Getting Back to Normal?

[InquisitiveScouter]

From the BSA's COVID-19 FAQ

"Councils make the determination, working closely with their council health supervisor and local health department, about when units can conduct in-person meetings and activities again. If the unit’s local council is allowing in-person activities but has restrictions in place (e.g., no more than 10, social distancing of 6 ft. etc.), the unit must meet and abide by those restrictions – even if the unit is traveling out of council/state."

I was gonna ignore this one, but now that it has been emailed out to our council, I will engage.

Unless your council has already published guidance for "back to normal", you need your council's permission/blessing to conduct unit meetings even when your state/county/municipality may have lifted restrictions?  smh

And if your Summer Camp is out of council/state, you must abide by your home restrictions when more stringent than your destination's?  When in Rome...? 

[InquisitiveScouter]

And also...

"When units with different chartered organizations do activities together, this becomes a district or council event and requires council approval."

Our DE is going to get tired my future requests for approval.

We occasionally do co-unit camping together.

Last summer, we did a co-unit canoe trek...guess that was then a district/council event....should I ask for forgiveness??

We do inter-unit campfires, when possible, on trips to non-Scout properties...this is an "activity"...do we have to get approval?

On our Pioneering camping trip, when we build a Monkey Bridge (no higher than 6 feet!) and the other unit camping near us wants to have a go..."Wait!  I have to get my council's approval!"  

Notices will follow the lines of my usual emails..."We intend to do X unless you advise otherwise."  Most of them go unanswered...

Edited May 21, 2020 by InquisitiveScouter

[yknot]

1 hour ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

And also...

"When units with different chartered organizations do activities together, this becomes a district or council event and requires council approval."

Our DE is going to get tired my future requests for approval.

We occasionally do co-unit camping together.

Last summer, we did a co-unit canoe trek...guess that was then a district/council event....should I ask for forgiveness??

We do inter-unit campfires, when possible, on trips to non-Scout properties...this is an "activity"...do we have to get approval?

On our Pioneering camping trip, when we build a Monkey Bridge (no higher than 6 feet!) and the other unit camping near us wants to have a go..."Wait!  I have to get my council's approval!"  

Notices will follow the lines of my usual emails..."We intend to do X unless you advise otherwise."  Most of them go unanswered...

I think a lot of us have followed that kind of strategy for years, however I have become increasingly concerned over the years and even more recently this year with liability issues. If you are not following scout policies and procedures it does raise some problematic possibilities. I have always carried a large umbrella policy but the judgments today are becoming astronomical.  What I once considered large -- $2 million -- no longer gives me peace of mind. 

[InquisitiveScouter]

54 minutes ago, yknot said:

If you are not following scout policies and procedures...

Agreed.  But we should all be careful to differentiate between what is printed in "official" publications (G2SS, Scouter Code of Conduct, Safe Swim Defense, Safety Afloat, Climb on Safely, etc.) versus a posting to an FAQ on their website.  

I, for one, do not take website postings as official policy or procedure.  My adult application says "I have read and affirm that I accept the Declaration of Religious Principle. I agree to comply with the rules and regulations of the BSA and the local council, including the Scouter Code of Conduct."  Nothing mentioned there about BSA website FAQ's.

[T2Eagle]

4 hours ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

Unless your council has already published guidance for "back to normal", you need your council's permission/blessing to conduct unit meetings even when your state/county/municipality may have lifted restrictions?  smh

 

This type of restriction has always been true. 

Want to take your kids skiing without helmets, no problem, want to take your scouts skiing, helmets for everyone.  Does your state require that everyone in any kind of watercraft wear PFDs all the time?  They don't, but the scouts do.  Any law anywhere say you have to have a buddy to go swimming, or have restrictions about the depths of water based on a swim test? 

We have lots of safety rules that are more stringent than the law, following them is nothing new.

Your state may have decided that the costs of increased exposure caused by gatherings are less than the economic costs of prohibiting those types of gatherings.  Your local council's calculation can and probably should be a different weighing of those variables.

We're having a meeting tonight on when and how to get back together, but at the top of our agenda is notice that no matter what we think, our decision is subject to veto by not only state and local laws but also by BSA and our chartering org.  I'm going to get explicit permission from our pastor before we do anything.    

[InquisitiveScouter]

2 hours ago, T2Eagle said:

This type of restriction has always been true. 

Not really...

"Published" is the key word here.  When councils or national "publish" more stringent rules, we are bound to follow them, and do. (helmets, life jackets, Safe Swim Defense, etc.)

Our council has not published anything for units...only district and council events.  If you read the FAQ, the inference is that councils must give you a green light before you meet again.

And I do not go around enforcing our council's interpretations on other councils' programs...I only speak up when that council might be going against "published" National prescriptions.