uninvolved charter organization

[Koda]

When my son became a member of our pack two years ago I immediately volunteered to be den leader because of the positive influence scouting had on my life (I'm an eagle scout). What I didn't know going into it was that the pack was failing. There was no pack committee, no unit commissioner, no trained leaders (except me and one other den leader), no charter organization representative, and the cubmaster treated the scouts like they were in the Marine corps.

Now it's 2 years later. A pack committee has been formed, the leaders are trained, and now I'm the cubmaster (I just finished the woodbadge expierience and I'm working my ticket). Things are improving all the time. The one key position that were trying to get filled is the charter organization representative position. The CO is the elementary school PTO. The only support they offer is providing a place to hold our meetings. I would like them to take a more active role in choosing leaders, promoting the pack, and suggesting service projects. My committee chair and I have met with them about this matter but they still remain uninvolved and we still don't have a COR.

What is my next step?

[scoutldr]

COntact your DE. He is supposed to maintain a relationship with all CORs and monitor things. Also call your District Commissioner and ask him/her when you can expect a visit from a Unit COmmissioner. THey are the ones to meet with the CO and explain their responsibilities. Could be that with the turnover of PTO leadership every year, there is no corporate memory from when the Pack was formed. They need to be re-educated. Don't be surprised if you end up looking for a new CO. Some don't want to be involved any more than they are, so you have to weigh your options.

 

Another suggestion: Your CC should request to meet with the PTO Board at least once a year to deliver a "State of the Pack" report. Make sure they are invited to all activities, esp the BG Banquet. When leaders earn their "knots", have the President of the PTO make the presentation. Make sure it's your Cubs who present the flags, or do other service (in full uniform, of course!) at every PTO meeting. A little communication and visibility can do wonders. Let them know that their interest is expected!(This message has been edited by scoutldr)

[eagle90]

Koda -

 

We have been dealing withthis same situation for the 51 years our troop has been in business. The parent's organization is a name on the charter only, and that is the way they want it to be. They "provide" the meeting place, but in actuality, we get that thru the school administration, not the CO. They do not even appoint a COR. That is our job, they say. They do not even respond to invitations to dinners, eagle ceremonies, etc. We have offered to do ser5vioce projects, and get no response. So we do our own thing, they sign the charter, and we still provide an outstanding program for our youth. I think this is common with school/PTO sponsored units.

[Bob White]

I had a girlfriend in college who ignored me, I mean completely ignored me and here she was my girlfriend. We saw each other every day. We talked every day. She knew how much I liked her and still she ignored me.

 

Now don't get me wrong, I never actually DID anything for her, and I never actually asked her out, or went anywhere with her, and yet she still ignored me.

 

As a scoutmaster the CO of the troop I served ignored us. They knew we existed, they even talked to us, but still they ignored us. Having learned my lesson from college I took a different approach.

 

Every Sunday just before sevice began, the troop was in the church yard (unannounced)in full uniform picking up litter, sweeping the walk, holding the door for people. We showed up at church dinners and activities hanging up coats, carrying food inside for people, holding doors open, and saying hello.

 

We starting to do random acts of kindness for our CO. Before long we had people taking notice, talking to the boys, asking about our activities. Finally the associate pastor called me to see what was going on. I reminded him that we took an oath to help other people at all times, and since charity begins at home we decided that the members of the church deserved our help, then I added... we hope someday the church might feel the same way about us.

 

The next week we had an opportuntiy to speak the Session, the board of the chuch. I took the SPL in with me and had him explain all the the things we had done in the last 6 months and the things we have planned for the next 6. I then got up and told them how proud we were as a troop to represent to the community the spirit and the character of this church, and I thanked them for their continued support of building faith and character in our youth by the use of the scouting program. I then presented a check for $50 from the troop for a campership to help send a youth to church camp next summer.

 

This was our first date together. That was 25 years ago this year and they scouting program is still strong there and the church still treats the troop as their unit. The scouts still help at church activities, the church gives the troop several hundred dollars a year for eqipment purchases, And has been recognized by the council as one of the most outstanding COS in the council. The pastor is now an active member on the council executive committee.

 

You have to do something nice to get noticed. You need to clean yourself up and go on a few dates if you expect a relationship. You have to nurture the relationship if you want it to be long lasting.

 

 

 

[NJCubScouter]

Koda: I was a parent and then a leader in a pack whose CO was the PTO of the school attended (through grade 3) by almost all of the boys in the pack. I could write a book -- well, maybe just a pamphlet -- about that relationship and what was done right and wrong on each "side" and how things could have been better. But one thing I always noticed is that, just by the laws of probability, at least one of the two co-presidents of the PTO almost always had a son in the pack. In other words, the IH (head of the chartered organization) was a parent in the pack. It was probably always the case that at least one member of the PTO executive board was either a den leader or assistant cubmaster, or the spouse of one.

 

In other words, the basis of communication was right there in the intertwined relationship between the membership and leadership of the CO, and the parent-membership (and sometimes leadership) of the pack. Now, if one were to ask me whether that relationship was sufficiently "taken advantage of" for the benefit of both the pack and the PTO, my answer would be no, it wasn't. As I hinted before, things could have been a lot better. But, Koda, if your situation was anything like mine, you and your CC may have the opportunity to improve the situation, without waiting for some inaccessible IH to have a moment to spare in his/her busy schedule, because the IH may be sitting in your pack meeting room watching his/her son doing a skit.

[Lynda J]

Our CO is not very involved with the unit. Pack or Troop. They have chartered us for almost 50 years and from what we understand have always been pretty much hands off. They furnish us two wonderful building to meet in. One smaller for the pack and the troop uses the main building.

