Fall Recruiting

[5thGenTexan]

29 minutes ago, mrjohns2 said:

How are your packs getting the word out about join nights? We did a table at school open houses, but had very few interested. 

1)  We have one of those old marquee side of the road sign things.  I had that out on the side of the road by ou  Scout Hut advertising last nights meeting.

2) The DE and another District Volunteer are going in EACH classroom in the District and talking to the kids, then they send a flyer home with the information for the Scout night meeting.  There is a unique QR Code on that flyer that goes directly to online registration for the Unit, just in case they cant come to the meeting in person.

3) That flyer the kids got at school, I got an electronic version I plastered on the community FB pages just in case they didnt see it.

 

We also did a table at Meet the Teacher and got 22 interested families that night.  We need to look at that list AND the families that registered last night to see how close they are.

[Eagle1993]

We have been pretty much banned from any easy recruiting at schools.  No flyers, no signs, no scout talks no announcements, nothing.  It has killed recruiting.  What we have been able to do is find parent emails and put info up on next door and Facebook.  While that helps, it pales in comparison to what we have been able to get in the past. 
 

JSN is late Sept for our Pack… we are hopeful to see a rebound as we need to refresh our volunteer ranks. 

[CynicalScouter]

1 hour ago, Eagle1993 said:

We have been pretty much banned from any easy recruiting at schools.

If you want to get litigious about it, there's a federal law that prohibits that kind of conduct.

https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/boyscouts.html

 

Overview of the Law

On January 8, 2002, President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Part of No Child Left Behind is the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act, Section 9525 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by Section 901 of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (the Boy Scouts Act), which applies to public elementary and secondary schools, local educational agencies (LEAs), and State educational agencies (SEAs) that receive funds made available through the Department of Education. Under the Boy Scouts Act, which became effective on January 8, 2002, no such public school, LEA or SEA that provides an opportunity for one or more outside youth or community groups to meet on school premises or in school facilities before or after school hours shall deny equal access or a fair opportunity to meet to, or discriminate against, any group officially affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America, or any other youth group listed in Title 36 of the United States Code as a patriotic society.

OCR is charged with enforcing the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act. Complaints alleging violations of this law may be filed using the OCR online complaint form or by contacting the OCR office with authority to handle complaints where the institution or entity you are complaining about is located.

• 10-13-04: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM)
• 3-25-02: "Dear Colleague" letter
• 11-15-02: Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM)

[Armymutt]

We held an Open House with the PWD track and some cars, stomp rockets, and other activities set up.  CC had a table with information for parents.  I made a flyer in Power Point and blasted it on every local social media site I could find, starting 6 weeks out.  We got a last minute spot at a local school that was having an open house the week before.  Spent the hours before it getting flyers printed at council and then meeting our DE two towns away to get the flyers.  A DL and myself, along with our 4 kids went to the school, found an empty table and set cute aggressive kids to talk to every person that walked into the school.  Handed out 75 flyers.  We had 6 kids come to the open house from all of that.  Two came back last week, ready to join.  We also picked up 4 kids due to military moves.  Over all, our pack went from 9 kids to 14 in a week.  We may lose 1 next week when I explain to his mom that either she is the Bear DL or he doesn't have one - only Bear we have.  From the new parents, I have a Pack Secretary, an ACM, and a Tiger DL who might have to miss meeting due to Army work and Tiger ADL who doesn't want an official title, but is willing to be really involved.  I'll take it.  Now to start assigning other roles to other parents - like B&G planner and PWD Planner.

[Eagle1993]

14 hours ago, CynicalScouter said:

If you want to get litigious about it, there's a federal law that prohibits that kind of conduct.

https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/boyscouts.html

 

Overview of the Law

On January 8, 2002, President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Part of No Child Left Behind is the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act, Section 9525 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by Section 901 of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (the Boy Scouts Act), which applies to public elementary and secondary schools, local educational agencies (LEAs), and State educational agencies (SEAs) that receive funds made available through the Department of Education. Under the Boy Scouts Act, which became effective on January 8, 2002, no such public school, LEA or SEA that provides an opportunity for one or more outside youth or community groups to meet on school premises or in school facilities before or after school hours shall deny equal access or a fair opportunity to meet to, or discriminate against, any group officially affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America, or any other youth group listed in Title 36 of the United States Code as a patriotic society.

OCR is charged with enforcing the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act. Complaints alleging violations of this law may be filed using the OCR online complaint form or by contacting the OCR office with authority to handle complaints where the institution or entity you are complaining about is located.

