SiouxRanger Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 Well, now, I may need to back up-how I hate doing that. I need to check with a fellow volunteer to determine if the COR's voted at a "Council Meeting" or an "Executive Board" meeting. I don't recall any particular differentiation, but I may need to stand corrected. I will update after my investigations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiouxRanger Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 9 hours ago, yknot said: Today No Wi Fi = No Adults = No Camp LOL At our camp, we have instituted Wi-Fi for the sole reason of allowing adults to connect to work and family so that they could keep in touch and feel comfortable being at camp. In fact, just a few years ago, in the adult training center building at my camp, there was a single duplex outlet for ALL adults in camp that week to charge their phones. Maybe 60 adults had to wait in line for one of two plus-ins. Noting that deficiency, our camp installed charging stations which could charge 6 phones at a time at every program area with power, so now, there are 90 plug-ins throughout camp. As an adult follows a scout group about the camp, the adult can charge his or her phone anywhere the scouts go for program (with a few exceptions which are located between charging stations). Just a dumb and simple improvement, but the Number One most favorable comment on adult evaluations of summer camp. No phone charging stations = No Adults = No Camp. And the invasion of power has not stopped there. We have run power to at least one campsite. At first blush, sounds ludicrous, but many adult leaders now use CPAP machines at night and they need power, so to accommodate their needs to permit them to attend camp, we have run power to at least one campsite. Several more campsites are likely to be so outfitted. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skeptic Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 1 hour ago, T2Eagle said: I'm a COR, what the verbiage in my previous post means in practice is that I attend the annual Council meeting. At that meeting various proposals concerning the By Laws, Officer Appointments, council and board membership, etc. are voted on. The real action however happens in the monthly Executive Board meetings. So, I attended the annual meeting at the beginning of the year, where I was briefed on the then state of the bankruptcy, LC Ad Hoc Committee, etc. Since that time the executive board has met monthly, but I and the other CORs are not part of that meeting; so I've received no direct information about how much my LC needs to pay into the trust, or how they plan to do that. To truly take control of the council, the CORs would need to get together at the annual meeting and force themselves or their desires onto the exec board. This happened a decade or more ago at the Chicago area council, but I haven't heard of it at any other time or place. It happened decades ago now in the old Great Western Council. A COR got miffed and spent a great amount of time gathering other COR's to attend in force. They summarily booted the Executive and his assistant. But it took him a long time to gather the troops, so to speak, and the mess had been brewing for a while. I would need to check the state laws regarding banning voting members from the inner sanctum, so to speak. Not sure that is legal, though it may be as long as a decision requiring a vote is not made without all voting members notified. It is also mostly true that the CO seldom seems to care beyond his own group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrjohns2 Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 Yes, CORs are voting council members with seats on the district board. Thus their only “power” is on council wide votes and any bylaw provision that may or may not allow them to bring forth a motion “from the floor”. The council board and council executive board are approved by the voting members. I believe, though, those who hold the positions are chosen by a “nominating committee” which is like a pollitt bureau. Cuba and the Soviet Union had elections. No contested positions, but they were elected. 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred8033 Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 14 hours ago, SiouxRanger said: No phone charging stations = No Adults = No Camp. I often argue our expectations of the scouts should parallel the expectations of the adults. If no phone charging stations means no adults, I'm not surprised at all that our youth membership is dropping. ... BUT ... that's another debate that's been had many many times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThenNow Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 12 minutes ago, fred8033 said: I often argue our expectations of the scouts should parallel the expectations of the adults. If no phone charging stations means no adults, I'm not surprised at all that our youth membership is dropping. ... BUT ... that's another debate that's been had many many times. I know why we need phones for safety purposes and adult connection to work and family, but why does a Scout need a phone at camp? I’m glad I couldn’t search the web for lashing or Barred Owl mating calls or reflector oven biscuits or raccoon scat identification or any one of a 1000++ other video tutorials I could now fetch up. For me, as both a Scout and camp staffer, seems it would have been totally disruptive (and even destructive) of the positive things I took away from camping, Summer Camp particularly. No? