Treflienne Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 I found Eagle1993's description of their local troop's plans for adding girls very interesting. (a girl patrol in existing troop, or a girl troop meeting at same time/place as the boys.) Has anyone heard, in their towns, of anyone planning on starting up an actually separate troop for girls? (I.e. at least meeting at a different time or in a different room than the boys, even if sharing some resources.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle1993 Posted February 28, 2018 Author Share Posted February 28, 2018 6 minutes ago, Treflienne said: I found Eagle1993's description of their local troop's plans for adding girls very interesting. (a girl patrol in existing troop, or a girl troop meeting at same time/place as the boys.) Has anyone heard, in their towns, of anyone planning on starting up an actually separate troop for girls? (I.e. at least meeting at a different time or in a different room than the boys, even if sharing some resources.) A bit of background (just in case you haven’t seen this already). What has been officially announced is the girls from age 11 - 17 will form new yet to be determined groups similar to Boy Scout Troops. Since that time there has been no official clarification from nationals. Note that the official start date for this group is 2019 but no other specifics have been given. I have not heard of Troops in my district making plans for Girl Troops at this time; however, I expect that to change as soon as BSA officially announces the program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuzzard Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 13 hours ago, Treflienne said: I found Eagle1993's description of their local troop's plans for adding girls very interesting. (a girl patrol in existing troop, or a girl troop meeting at same time/place as the boys.) Has anyone heard, in their towns, of anyone planning on starting up an actually separate troop for girls? (I.e. at least meeting at a different time or in a different room than the boys, even if sharing some resources.) Our CO has made it clear they want us to be as close to coed as possible. So, we are planning to run parallel troops with new female leaders and all girls patrols but shared meetings and outings. Our IH has volunteered to run interference with the council if needed but it looks like this model is emerging as an official model. http://www.northernstarbsa.org/programs-for-girls Quote Whether in a single gender girl troop or paired with a brother, single gender boy troop, Scouts lead and run weekly meetings, 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustAScoutMom Posted March 2, 2018 Share Posted March 2, 2018 My daughter is in GSA....no plans to quit. We have a watered-down troop. Hardly meets. That is simply what works for these girls now that they are all 6th graders in middle school. They are, however, doing the minimum requirements, and they are doing them fully. I have already expressed interest in taking on a committee position next year in our council....I was told that they need to work on the cub scout program first. I think being involved in both of my kids troops is doable, but only as a committee member. I prefer an active role there, rather than as ASM/SM. I presume, however, that in the fall when there are 5th grade girls starting, those 5th grade girls will need to cross over in March 2019. The girl troop has to be intact before that...so I would hope that my daughter can help launch the troop in 1/2019. She plans on committing at least until she has her 1st class rank, and then decide if she wants to move to a crew or stay with the troop. Either way, she will be one of the first generations to earn eagle, so she is tickled about that. She has always said that she loves the cub scout camping more than any camping experience she ever had with the GSA. GSA is more like slumber parties with a campfire. I think she is well-prepared and could zoom through the basics rather fast. She knows her stuff and is willing to learn. She can focus much better than her male peers, and loves to get dirty. So, I am watching this thread intently. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustAScoutMom Posted March 2, 2018 Share Posted March 2, 2018 On 2/28/2018 at 11:14 AM, oldbuzzard said: Our CO has made it clear they want us to be as close to coed as possible. So, we are planning to run parallel troops with new female leaders and all girls patrols but shared meetings and outings. Our IH has volunteered to run interference with the council if needed but it looks like this model is emerging as an official model. http://www.northernstarbsa.org/programs-for-girls I have heard of people discussing the same committee for both the boy troop and the girl troop. This makes the institutional knowledge easier to set up a girl troop, which would be welcome...if there are volunteers. The troop is going to be much more of a logistical issue than a cub scout pack! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle1993 Posted March 3, 2018 Author Share Posted March 3, 2018 A group is maintaining a map of every council with early adopter Packs. See below: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1UMMudFUybRb5G2mun-tIQ7_jWU3_Lel1&ll=43.0890255520589%2C-97.97409562070374&z=4 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WisconsinMomma Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 (edited) We had an initial discussion about girls in Cubs at our committee meeting last night. The initial reaction was positive. Our CO chair said that they likely have no objections to a girls' program. Then two of the moms complained about some of the things they dislike about the existing girl scout program, and one of the moms immediately said she prefers the Cubs program for her daughters if it's available to them. It sounds like