New Short-term Camp Standards effecting OA events

[Longhaired_Mac]

I finished Short-term camp administration training a few weeks ago and have applied the training for an OA fellowship/fundraiser. 94 -ish pages of standards. Not a big job for our event as it was at a church in town. 

Recently during a planning meeting for Conclave we were reminded that a certified Dietician was required to approve menu items for the event. And that the event had to be within so many minutes of a hospital, which is problematic with many camps being distant from city centers. Has anyone else had any challenges meeting one of the new standards while planning OA events?

[fred8033]

Hmmm ...  I trust you are refering to something like this ...  See FS-601 Food Standards

       https://www.scouting.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/2019-National-NCAP-Standards.pdf

It's obviously a good idea.  It's a good tool also to use for self reflection on your menus.

BUT, does it explicitly apply as a strict rule to a OA conclave?  When I read page 6 of the above link, I read think of camps that are run by paid staff and are marketed and advertised as such.  I think of $1200 Sea Base, $1200 Philmont, $300+ council week long summer camps, $100+ webelos summer camps, council day camps, etc.  I think of something that is to reflect paid professional programming and paid food service that happens with business like execution.  I think of auditors that assess if the paid staff meet the standard.  Then, the program gets a pendant to hang in the dining hall for that year.

OA conclaves (and fall district camporees) are NOT BSA accredited.   OA conclaves are volunteer led / coordinated and more closely resemble a troop than a paid program.  Instead of a troop, you have a lodge.  Instead of a SPL, you have a lodge chief.  Instead of a SM, you have a lodge advisor.  Likewise, cost resembles volunteer organization with cost covering food and camp-site fees.  Costs don't reflect a paid program.

Page 6 extract is below.

 

PURPOSE OF THE STANDARDS

The BSA national camp standards are established to:

1. Ensure the health, safety, and well-being of every camper, leader, visitor, and staff member while participating in a BSA-accredited camp.

2. Ensure that each camper and leader obtains a quality program consistent with the BSA brand. The local council is responsible for maintaining the BSA national camp standards. The national camp standards are the foundation of the National Camp Accreditation Program, which assesses council and camp conformance with the requirements of the national camp standards.

THE NATIONAL CAMP ACCREDITATION PROGRAM

The purpose of the BSA’s National Camp Accreditation Program (NCAP) is to help councils elevate camps to new levels of excellence in delivering Scouting’s promise to youth

Edited May 12, 2021 by fred8033

[KYScouter]

That's the 2019 standards.  Check the 2021 at the link below and FS-601 does indeed apply to short term camps.

 

https://www.scouting.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/2021-NCAP-Standards-430-056-Official-1.pdf

[fred8033]

6 hours ago, KYScouter said:

That's the 2019 standards.  Check the 2021 at the link below and FS-601 does indeed apply to short term camps.

https://www.scouting.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/2021-NCAP-Standards-430-056-Official-1.pdf

I'm always interested in policies and procedures.  Weird, but true.  My projects often live and die with how to interpret policies and procedures. 

I've read much of the document now.  I would have guessed an OA Conclave was not subject to the document to the BSA Accreditation subjects, rather just G2SS.  Not council organized.  Each OA lodge has it's own conclave with it's own personnel.   If it does apply, it seems  you need to know the answer in advance to know how to interpret this guide.  The guide itself is not a clean statement of what's in scope.

Seriously asking:  How do I interpret the 2021 version?  OA conclaves?  OA work weekends?  Troop camp-outs?   Do we need a dietician to review the meal menus our scouts create for their patrols?  

 

Edited May 15, 2021 by fred8033

[KYScouter]

2 hours ago, fred8033 said:

I'm always interested in policies and procedures.  Weird, but true.  My projects often live and die with how to interpret policies and procedures. 

I've read much of the document now.  I would have guessed an OA Conclave was not subject to the document to the BSA Accreditation subjects, rather just G2SS.  Not council organized.  Each OA lodge has it's own conclave with it's own personnel.   If it does apply, it seems  you need to know the answer in advance to know how to interpret this guide.  The guide itself is not a clean statement of what's in scope.

Seriously asking:  How do I interpret the 2021 version?  OA conclaves?  OA work weekends?  Troop camp-outs?   Do we need a dietician to review the meal menus our scouts create for their patrols?  

 

I misunderstood the initial post to be about the fellowship.  I'm not that familiar with OA, but the NCAP SA-001 will guide you for the standard that apply to most event.  When I did the Short Term Camp Administrator training, there was specific mention that certain things like OA conclaves that involve more than one council will be different.  Your OA weekend -  Short Term Camp and the NCAP standards will apply.  Troop Camp  Out - not a council organized event, so refer back to the Guide to Safe Scouting.  Patrol Event - that's a unit event, GTSS applies.

The real fun comes in the adult training area.  Our BALOO and IOLS weekend is now considered a short term camp that requires a health officer, etc.  I do Cub Scout shooting sports and there are some new changes for us as well when it comes to doing events at our council's camp or off site.  It's been an interesting experience.  I took one of the earliest national level virtual trainings in December and the changes went into effect on January 1st!  Locally we are all still trying to sort this stuff out. 

This NCAP circular has a lot more info on the "why" and implementation.  Our council NCAP guru pointed it out to me when we were doing the training and it helped give more context on the "why" of some of the changes.

https://www.scouting.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/NCAP-Circular-No-15.pdf

[mrjohns2]

OA weekends - yes. This includes LLD. 

Conclave? I just read through the standards. National Training weekends, yes. Council sponsored activities, including the National Council? Yes. I think the Conclave's host council/lodge would be the ones to head this up. It is a council event that invites other lodges/councils.