RememberSchiff Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 (edited) I am waiting for the Girl Scouts to announce that they will now sell popcorn too! Edited October 13, 2017 by RememberSchiff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back Pack Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 I am sure there PR consultants who could have advised them on better ways to handle it. Not my area of expertise. There seem like there are plenty of folks (including those who agree with the decision) who did not like the way it was announced. It seems like you are saying there was no way National could have improved upon the exercise. I don't bu that. We discussed this today in one of my business classes. One of the suggestions made by an Eagle Scout was to have. The program in place, complete with training, books, uniforms and everything else a new scout or leader needs to get started and answer questions. We debated other options but the class settled on this as the best option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkwin Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 I agree; I am sure there are ways it could have been done better. I think it is a fact of life that there are always better ways to do something (yet not my area of expertise and I don't know how they could have done it better). That being stated, many have complained that they were not told in advance that this change was coming. I just don't see how that would be a reasonable request as any leaking to members would also be leaking to the media. My guess is that BSA has a PR person on payroll and that they applied whatever expertise they have in crafting this message. Doesn't mean it was perfect but there may not have been a much better way either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tampa Turtle Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 Back Pack, good points. As we can see from our UK colleagues it would not have been that hard to have put together some draft guidelines and a FAQ to common questions. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkwin Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 Back Pack, good points. As we can see from our UK colleagues it would not have been that hard to have put together some draft guidelines and a FAQ to common questions. There is a FAQ out there. I was reading it earlier today - but that being stated, I had to hunt for it. I can't find it again as I type this. Sure would be nice if this was all on the front page of www.scouting.org Found it: https://www.scoutingnewsroom.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Family-Scouting-FAQ.pdf https://www.scoutingnewsroom.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/BSA_Family-Entry-Fact-Sheet.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tampa Turtle Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 Well DUH. Some of those Irving guys get paid enough to think about this stuff....they are the paid professionals we are the volunteer schleps. I think more care and planning went into the roll out of the Cyperchip announcement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
an_old_DC Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 I am a District Commissioner and have already heard from two Scoutmasters that they will do "everything" they can {wink, wink} to help girls earn the rank of Eagle Scout ASAP. My fear is that in the rush to be the first girl to earn Eagle Scout (or be the first unit, district, council to have a girl earn Eagle Scout) many shortcuts will be taken during sign-offs and BoRs. We all know it will be a race to see who is first. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David CO Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 (edited) Well, admittedly character (or the lack thereof) is usually a difficult thing to identify in a photo or video. What I have seen in those posted by @@Cambridgeskip are mixed-gender groups of kids having fun and, more importantly, not being afraid of being made to look like a fool in front of the opposite gender. It is a limited "data set", but it is what we've got. There is a big difference between the scouting programs in England and those in the United States. We have Chartered Organizations, they don't. A Chartered Organization in the United States can run an in-house co-ed youth program all by themselves. Many CO's already do have other co-ed youth programs. Mine does. Boy Scouting was a unique program. The Boy Scout program was attractive to the CO's because it was unique. It wasn't something the CO's could easily duplicate on their own. My CO already has a co-ed youth group. We don't need co-ed scouting. My CO already has a family ministry. We don't need family camping through scouting. Scouting is becoming a less unique organization with little to offer the CO's except a duplication of the in-house programs many of them already have. Yes, I have seen the photos of co-ed scout groups in England having fun in their activities. They look just like the photos I have of our youth group and family ministry having fun in their activities. I don't need scouting to duplicate that. Edited October 13, 2017 by David CO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njdrt-rdr Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 @Tampa Turtle Regarding how they announced this, I am not sure how they could have done it much differently. There is virtually no way they could have shared this news with scouts prior without it having been leaked to the media. Any pre-announcement made to anyone other than everyone at the same time would have resulted in BSA losing the narrative. Someone else, perhaps someone opposed to the change, would have been the first to scoop the story and BSA would have lost whatever advantage they have in controlling the message. No pre- announcement needed, but a news announcement sent out at the same time registered leadership gets sent an announcement on exactly how this plan is going to work sure would have helped the situation greatly so there wouldn't be all this speculation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkwin Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 I don't need scouting to duplicate that. Then don't. No one is forcing you to do so. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njdrt-rdr Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 There is a FAQ out there. I was reading it earlier today - but that being stated, I had to hunt for it. I can't find it again as I type this. Sure would be nice if this was all on the front page of www.scouting.org Found it: https://www.scoutingnewsroom.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Family-Scouting-FAQ.pdf https://www.scoutingnewsroom.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/BSA_Family-Entry-Fact-Sheet.pdf Sure would be nice if cubs in 2018 meant January or June or September...Make a big difference to folks on the front lines who may already be fielding questions about when their daughter can join Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mashmaster Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 I am a District Commissioner and have already heard from two Scoutmasters that they will do "everything" they can {wink, wink} to help girls earn the rank of Eagle Scout ASAP. My fear is that in the rush to be the first girl to earn Eagle Scout (or be the first unit, district, council to have a girl earn Eagle Scout) many shortcuts will be taken during sign-offs and BoRs. We all know it will be a race to see who is first. I don't see that as different from a lot of Eagle Scouts I have seen. Boys get passed through and moved along to get their Eagle at 13.5-14 age. I have sat of Eagle BOR where the boy has done the bare minimum to pass. It breaks my heart when I see that but it already happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
an_old_DC Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 I don't see that as different from a lot of Eagle Scouts I have seen. Boys get passed through and moved along to get their Eagle at 13.5-14 age. I have sat of Eagle BOR where the boy has done the bare minimum to pass. It breaks my heart when I see that but it already happens. Sure it already happens, but is it widespread? And intentional? In the rush to award girls the rank of Eagle Scout, there's going to be a taint of "her dad's the SM, her mom's the CC, and mom and dad were MBCs for most of the Eagle-required MBs." I am already hearing from long-time district advancement chairs who are worried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David CO Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 (edited) Then don't. No one is forcing you to do so. True. Nobody is forcing CO's to recharter. Nobody is forcing members to re-register. Nobody is forcing donors to donate. Edited October 13, 2017 by David CO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RememberSchiff Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 True. Nobody is forcing CO's to recharter. Nobody is forcing members to re-register. Nobody is forcing donors to donate. If the transition plan is not known at recharter, some CO's of packs may have second thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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