Concerns with coed rules, leadership, liability

[Oldscout448]

3 hours ago, RememberSchiff said:

Back in the day (here he goes), adults would keep watch on tents, as older scouts were known for raiding rival troop camps, leaving camp for the nearest town/ice cream stand, Girl Scout camp,... the usual young masculine pranks of that day.

I plead the 5th concerning other troops/ patrols, ice cream, etc.

But I did end up marrying a Camp Fire girl I met at camp 43 years ago.  

 

Edited February 11, 2018 by Oldscout448

[Tampa Turtle]

I married a Girl Scout. Dang, they sure trained them hard on sweeping camp sites and using "sit-upons". 

[Tampa Turtle]

On Scout Sunday our pastor gave us a big shout out and approval and then said how we are now accepting girls! So I guess we are...

[mashmaster]

Our Scout Exec told us that the information he has heard is that there will be seperate troops, but they could share the same COR, CC, and even SM (although they suggest that be different).  The PLC for each troop would be different, so that means the troops would operate differently.  My take on that information is that the troops may decide to co-exist but would have different meetings and different campouts with some shared meetings/campouts.

[an_old_DC]

We are being told by Council folks, using materials from National, that it is up to the pack's leaders to decide if girl dens and boy dens can meet at the same time and place to work on the same activity—and share the same DL. Isn’t that essentially a co-ed Den? Oh no, that’s just two dens who happen to share a meeting place.

I have a hunch a girl troop and a boy troop will eventually be able to meet at the same time and place, and share the same adult leaders as well.

[T2Eagle]

38 minutes ago, Tampa Turtle said:

On Scout Sunday our pastor gave us a big shout out and approval and then said how we are now accepting girls! So I guess we are...

Well, that was easy.

[WisconsinMomma]

I am hopeful that we will get some additional leaders on board if we get some girl dens going.  

[Back Pack]

1 hour ago, mashmaster said:

Our Scout Exec told us that the information he has heard is that there will be seperate troops, but they could share the same COR, CC, and even SM (although they suggest that be different).  The PLC for each troop would be different, so that means the troops would operate differently.  My take on that information is that the troops may decide to co-exist but would have different meetings and different campouts with some shared meetings/campouts.

What about gear. I really think sometimes people don’t think through what this means. My troop had a hard enough time managing all our stuff and barely had space for what we had. And my unit leaders already gave a ton of time to us I cannot imagine them taking more time for a second unit. That’s a lot to ask. 

[mashmaster]

7 minutes ago, Back Pack said:

What about gear. I really think sometimes people don’t think through what this means. My troop had a hard enough time managing all our stuff and barely had space for what we had. And my unit leaders already gave a ton of time to us I cannot imagine them taking more time for a second unit. That’s a lot to ask. 

Depends on how it works for each unit.  For example our Charter Org sponsors 1 Pack, 2 Troops, and 1 Crew.  The Troops each have their own trailer and QMs,  The Crew is mostly backpack based so no trailer needed.  We also don't camp on the same weekends typically so if equipment needed to be shared, we could do it, but that might be hard to maintain long term.

[cocomax]

The real question is when the girls join the troops and we go co-ed, will the boys stick around?  Will the boys still find it fun?  As leaders we can do everything right, but if the boys are not having fun they will leave.   I don't talk to the boys in our troop about the girls joining, but they know from the news and guys at school teasing them about it and I have overheard them talking about it and they all have decided to walk away if it happens.  My other question is why do the boys feel this way?  I honestly do not know.  Are most boys fine with girls joining and the boys in our troop just strange, I don't know.

[qwazse]

4 minutes ago, Back Pack said:

What about gear. I really think sometimes people don’t think through what this means. My troop had a hard enough time managing all our stuff and barely had space for what we had. And my unit leaders already gave a ton of time to us I cannot imagine them taking more time for a second unit. That’s a lot to ask. 

I asked myself about gear the first time half my crew (i.e. the girls) wanted to backpack. Then all of a sudden packs and other gear got handed down, dropped off, or left on the curb for me to grab - even from the gnarliest curmudgeons. I still see some of those packs in circulation on the backs of cross-overs!

It's a big country, and your leaders may be spread too thin. But I, for one, will make time for a patrol of girls if they come knocking. And who knows? If these girls learn to rig their own gear, the boys might want to buy it! 

Basically, anybody who's up for this has to be okay with a little improvisation and negotiation. And, respecting the boys who've put a lot of muscle into making a troop work to suit them.

Now, if some zealot comes to your leaders and gives them a high-and-mighty lecture about how they now need to be accommodating, blah, blah, blah ... that will be a shame, and I can see some scouters jumping ship over it.

[Jameson76]

10 minutes ago, mashmaster said:

Depends on how it works for each unit.  For example our Charter Org sponsors 1 Pack, 2 Troops, and 1 Crew.  The Troops each have their own trailer and QMs,  The Crew is mostly backpack based so no trailer needed.  We also don't camp on the same weekends typically so if equipment needed to be shared, we could do it, but that might be hard to maintain long term.

[Tampa Turtle]

4 minutes ago, cocomax said:

The real question is when the girls join the troops and we go co-ed, will the boys stick around?  Will the boys still find it fun?  As leaders we can do everything right, but if the boys are not having fun they will leave.   I don't talk to the boys in our troop about the girls joining, but they know from the news and guys at school teasing them about it and I have overheard them talking about it and they all have decided to walk away if it happens.  My other question is why do the boys feel this way?  I honestly do not know.  Are most boys fine with girls joining and the boys in our troop just strange, I don't know.

Our boys have really clammed up on this but I have seen a big, big push on boys getting Star and Life and straining about wrapping up Eagle and bailing out by December of this year. About 3x the normal activity. Some of the adults are concerned that this will rip out much of the leader and upcoming leader class out of the Troop. 

[Jameson76]

Just now, Tampa Turtle said:

Our boys have really clammed up on this but I have seen a big, big push on boys getting Star and Life and straining about wrapping up Eagle and bailing out by December of this year. About 3x the normal activity. Some of the adults are concerned that this will rip out much of the leader and upcoming leader class out of the Troop. 

We have had some accelerated rank movements recently also.

We did have a question come up (Greenbar or troop meeting, cannot 100% recall) that was basically will we have to have girls in the troop?  Our response to the scouts was that Scout troops would not be coed, that there would be Female troops and Male troops, that based on information we had, girls could not in fact join our troop.  There was a follow-up question as to whether the CO was going to start a girls troop.  Our feedback on that was we did not know.  Our plan was to continue program as we had for the last 30+ years.  If a BSA4G started it would be like the Girl Scout troop at the church, they would do their thing and we would do ours.

Luckily no one asked about the two summer camps we go to each summer and what would be the impact there in 2019.  Guess that planing horizon is too far out.  I have talked with folks from both camps (not the SE or pros but volunteers and summer staff that do the actual work) and literally there are zero plans in place on what to do;  waterfront changing rooms, shower houses, campsite assignments, troops sharing sites etc etc etc.  Just from an infrastructure point not sure how some councils will pull it off

[WisconsinMomma]

I have heard this out of one parent in our Troop, but I don't know if the reality will match. We'll have to wait and see.  We have a small troop and most boys finish close to 18.  A 16 year old says he wants to get it done, we will see how it goes.  A year is a good amount of time to finish anyway.