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Adding Girls to Pack


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2 hours ago, Eagle1993 said:

One quick update that I’m not sure if anyone else noticed. The Be A Scout search now shows if packs are Boy only, Girl Only or mixed.  I haven’t found any that are listed as anything but Boy Only but something to watch for as this ramps up...

OH wow...thanks for the Heads up on that...Heading there now

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Week 1

We are up to 9 girls now, 4 Lions, 1 Tiger and 4 Bears. The Troop has caused some issues with the charter renewal so we haven’t been able to sign up online yet... should be fixed by next week.  We expect a few more Tigers to join as well.  

A couple of the parents are interested in becoming den leaders.  One is a current GSUSA leader and the other an Eagle Scout and former scout leader.  We have den meetings set up and several of the girls will be part of our upcoming PWD.  

We haven’t figured out the Be A scout flag and our DE told us not to worry about it.  

In our case, I definitely see a bit of pull front GSUSA.  In particular the 3rd grade girls. There is a split in that Troop where some would like to do outdoor activities and others the fashion and mall stuff.  The girls interested in the outdoors are now joining our Pack.  

I was on he fence of creating Girl dens next year but the interest shown so far makes me think we can create separate dens and have enough volunteers to cover.       Several of the parents of the girls are interested in keeping it separate as well.

Our current pack of Boys is 71 but is growing to 73 as new boys are coming in as well.   With these new girls we will be t 82.  We have not advertised at all... this is from parents discussing during drop off and pickup.  Rough estimates based o  word of mouth is that we could see 25-30 girls join next year.

The new parents have been great so far.  The fathers for the most part are the ones interested in this opportunity.  Several have stated they aren’t interested in causing trouble they just want their daughters to have the same opportunity they had (or their sons had).

Next up.. fixing the Troop charter and PWD with some girls.

 

 

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, RememberSchiff said:

How many of your scouts/families have quit over your Pack's decision to admit girls? Did they quit scouting or transfer?

None at this point, but will watch for this.  Our attrition rate has been fairly low so increases should be apparent.  That said, no family has complained.  I think the separate dens help during the transition  plus girls have unofficial been tagging along for years so seeing them around won’t be a big change.  Having them attend overnights and participate in meetings will be new and will watch for friction.

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Week 2 Update

Pinewood Derby is tomorrow so most of our focus has been on that this week.  We have 10 girls that are joining our Pack, 4 Lions, 1 Tiger and 5 Bears.  There are a few more that are considering.  We also added one boy who was an older brother of one of the girls that joined... the parents thought it would be great to have both involved.

IT issues... we have still not been able to accept applications online which is required.  While we are officially chartered the online application only allows males to apply.   Talking with council we think it is due to a new field in the organization Manager callled Family Scouting (ours indicates we are not participating).  Council is working to see how this can be updated.

Impact on Boys.  I think the separate dens help.. even if in 3-4 years they fade away.  At least at first In minimizes the impact on the boys.  No one has quit yet but I heard one boy indicate he didn’t want girls... his dad told him to be quiet.  My son indicated another boy said it is “Boy Scouts” and therefore only boys should join.  My son said “Actually it is Cub Scouts and so only young bears should be able to join and so we should be kicked out.”  They both laughed.  I asked my son his opinion and he was fine with the change (he said he didn’t know any who are against it).  That said he told me... dad, I don’t think we can continue with wenius jokes.  So, they may lose out on that... 

Next up is PWD (1 girl racing).  New parent meeting next week and girls den meeting in 1.5 weeks.

 

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2 minutes ago, RememberSchiff said:

How ironic it will be if the largest problem that packs encounter with girls joining is membership processing via National's online software.  :(

We will see.  All of our professionals have been in meetings all week and my COR is also my DE.  He has emailed me updates at 12:30 am so I know they are busy at work.  Hopefully when they are out of their planning meeting the council will have a bit more time to figure it out.

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