IOLS sign ups

[Buggie]

Can one take IOLS before completing the application process and being registered with a unit? I'm asking because I'm not sure what requirements there are for that.

Do I need to make an account on the BSA site to sign up for it or do I need to work through the unit to do it. And yah, I probably could ask the SM or CC or write an email to the IOLS person, but I'm on the forum right now and I might forget in a few minutes. LOL

[Cleveland Rocks]

You're probably going to need to be registered because in most councils, when you go to sign up the online registration form is likely going to ask you for your BSA ID number.  They'll also want to associate the completion of the course to your record so that would be the other need to be registered in advance.

You'll need to have taken YPT before turning in your application, anyway, so you can at least get a myScouting account set up and take YPT while you work on the application.

Edited April 10, 2018 by Cleveland Rocks

[ItsBrian]

I would assume not since they would be liable for you and you wouldn’t be covered if anything due to not being a member, meaning no insurance.

[SSScout]

As in many things Scouty, "It depends".    In order to take IOLS around here, you must be a "registered Scouter" (an adult Scouter with a membership number),  and pay your fee.  Any willing registered Scout adult should be allowed. 

We make it clear to ALWAYS use the same name in all Scout registrations, ( only John J. Smith,   not Johnny Smith, or Jay  Smith, or Smitty Smith or ...)   as this will help eliminate the complications of inadvertent multiple registrations, which have been known to occur.   The Membership number is supposed to be "National", but the registration is to the "Council", as it was explained to me. 

Also , ask about receiving credit for " ,  Basic Adult Leader Outdoor Orientation (BALOO),  Outdoor Webelos Leader Skills (OWLS)  and Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills (IOLS )  concurrently, as some Councils will do.   Saves having to take it a second time.   

[Treflienne]

I was able to register for IOLS through the council website without begining registered with BSA.   (At least the online system took my money and sent me out an automated email.)

But, I was concerned that I would be thrown off the attendee list not being registered with BSA,  so I set about doing that.   That,  it turns out, was much harder to do, since I am not part of a unit yet (no BSA4G units yet exist).  Eventually the advice from the local Family Scouting Committee was to register as a "District Reserve Scouter" which required a paper form sent snail mail.  I've gotten confirmation that the form has arrived.   I suppose I am now registered.   IOLS will happen later this month.

[ItsBrian]

19 minutes ago, Treflienne said:

I was able to register for IOLS through the council website without begining registered with BSA.   (At least the online system took my money and sent me out an automated email.)

But, I was concerned that I would be thrown off the attendee list not being registered with BSA,  so I set about doing that.   That,  it turns out, was much harder to do, since I am not part of a unit yet (no BSA4G units yet exist).  Eventually the advice from the local Family Scouting Committee was to register as a "District Reserve Scouter" which required a paper form sent snail mail.  I've gotten confirmation that the form has arrived.   I suppose I am now registered.   IOLS will happen later this month.

 I’m confused, why can’t you be involved in scouting if there are no BSA4G troops?

[scotteg83]

10 hours ago, ItsBrian said:

 I’m confused, why can’t you be involved in scouting if there are no BSA4G troops?

Sounds like they are trying to be prepared for the new Girls in Troops coming in 2019.  But why join a Boy Troop, just to leave and take over a Girl Troop in a year.

[Treflienne]

14 hours ago, ItsBrian said:

 I’m confused, why can’t you be involved in scouting if there are no BSA4G troops?

 

4 hours ago, scotteg83 said:

Sounds like they are trying to be prepared for the new Girls in Troops coming in 2019.  But why join a Boy Troop, just to leave and take over a Girl Troop in a year.

That's right.  I'm not already connected to any of the local boy scout troops, because I don't have a son already in boy scouts. And it is not yet clear which of the local troops might be interested in being linked with a BSA4G troop next year.     (My daughter wants to join, and with a new troop it seems to me that there is a high probability that more volunteers will be wanted.)

[ItsBrian]

2 hours ago, Treflienne said:

 

That's right.  I'm not already connected to any of the local boy scout troops, because I don't have a son already in boy scouts. And it is not yet clear which of the local troops might be interested in being linked with a BSA4G troop next year.     (My daughter wants to join, and with a new troop it seems to me that there is a high probability that more volunteers will be wanted.)