• 10-13-04: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM)
• 3-25-02: "Dear Colleague" letter
• 11-15-02: Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM)

I think they are close to violating this; however, they have pretty much banned all outside groups which probably makes them safe from lawsuits.  We can reserve rooms (which we do) but we cannot have access to kids during the school day or have any posters, provide materials, etc.  Our schools don't even provide public class lists like most do.  We have a lot of lawyers in our community ....

[DuctTape]

The equal access is for meetings and use of facilities and does NOT mandate schools to provide for recruitment activities to students during the school day. In years past, students were sometimes handed flyers/applications in school by their teachers or others and/or recruitment tables were set up in the cafeteria during lunch. Most (all?) public schools do not allow any of these for any outside organizations. 

[DuctTape]

3 hours ago, Eagle1993 said:

I think they are close to violating this; however, they have pretty much banned all outside groups which probably makes them safe from lawsuits.  We can reserve rooms (which we do) but we cannot have access to kids during the school day or have any posters, provide materials, etc.  Our schools don't even provide public class lists like most do.  We have a lot of lawyers in our community ....

And you (nor anyone else) should have access to students during the school day.

[mrjohns2]

18 minutes ago, DuctTape said:

Most (all?) public schools do not allow any of these for any outside organizations. 

This is not true. Many schools in our council allow this. It may be a local thing for you and for me. 

[DuctTape]

6 minutes ago, mrjohns2 said:

This is not true. Many schools in our council allow this. It may be a local thing for you and for me. 

That is surprising. None that I am aware of provide access to students during school itself.

[yknot]

14 minutes ago, DuctTape said:

That is surprising. None that I am aware of provide access to students during school itself.

I would say it is generally localized now but coming to a school near you soon. A lot of this is the continued aftermath of the Sandy Hook school shooting and other subsequent events. We've discussed this in other posts but this is why many schools and grounds are completely monitored by video cameras and why many now have security guards and hardened exteriors. Over the past 20 years I went from being able to roam local schools almost at will if I was known to the administration. Now, parents are not allowed in schools. There are no parent volunteers. No more helping at field day or running a PTA holiday shop.  You cannot have access to school children during the school day. After school, the facility is still locked and you can only get in with your student if you are attending practice or some other event. Even our student pickup is outside. I know people think this is somehow a conspiracy against scouting but it is not. Some school districts are not yet this extreme but it is only a matter of time.  

[mrjohns2]

<re-read, agreed with @David CO's critique, deleted>

Edited September 5, 2021 by mrjohns2

[David CO]

11 minutes ago, mrjohns2 said:

You keep making these blanket statements. 
 

None of what you say is true in our district of 26 grade schools or the surrounding districts. 

This criticism is undeserved.  The post began by saying it is generally localized now.  No blanket statement was made or inferred.  Just a prediction.

 

38 minutes ago, yknot said:

I would say it is generally localized now but coming to a school near you soon. 

 

Edited September 5, 2021 by David CO

[DuctTape]

1 hour ago, yknot said:

I would say it is generally localized now but coming to a school near you soon. A lot of this is the continued aftermath of the Sandy Hook school shooting and other subsequent events. We've discussed this in other posts but this is why many schools and grounds are completely monitored by video cameras and why many now have security guards and hardened exteriors. Over the past 20 years I went from being able to roam local schools almost at will if I was known to the administration. Now, parents are not allowed in schools. There are no parent volunteers. No more helping at field day or running a PTA holiday shop.  You cannot have access to school children during the school day. After school, the facility is still locked and you can only get in with your student if you are attending practice or some other event. Even our student pickup is outside. I know people think this is somehow a conspiracy against scouting but it is not. Some school districts are not yet this extreme but it is only a matter of time.  

Our area schools stopped handing out applications, etc... decades ago. I believe it was the influx of club sports. It used to be Scouts and Little League only, but then other club sports started springing up and they all wanted equal time and access to do presentations and have teachers hand out flyers. Districts not wanting to get in the middle began to make policies for "none".

[David CO]

23 minutes ago, DuctTape said:

Districts not wanting to get in the middle began to make policies for "none".

It wasn't just that.  Teachers were complaining that these presentations and handouts were taking up too much valuable learning time.  Students are at school to learn.

[5thGenTexan]

2 hours ago, DuctTape said:

That is surprising. None that I am aware of provide access to students during school itself.

As I said above.  Our DE went to each classroom and talked about 5 minutes.  This is what he does in all the schools in our District.  Then the kids get a flyer to take home.  Then we have SNFS in the school cafeteria on a different night.