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle94-A1 Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 17 minutes ago, ThenNow said: I know why we need phones for safety purposes and adult connection to work and family, but why does a Scout need a phone at camp? Cell phone is now a required device for an emergency kit for Emergency Preparedness MB. Troop had a "no phones at camp policy" and several Scouts came to us saying the E Prep would not sign them off unless they had a cell phone in their kits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yknot Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 I keep saying that cell phones are the new Swiss army knife -- just a utilitarian item that can be used correctly or incorrectly. I think this is one of the areas where BSA has to catch up with current life. We used to argue about it in our units but within the past decade attitudes changed drastically for several reasons: 1) Adult volunteers cannot afford to be detached from work or personal life on a regular basis. It's just the reality today. Too much stuff happens. It's very hard to recruit adult volunteers on camp outs without wi fi or at least cell service. 2) Cell phones are considered a personal safety item as Eagle94 notes. It is almost considered negligent not to have one on you. 3) Some parents refuse to send kids on camp outs or to camp without their cell phones for youth protection reasons. Many families also use apps like Life360 to actually keep tabs on their kids' locations. 4) Some of the campgrounds require adult cell phone numbers for emergency text alerts. There probably needs to be a requirement added on the appropriate and safe use of cell phones in scouting similar to knife and fire safety. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeaconLance Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 46 minutes ago, ThenNow said: I know why we need phones for safety purposes and adult connection to work and family, but why does a Scout need a phone at camp? I’m glad I couldn’t search the web for lashing or Barred Owl mating calls or reflector oven biscuits or raccoon scat identification or any one of a 1000++ other video tutorials I could now fetch up. For me, as both a Scout and camp staffer, seems it would have been totally disruptive (and even destructive) of the positive things I took away from camping, Summer Camp particularly. No? Scoutbook, the Scout Handbook, Merit Badge pamphlets are all digital now. It’s 2021, phones are a tool and reference. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrjohns2 Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 16 minutes ago, yknot said: I keep saying that cell phones are the new Swiss army knife -- just a utilitarian item that can be used correctly or incorrectly. This is the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThenNow Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 23 minutes ago, yknot said: I keep saying that cell phones are the new Swiss army knife -- just a utilitarian item that can be used correctly or incorrectly. I get it, "why" vs. "why." I'll exit this part of the conversation saying I'm glad I learned what I know live and not from a Youtuber goober. (If you guys have cool videos there, I mean no offense. Low hanging rhyme I couldn't pass up.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuctTape Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 Almost all areas I go backpacking there is no cell service. It is imperative that we also ensure scouts know more than just "use the cell phone". 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThenNow Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, ThenNow said: 1 hour ago, yknot said: I keep saying that cell phones are the new Swiss army knife -- just a utilitarian item that can be used correctly or incorrectly. I get it, "why" vs. "why." I'll exit this part of the conversation saying I'm glad I learned what I know live and not from a Youtuber goober. (If you guys have cool videos there, I mean no offense. Low hanging rhyme I couldn't pass up.) PS - Lied about that “exit, stage left.” (Nod to Snagglepuss.) The videos I WILL watch are any you can direct me to where you’re opening a coke bottle, boring a hole in a stick through which you can thread a leather thong, whittling or opening a can of beans with a phone. I will be mesmerized and watch with rapt attention and awe. iPhone or Android, your preference. “I don’t care who you are. That’s funny right there.” Attribution withheld to protect my image. Edited July 21, 2021 by ThenNow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yknot Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 40 minutes ago, DuctTape said: It is imperative that we also ensure scouts know more than just "use the cell phone". I think that's obvious. And what better place for kids to learn the best ways to use a tool like a cell phone than scouts. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuctTape Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 50 minutes ago, yknot said: I think that's obvious. And what better place for kids to learn the best ways to use a tool like a cell phone than scouts. Not sure about how obvious my comment is. Often what I think is obvious or self-evident apparently isn't. Agreed that scouts is the best place to learn it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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