New Scoutmaster in Maine

[Maboot38]

48 minutes ago, Armymutt said:

A 5-Scout troop is doable.  I know a troop near St. Louis that hasn't had much more than that for the past 25 years.  It actually made logistics easy.  You'll have to coach the kids a bit more if they are inexperienced, but it can be fun.  As far as resources, what do you mean?  

Resources in this case:

• Meeting Location/Meeting Night
• Trailer
• Outdoor gear (cooking gear, canopies, etc.)

They are HEAVILY embedded in the boy trop, which would require an extraction....and I get the sense that the girl SM (who has agreed to follow my lead, but may now be second guessing now that I've highlighted that our current situation isn't sustainable) and the girls really don't want to be extracted from the rest of the scouts in our town. I'm working to see if we can introduce them to a neighboring troop 30 minutes away, but driving 5 minutes to scouts is more appealing than driving 30 minutes to scouts.

[AwakeEnergyScouter]

15 minutes ago, Maboot38 said:

I get the sense that the girl SM (...) and the girls really don't want to be extracted from the rest of the scouts in our town. 

Makes sense. Why go to lots of trouble to segregate yourselves from your fellow scouts?

[Maboot38]

12 minutes ago, AwakeEnergyScouter said:

Makes sense. Why go to lots of trouble to segregate yourselves from your fellow scouts?

Yup, I get why they feel that way. I also get that it's not the way things are supposed to work. That's the tightrope I'm walking. 

[AwakeEnergyScouter]

YMMV, of course, but if I were in your shoes I would take the tack of what you said earlier about not crushing their enthusiasm for scouting and just focus on getting the right number of the right people in the kitchen. Then again it's really hard for me to see the problem with everyone scouting together since that's my status quo. The lack of patrol method, however, is most certainly a real problem for their scouting experience.

[qwazse]

Welcome to the forums!

So, here is what I’d do (from experience being a crew advisor tightly linked to a troop):

I would insist on being on both rosters. Register as an ASM in the partner troop, and  have the partner SM register as an ASM in your troop. This makes it imperative that each of you are accountable for every youth’s personal growth, and youth can conference together with either of you as needed.

Both SM’s need to have comparable training. Make it so ASAP.

Physical distance between patrols and from adults on camp outs works wonders. If you have an open area (e.g. a mowed field) 300’ is ideal.

PLCs have to be held jointly, and you and the other SM must listen on these far more than you talk. That’s the only way to ensure that younger scouts are being treated equally while segregated by sex.

Patrols have names, not numbers. They have flags and yells too.

Those are basics. If you get those rolling in the next few months, you’ll have accomplished much.

[Maboot38]

3 hours ago, qwazse said:

Welcome to the forums!

So, here is what I’d do (from experience being a crew advisor tightly linked to a troop):

I would insist on being on both rosters. Register as an ASM in the partner troop, and  have the partner SM register as an ASM in your troop. This makes it imperative that each of you are accountable for every youth’s personal growth, and youth can conference together with either of you as needed.

Both SM’s need to have comparable training. Make it so ASAP.

Physical distance between patrols and from adults on camp outs works wonders. If you have an open area (e.g. a mowed field) 300’ is ideal.

PLCs have to be held jointly, and you and the other SM must listen on these far more than you talk. That’s the only way to ensure that younger scouts are being treated equally while segregated by sex.

Patrols have names, not numbers. They have flags and yells too.

Those are basics. If you get those rolling in the next few months, you’ll have accomplished much.

Indeed! This has been my playbook since I started just under a month ago!

I've asked to submit an adult leader application for the girl troop and be added as an admin in their scoutbook.

I've got all the position training and then some. I know the other SM has the in person training because we did it together. Not sure about the online position trained stuff, but I feel that's where the real meat is. 

For the physical distance of patrols...YES!!! I've already started acquiring a mobile patrol box from another troop, and we will be making copies to give each patrol mobile independence (can't really have independent patrols with only one stove and 1 set of 3 pot method cleaning supplies!!).

PLC is currently held jointly....but the problem is we have two SPLs in that case. I have asked them to take turns running the meeting to see how that goes.

I have tasked each patrol with selecting/designing a patrol emblem, which I have promised I'll have custom made if they want, and which I really hope will encourage patrol unity. I've even formed an adult patrol "The Moxie Patrol" that will enable the adults to avoid average scout fare, and will hopefully provide a level of cooking excellence the scouts can aspire to!  Finding the patrol patch for the Moxie patrol has turned out to be quite the challenge though. (Yes, Moxie the soda. It's a Maine thing. IYKYK.)

So for me...the basics ARE my 90 day plan!

[DuctTape]

One benefit you have, is that you can "start at zero" to rebuild. I have found this useful in the past: 

 

http://inquiry.net/patrol/green_bar/index.htm

[OaklandAndy]

21 hours ago, DuctTape said:

One benefit you have, is that you can "start at zero" to rebuild. I have found this useful in the past: 

 

http://inquiry.net/patrol/green_bar/index.htm

I think a lot of us had this opportunity after covid. 

[Eagledad]

My experience is older scouts are stubborn about change. Much easier to kind of let them keep their old habits while starting change with the new scouts. It takes a little creativity, but can be done.

Barry