What is District Committee ??

[johnnylaw101]

I've been asked to serve on the District Committee...

 

I have no idea what the responsibilities are.... Right now I'm just a mere Den Leader....

 

What do District Committee members do? What am I looking at?

[GKlose]

Councils are split up into districts. Ideally, each district will have a professional (a District Executive who reports to the council's Scout Executive) and a number of volunteers that make up the group that oversees the district. The District Executive (DE), the District Chair and the District Commissioner make up what are called the Key-3.

 

The District Chair oversees a committee, all of whom are volunteers. I'll probably forget a few, but you have subcommittees that cover advancement, activities, finance and membership. Ideally, each of those subcommittees has multiple members, although some districts have only one person in those slots.

 

There is an old thread on this forum that talks about the visibility of the district committee. Suffice it to say that in some districts, unit leaders don't necessarily know or care about what their district committees do, while in other districts the committee is highly visible.

 

Our district kind of sits in the middle. We actively plan activities (Cub Scout events, such as a district Pinewood Derby; spring and fall camporees and a Klondike Derby in January for Boy Scouts; Scouting for Food events, etc.), we have an advancement subcommittee that oversees Eagle Scout applications and sends a rep to troop-run Eagle Boards of Review, a membership subcommittee (me) that is still trying to learn how to do the job, a non-existent finance subcommittee (and "Friends of Scouting" donations that reflect that), and a small handful of volunteers that jump in when assistance is needed.

 

Guy

[GKlose]

I should have added that our commissioner staff now seems fairly stable. They are concentrating on assisting units to get to Quality Unit status (and hence, Quality District) and we have a Roundtable commissioner that hosts monthly roundtables (attendance is hit and miss).

[John-in-KC]

GKlose got the 90% solution

 

To amplify, the District Committee is a grouping of Operating Committees, which he described. They're the folks who help organize what Scouting does to support Packs, Troops, teams, and Crews in the greater community.

 

Have you been asked serve on a specific element of the District Committee? We could focus better if we knew that.

 

BTW, you're not a mere Den Leader. You're a front-line unit serving Scouter, working directly with the youth. All the rest of the adult system of Scouting serves to have your back. THANK YOU for being a DL. Your young men will appreciate it

[ghermanno]

As J-in-KC said: you are NOT just a DL. A DL is a very important job. As far as the District position, it depends what the position they are offering is. You need to find out what position it is first. Also, you will have to decide if you have the time for the position as well as DL. All positions in the BSA are important (for diferent reasons) but they are basically to support the front line (SM/ASM, DL/ADL, CM/ACM). If we do not have people working with the boys, we don't need adults as we will not exist.

 

Once you know what position they want you to fill, let us know and we can give specifics about that job. It would not do to tell you what is required for the District Advancment Chair or the Outdoor Chair if you are volunteering for Training Chair or on the Finance Committee.

 

Let us know.

 

YiS,

 

Rick

[emb021]

Some other additions.

 

There is a small booklet on what the District is called "The District" (#33070). there is another called "The Council" (#33071). These books help explain what the council & district does in a general way, but each council can be a little different.

 

A new book is "District Operation: A Handbook for District Operations" (#34739). There is ALSO a full day training session for District volunteers. But not all councils are good at providing it.

 

In most cases, the District Committee has people who mirror many council committees: Training, Advancement, Camping, PR, etc. In pretty much all cases, these district people automatically sit on the council committees.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that seldom is one just 'on the district committee'. Most are there for a particular job. Have you been asked to do a particular job? Do you know what you will specifically be doing? That's kind of important.

 

[GKlose]

Oops, as Rick and emb021 pointed out, I forgot training. I think that's because even though we have a training chair, he doesn't come to district committee meetings and he only does CS training. Other training is left for other districts. :-)

 

Our district committee meetings usually take about two hours, once a month. In our district, some of the chairs don't do anything besides show up to district committee meetings. As the chair of the membership committee, I seem to have "seasons" (CS Roundup, Webelos-to-Scout transition, BS year-round recruiting, etc), and I at least try to have something to report since the prior month's meeting. Right now, the "membership subcommittee" is the DE and me. We talk frequently by email, and meet for lunch occasionally, so we don't have membership meetings otherwise.

 

The activities guys, for example, are very busy. They have about one event a month, so there is always something to plan. My own personal goal has been to get them to do that planning outside of the district committee meeting so that they can just do a quick presentation at the monthly meeting, rather than bog down the whole meeting with the minutia of their planning. On months where "Activities" were cooperating, the district committee meetings were just a little over an hour.

 

Guy

[johnnylaw101]

Thanks to everyone for the information so far.

 

I have not been told what subcomittee I'm going to be put on.

 

Are volunteers usually put on just one, or more than one subcommittee??

 

I just registered as a DL in May... hence whey I called myself just a mere DL. :-) I think of myself as a Lieutenant with a platoon.... answerable to the Majors, Colonels and Generals above me. I like working with "My boys" as I paternally call them.... And I dont want to jeperdize that relationship by taking on more than I can handle.

[John-in-KC]

Your model of Scouting is wrong

 

This is not a command hierarchy, by and large. That's all the more so at the unit level.

 

Think of units like you would think of Kentucky Fried Chicken: Someone buys a franchise to operate. KFC Inc furnishes supplies and training. The owner makes it happen. That's the business model of Scouting at unit level.

 

You are the fron-line of Scouting. You, your fellows, and your CM are the folks delivering the program, week-in, week-out. You're vital, without folks like you, Cub Scouting does not happen.

 

Given what you've said, I'd ask for some more information before accepting the assignment. District Committees are not globs of people pooled ad hoc. They are folks who help provide Scoutings support to unit serving folks like yourself. Ask what the District Chairman or your DE wants you to do. If he does not have a clue, respectfully pass at the moment. From my experience, that's a foreshadowing of a dysfunctional group. You don't need to waste time in dysfunction.

 

OTOH, if he has a good idea of what he wants you to do, go for it.