Our CR is easy to access if we need something.

I would prefer it this way than like some where the CO tries to set the program for the unit. I have seen that too. They do send a rep to our COH.

 

[SeattlePioneer]

I'm Unit Commissioner for a Cub Pack chartered by an elementary school PTA and also for a Scout Troop chartered by a Lutheran Church.

 

I've been considering what I should do to maintain and improve the relationship between these units and their Chartered Organizations.

 

The Scout Troop helps out once/month with the church's no cost community meal. A number of the Scouts, Scouters and parents turn out once/month to help serve the meal, bus and wash dishes. Three months ago we began a practice of monthly Troop Committee meetings beginning at noon on the day of the community meal, with the meal beginning at 1:00 PM.

 

We also had a Scout Sunday service at the church. A couple of parishoners in the small congregation pointedly thanked the troop for the help provided at the community meals.

 

I met the Chatered Organization Rep at the Scout Sunday service, he an ex Scout but 84 years of age. I called him a few days ago and invited him to attend our District Recognition Dinner as my guest, but he declined saying that he rarely went out due to his age.

 

The Institutional Head is an ex Scout who spent 18 years in Explorer Search and Rescue, and talked to me wistfully of rejoining Scouting at his old troop, which isn't far away. I later invited him to give demonstration on splinting bones for the Troop first aid theme, but he never returned my calls. I may talk to him further about a role in the Troop or Scouting at the next community meal, tomorrow. If I'd been thinking a little faster, I would have invited him to the District Recognition Dinner, but I didn't think about that until it was too late --for this year, anyway.

 

 

I joined the PTA chartering the Cub Pack, and attended several meeting in uniform since last fall. The PTA has a spaghtti dinner before the school Open House in October, and last year they almost cancelled it due to lack of volunteers to put on the dinner.

 

A month or so ago, the Pack Committee agreed to sponsor and organize the spaghetti feed next October for the PTA. It will be a great and visible service project, a recruiting vehicle and a big help for the PTA. Last month I attended the PTA meeting in uniform to volunteer the Packs services for that project, and was warmly received, as you might imagine.

 

The Principal of the school has been warmly supportive of the Cub Pack, and an informal goal of mine is to imagine that someday she will be sitting around with other Principals who are complaining about the lack of people helping the schools. OUR principal would then pipe up that they need to sponsor a Cub Pack in their schools to get the help they need!

 

The Scout Troop is volunteering to put on a stationary bicycle race at the elementary school carnival/fundraiser June 10th. This will be both a service project and an important recruiting effort, since we will be taking names, addresses and ages of boys competing and then following up to invite them into the troop.

 

In short, I'm working to make the Scouting program fill useful roles for both chartered organizations. This is probably especially important in the PTA, since some individual could always lead an attack on Scouting, especially if no one from Scouting is paying attention.

 

One issue I'm contemplating is who the Pack should support as the Chartered Organization Rep. Last December, our Pack Committee Chair was appointed to that position so we could recharter, but that person's child is ageing out of Cub Scouting in a couple of weeks.

 

My guess is that the PTA will be glad to name whomever we might recommend to that position ---which probably means whoever I might recommend, since I'm attending the meetings.

 

So I'm soliciting advice on this point---

 

I'm not aware that the Pack has anyone regularly attending PTA meetings other than myself. Should I aim to recruit a parent to be our spy er, representative at the PTA, and to be the COR? I've considered seeking appointment as the COR myself, thinking that it might be fun and interesting to do a really good job at that usually neglected position. But I just discovered last night that my District appointed me as the District Membership Chair, which threatens to reduce my playtime!

 

Should I take an active role in selecting a COR from among parents in the Pack or simply allow this to be an afterthought by the PTA? I'm imagining that I might find a person with good organizational skills and an interest in the PTA who is also willing to go through Scout training (I suppose they have training for CORs?)

 

It strikes me that a Trained COR, who has a definite interest in the Pack and can offer help to the PTA might be someone really sitting in the cat bird's seat. If they have wisdom and good judgement, they could help supervise the Pack and insist that Pack leader do Cub Scouting in desireable ways, get leaders trained and such. I've never HEARD of a COR that actually performed that kind of leadership function for a unit, but as I understand it, that's the way units are SUPPOSED to function!

 

 

 

Seattle Pioneer

 

 

[Oak Tree]

I guess I'd ask myself the question of what you hope to get from your CO. There seem to be many units where the CO is very hands-off, and it works fine for everyone. You only have so much time, and you have to prioritize where you spend it. It certainly is good to make sure you have cordial relations with whoever signs your paperwork, and to make sure that you have the same understanding about the relationship that they do. And in some situations, it can be beneficial to build the relationship up.

 

But if they're happy with a hands-off relationship, and you're happy with it, I'd probably look to some other area to see how I serve the unit more effectively.

 

Oak Tree

[Koda]

Update from original post:

 

I contacted our district executive and we had a meeting with the PTO head, the principal, about their roll in scouting. He was not aware of the responsabilities that the CO had to the pack or what the pack could provide to them in return. He was very glad that I stepped up to open the lines of communication. Now that we are talking I believe that this relationship will grow and both organizations will benefit because of it.

Reflecting on this problem I realize that this was a communication breakdown on many levels. This was the first time a DE had met with the COH for at least a decade. Someone from the CO was signing the recharter but not really paying attention to what they were signing, and there was no unit commissioner to help guide the unit in the right direction. I hope that the communication will coninue on all levels so this unit dosn't crumble to dust again.

In 2 years my son will be crossing over and me with him. I have signed up for commissioner training and will be attending commissioner college in october (WB ticket item). My plan is to be the unit commissioner for the pack after we cross over.