Incase you didn’t know, you don’t need a child in scouting to volunteer in scouting. My SM’s sons both got eagle and aged out and he’s still here.

[T2Eagle]

16 hours ago, Treflienne said:

I was able to register for IOLS through the council website without begining registered with BSA.   (At least the online system took my money and sent me out an automated email.)

But, I was concerned that I would be thrown off the attendee list not being registered with BSA,  so I set about doing that.   That,  it turns out, was much harder to do, since I am not part of a unit yet (no BSA4G units yet exist).  Eventually the advice from the local Family Scouting Committee was to register as a "District Reserve Scouter" which required a paper form sent snail mail.  I've gotten confirmation that the form has arrived.   I suppose I am now registered.   IOLS will happen later this month.

You maybe on the way to being registered, but you may not be there yet.

In order for any adult to be registered with BSA they have to first complete Youth Protection Training (YPT).  If you haven't done that yet AND also submitted some proof of it to go along with your paper application, then likely your app is sitting on a desk somewhere waiting for that to happen.  

Most registrations, I mean probably 95%, happen through individual units, and so the unit leaders make sure that applicants end up as registrants.  Being a nonstandard part of the process in a big, slow, stodgy, bureaucratic organization, it is very possible that your registration is effectively no one's responsibility and you are as likely as not going to fall through the cracks unless you do all the follow up.

If you haven't done YPT, go online my.scouting and do it, then find out who has your paper application and get the proof of of completion matched up with it.  Once that's accomplished you'll be issued a membership number.  You then need to  go back to my.scouting and enter your BSA member ID into the account you set up to take the training.  

Be forewarned, no scouting computer system talks to any other.  National membership doesn't match up to national training, neither match up with whatever online system your council is using.  Scouting is a wonderful program with a woeful bureaucracy.  Keep in mind the former as you gnash your teeth at the latter.

Thanks for being willing to serve. 

On a different note, would you mind telling us what is motivating you and your daughters to join, how old are they and what is your experience with the program, if any.

 

[Treflienne]

On 4/11/2018 at 2:45 PM, T2Eagle said:

You maybe on the way to being registered, but you may not be there yet.

You were right.  It was time for me to follow up.  The word is that the registrar needs to process it through the system.  But I now at least have a receipt for my check.  (And I did send the YPT certificate, etc.)  Thanks for the advice.

On 4/11/2018 at 2:45 PM, T2Eagle said:

On a different note, would you mind telling us what is motivating you and your daughters to join, how old are they and what is your experience with the program, if any.

My previous experience with BSA?  None to speak of.  Previous experience with scouting: GSUSA, including TOFS troops, and opportunities to interact with Girl Guides from other countries.

This left me with the sense that scouting/guiding is not an activity you go and do once in a while, instead, being a scout/guide is something you are.  And it is not tied to one single national scouting/guiding organization.

I had become somewhat frustrated with the direction the GSUSA program materials have been going --- seeming to try to attract the kind of girls who hadn't been interested in scouting if scouting involved going outside and getting dirty. It seemed to me that GSUSA, while they still have the stated mission that "Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place", has largely dropped the game of scouting with its patrols, camping, rank advancement, etc, as a means to that goal.

But we had been sticking with that organization, because it has much good in its history, and because there weren't any other scouting organizations realistically available to us. We simply didn't use the program materials we disliked.

My daughter (grade 6), hearing that BSA would be opening up to girls, picked up a boy scout handbook and started reading it, and comparing it with the current GSUSA program materials, and with the older girl scout books from the 1920s and 1930s (yes I have those, and they quote Baden-Powell on "how camping teaches the Guide Law"). She concluded that modern BSA sounded like a better program than modern GSUSA, and that modern BSA is much more similar to the old GSUSA than the modern GSUSA is.

And I figure that if she wants to become a boy scout, then I need to learn more about BSA and be ready to volunteer in some capacity if needed.  Because if no one volunteers then there won't be any BSA4G troops. And while she will need to wait till next February to join, I can go ahead and join now and start taking training.

I expect that switching organizations might be a bit of a culture shock.  So, besides watching the training videos on my.scouting.org (which I found informative) I'm also reading some of the discussions here on scouter.com to learn a little of the culture, and reading various books recommended here such as "Working the Patrol Method" and "So Far, So Good"