they don't attend. We even post info on a district Facebook page. But they complain about not getting information.

 

One of the comments by the SM that chapped my hide related to training. He said that a leaders shouldn't have to leave the district to get the training when they want it. And if there isn't enough staff to provide training when leaders want it, we should hire trainers to come in and do it for the district.

 

Now what rubbed me the wrong way was A) each district coordinated 1 SM and ASM Specific and 1 ITOLS training per year, so there are 9 opportunties in my council to get training. But he doesn't want to leave the district. B) When an ITOLS session was planned around that unit's schedule, specifically for that troop, only 1 leader showed up. Comment made by the others was "it's too cold to camp." Heck we had out of council folks attending the session.

[scoutergipper]

'Gripper,

 

One of the comments by the SM that chapped my hide related to training. He said that a leaders shouldn't have to leave the district to get the training when they want it. And if there isn't enough staff to provide training when leaders want it, we should hire trainers to come in and do it for the district.

 

Yeah, that's ridiculous. I wonder how much that Unit contributes to Friends of Scouting

 

It's very unfortunate that our world seems inundated with unreasonable people and those that want everything handed to them. You would hope a program that has the set of values Scouting enjoys would not attract so many of them.

 

In my Unit, Adults understand that our expectation is that they WILL be trained. Out-of-Council, too busy, and other excuses are simply not accepted. I hope your Units will get their acts together.

 

[oldisnewagain1]

'

 

One the boy scout side of things, my district does very well getting the info out to the troops. That info is given out at RTs that they don't attend. We even post info on a district Facebook page. But they complain about not getting information.

 

Some questions here, If I understand you correctly, information is given out at Round Tables and on Facebook. So if a unit doesn't attend RT and, like many, doesn't use Facebook anymore, then the information isn't available anywhere else (email, website, snail mail or hard copy at office)?

 

Has anyone given thought as to why units don't want to attend Round Tables?

 

'

 

He said that a leaders shouldn't have to leave the district to get the training when they want it. And if there isn't enough staff to provide training when leaders want it, we should hire trainers to come in and do it for the district.

 

What if you brought the training to them, for example at a troop meeting or a camporee?

 

The leader wanted to have trainer hired to come in and train? Could it be possible there is an underlying issue with the council training staff and these leaders?

 

I had an old professor tell me something that has always stuck with me. "When a problem seems unresolvable, we may not be asking the right questions to gather the data we need. Find the root cause and you will be on your way to a solution."

[Eagle94-A1]

Old,

 

Only 2 troops do not attend RT; the troop in question, and the LDS troop. And I discovered the LDS troop has started sending someone to RT the past 2 months.

 

As for why they don't atttend, for this troop, it is because "we (unit leaders) don't have time to attend another meeting every month." Yep that was the reply they gave folks on Facebook. They do use FB, and when it was suggested we put the info on FB they said that it was a good idea. And they are still active on FB as that is where they commented on the district politics.

 

In regards to training, the SM and ASM Specific course is not the problem. It's offered at the local merit badge college as an all day course for leaders. And they are all into merit badge weekends/colleges. It's the weekend long ITOLS class that they have a problem with. That is the one they think should be offered more than once a year in the district, and it should be availble whenever they want it.

 

In years past, we only offered ITOLS once a year. And when the district discovered that they were getting a new SM, we went into hyperdrive to get it set up AND to accomodate them. We got the troop's schedule from the outgoing SM so that they could attend. We had the outgoing SM, and one of the troop's former ASM's be part of the staff. The training was done at "their" campsite at a local nature preserve. Heck we even used some of their equipment with the permission of the outgoing SM. And only 1 showed up.

 

Since the ITOLS syllabus has a clause for testing out of ITOLS, basically demonstrating the skills to the trainer and being "peer-to-peer training," We started a "Are You Smarter Than a First Class Scout" ITOLS Challenge Day. You have to demonstrate all of the ITOLS skills, and it is "Pass/Fail" If you fail one skill, you need to take the weekend course. So last year the district offered 2 opportunties to complete ITOLS. Comments from them were that they didn't like the "pass/fail" nature of the challenge day, and the weekend selected was a bad weekend for them to attend.