we will have an open door for girls and their parents to get involved in Cub Scouting starting in the next school year. It will be interesting to see how many come into Cub Scouts. We will probably need some recruiting plans for boys and girls and I wonder if we should have separate recruiting tables for each gender? Not sure. If we can get a few adults and girls committed early they can help lead the way. Edited March 6, 2018 by WisconsinMomma 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustAScoutMom Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 Sadly, I don't know of any pack that is considering adding girls in our council. Our prior CM was completely against the idea, and still is...not sure if his feelings are widespread in this council/district or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwazse Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 1 minute ago, JustAScoutMom said: Sadly, I don't know of any pack that is considering adding girls in our council. Our prior CM was completely against the idea, and still is...not sure if his feelings are widespread in this council/district or not. I don't know why this is sad. A council has a particular scouting culture. It's worked for them. Another council has a different mix, and now can adjust to that demand. Maybe there are scouters there saying, "Sadly, the CO down the road is rolling out BSA4G." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustAScoutMom Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 3 minutes ago, qwazse said: I don't know why this is sad. A council has a particular scouting culture. It's worked for them. Another council has a different mix, and now can adjust to that demand. Maybe there are scouters there saying, "Sadly, the CO down the road is rolling out BSA4G." I'm not saying that they have to...the CO has a choice, and I can respect that, but I also can be disappointed at the decision/preference. However, I would also hope that ONE of them would encourage/welcome this change, as an organization with institutional knowledge can make this much more successful than one that cannot. I would hate to see any effort towards the spreading of scouting ideals fail. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkwin Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 26 minutes ago, JustAScoutMom said: I'm not saying that they have to...the CO has a choice, and I can respect that, but I also can be disappointed at the decision/preference. However, I would also hope that ONE of them would encourage/welcome this change, as an organization with institutional knowledge can make this much more successful than one that cannot. I would hate to see any effort towards the spreading of scouting ideals fail. Yep, I am choosing to drive 35 minutes each way to a neighboring district so that my daughter can join the only Pack in the entire council that is an early adopter. None in my district. I hear rumors that there will be pack next school year for regular enrollment but will have to wait and see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle1993 Posted March 7, 2018 Author Share Posted March 7, 2018 26 minutes ago, JustAScoutMom said: I'm not saying that they have to...the CO has a choice, and I can respect that, but I also can be disappointed at the decision/preference. However, I would also hope that ONE of them would encourage/welcome this change, as an organization with institutional knowledge can make this much more successful than one that cannot. I would hate to see any effort towards the spreading of scouting ideals fail. It is VERY early still. Both of my sisters are leaders in their Packs and both packs just recently (yesterday and last week) voted to include girls. You may want to talk to your DE, they would know which units in your District are discussing “Family” packs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustAScoutMom Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 7 minutes ago, Eagle1993 said: It is VERY early still. Both of my sisters are leaders in their Packs and both packs just recently (yesterday and last week) voted to include girls. You may want to talk to your DE, they would know which units in your District are discussing “Family” packs. I already expressed interest in helping a troop....will see if they ever reach back out to me. We just aged out of the pack, so that is no longer my personal concern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle1993 Posted March 8, 2018 Author Share Posted March 8, 2018 Quick updates.. Had another den meeting. This is my first in depth exposure to the Lion program (in addition to BSA4G) and it is a VERY light program. That said, the girls can easily get through 2 adventures in a 1 hour meeting. I talked about this with the Bear den leader and she agreed that the girls are developmentally ahead of the boys at this age. Meetings are still fun and the scouts still need to burn off some energy like the boys, they are just a bit more focused. Our Tiger girl is officially meeting with the Tiger boys now. 1 Girl, 26 boys. They have separate leaders but for all practical purposes it is a coed den (if you call a 1 to 26 ratio coed). Found out that some councils are not enforcing the minimum 4 girls to start as an early adopter. While Packs cannot sign up to be early adopters after March 15, early adopter Packs can continue to register girls and boys beyond that date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkwin Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 12 hours ago, Eagle1993 said: Found out that some councils are not enforcing the minimum 4 girls to start as an early adopter. Is it a min of 4 girls per pack or per den? So far, my daughter's Web den has just 2 but there are some younger girls in the pack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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