 

 

As you can see, we have brought ITOLS to them once.

 

Now asking the right questions got me thinking. Based upon a conversation I had with the new SM on this topic, and some of the comments he made to me and others, I think he wants to train his own unit leaders himself. Several issues with that 1) District tried that once a long time ago and it didn't work out to well. To many inconsistancies, and folks being "trained" but not knowing the skills. 2) While the district has done "one man show" trainings, the team approach really is best as you get more folks involved. Having "experts" in each skill area is a lot better than someone who knows the basics to pass the course teaching. 3) He won't teach what should be taught per the syllabus, but what HE thinks should be taught. While the SM is fully trained, he doesn't always follow BSA program. When folks have tried to coach and mentor him, he said he knows what he is doing, and that Scouting needs to "adapt" to modern times.

[SeattlePioneer]

<

 

You know from other threads the situation with one of the troops in my district, specifically the my Cub Scout pack's troop. They do not attend roundtables, do not attend district and council camporees, complain about the "lack of training" in the district, etc. We've tried getting district level folks to talk to them, to no avail. Had UC and acting UC (me, original UC passed away) talk to them, again to no avail. then this weekend happened.>>

 

 

That's a good question!

 

Ten years ago when I got involved with Scouting a second time as an adult, one of the Troop Committee members suggested I attend the District Committee meeting, which I did. After I attended that District Committee meeting a second consecutive time, the District Executive pitched me on being the District Membership Chair, a position I filled for the next eight years.

 

The best way to get people involved in Scouting at any level is to ASK PEOPLE TO DO SOMETHING!

 

 

Unit leaders, Chartered Organization Representatives and Unit Commissioners should all be looking at adults and inviting them to do stuff at both the unit and district level.

 

And District leaders, the District Chair and District Commissioner, should be visiting units and identifying capable people they can invite to help with district and council activities.

[Eagle94-A1]

SP,

 

I hate to say it, but we have done that. The SM, before he became SM, was invited to be on the district advancement committee. Attended only one meeting, and never showed up again. Explanation was he got promoted at work, and no longer had the time. Asked others and they said they don't have the time or want the job. It's almost as if all they focus on is getting their sons to Eagle.

[scoutergipper]

As a general rule, 10 percent of the people in any volunteer organization/effort do 90 percent of the work. Finding that 10 percent is the real challenge of volunteer leadership.

 

[Twocubdad]

We should remember that district activities should be supplemental to unit programs. If a unit has a robust outdoor program and chooses to pass on district camporees, so be it. Their Scouts are getting their nights camping in, it shouldn't be an issue. It's not the responsibility of the unit to support the district, but the job of the district to support the units.

 

 

Old,

 

Since the ITOLS syllabus has a clause for testing out of ITOLS, basically demonstrating the skills to the trainer and being "peer-to-peer training," We started a "Are You Smarter Than a First Class Scout" ITOLS Challenge Day. You have to demonstrate all of the ITOLS skills, and it is "Pass/Fail" If you fail one skill, you need to take the weekend course. .

 

100% seems like a pretty high bar. Can all the First Class Scouts pass the challenge? How about the newbies who complete the course? Can they pass that standard? If not do you require them to retake it? Sounds to me like you don't really intend for anyone to test out of the course.

[oldisnewagain1]

We should remember that district activities should be supplemental to unit programs. If a unit has a robust outdoor program and chooses to pass on district camporees' date=' so be it. Their Scouts are getting their nights camping in, it shouldn't be an issue. It's not the responsibility of the unit to support the district, but the job of the district to support the units.[/quote']

 

Outstanding!

 

[Eagle94-A1]

2Cub,

 

If they were camping, and stated they were not coming to camporee, I would not have a problem. But this is the troop that said they were coming, picked events to run, and then decided not to attend without letting anyone running the event know that they were not coming and to find someone else to run their event. They also have cancelled one camp out, which was council camporee, less than 24 hours before it started. The 2 folks who transferred into my troop both cited the lack of camping as one of reasons for leaving.

 

Now in regards to training, I agree with you. I even made a comment similar to yours. But the guy running it said that is how the book wrote the rule. 4 out of 4 did pass the challenge.