Scouter/Scoutmaster Award of Merit has changed...Cubmasters now eligible

[AlFansome]

Now we have the "Unit Leader Award of Merit" ... http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/512-003_WB.pdf

 

Requirements have changed, Cubmasters are eligible, and all top leaders (CM, SM, Coach or Advisor) all work off the same requirements.

 

To me, it looks like the requirements are easier with the new award compared to the program-specific requirements of the previous award (http://www.boyscouttrail.com/square-knots.asp#meritSM)

 

Anyone else have any more info? Can't find anything else online...

[Oak Tree]

Good link.

 

Where did you hear about it?

 

My immediate reaction is that this sort of makes sense from a Boy Scout/Varsity Team/Venturing Crew perspective. I see that they don't mention Sea Scouts or Skipper.

 

The 60% advancement requirement is trivial for Cubmasters, can be pretty tight for Scoutmasters, and could possibly be out of the realm of possibility for Varsity Coaches or Venturing Advisors (advancement isn't even a method of Venturing.)

 

There is no requirement that the unit earns Quality Unit, despite the fact that they start off by saying "Quality unit leadership is the key to a quality unit program". Overall for a Scoutmaster it's not obvious whether this is easier or harder - I think it might depend on your unit. When we were a very young unit, we barely got 50% of our Scouts to First Class. Now that we have bunches of older Scouts, a lot of them are happy to coast along at Star or Life until they hit 17. So now the First Class requirement is easy, but the 60% advancement is harder.

 

For a Varsity Coach, this could be much harder. Getting 50% of your Varsity Scouts to First Class was nothing. Getting 60% to advance in a year? Much less likely, and close to impossible among ours.

 

For a Venturing Advisor, I don't really know how hard it is to get 60% to advance in one year (or even what it means). My guess would be that it's much harder.

 

For a Cubmaster, this whole process seems almost like a freebie. If a Cubmaster is already getting the Cubmaster knot, I would guess this would just come along. Did we really need another knot for Cub Scout leaders to earn?

 

Getting the annual plan out seems like a good requirement.

 

Picking a successor does not strike me as quite so good. I'm sure that one of the big reasons units fold is when one unit leader leaves and no one is ready or prepared to step up. I can see this award encouraging units to have a succession plan, although you'd think you might have that somewhere else (like on the Quality Unit award, say). But I'm not really a big fan of that, either. If there's an obvious time and switch coming, then great. But otherwise, when a leader is only 18 months in, that doesn't seem like the most likely time you'd need to have a successor named. Plus, naming a successor can 1) be difficult because oftentimes no one wants to volunteer if they don't have to, 2) create awkward conversations, 3) name someone that you will later realize was not the best choice. If I had to fill this out now, it wouldn't be a pleasant chore. I might just suggest to my CC that he put his name there, knowing that it will be his job to find someone anyway.

 

I don't see any form number on this web page, no copyright, no version number or year of printing. It makes it seem not quite official. Might this be something that they are preparing to roll out? Is there any announcement as to when it takes effect?

 

If I were to redo it, I would combine the four older youth programs (Boy Scouts, Varsity Scouts, Venturing, Sea Scouts) and leave out Cub Scouts. (I don't want to see a Cubmaster's key, either, unless they turn the current CM knot into a three-year award.) I'd keep the Quality Unit requirement, although I'd put some teeth back into that program. The unit program plan is a good addition.

[Oak Tree]

I'll also point out that the current page describing the Scoutmaster Award of Merit hasn't changed, and still links to the old form.

 

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/Resources/ScoutmasterAwardofMerit.aspx

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/58-413.pdf

 

Not sure what to make of the new form.

[AlFansome]

The new form is explicity mentioned (and linked to) from http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Venturing/Awards.aspx, so it's definitely real and here, apparently.

 

Since I just finished being a Cubmaster for 2 years, I guess the "easy" part for me was in relation to a Cubmaster earning it. If you put any effort at all into it (and you have a decent program), you'll get the knot as CM.

 

 

[Eagle92]

Someone at national screwed up as #1 they left out Sea Scouts ( although an argument can be made that they are included under Venturing) and #2 the phrase "Effectively use the advancement method" doesn't apply to approx 97% of venturing units as their is NO advancement in Venturing, save the 3% involved in Sea Scouts.

 

So what to do, I'ld have my CC put a big red NA for Not Applicable since it isn't.

[scoutldr]

So is this replacing the Cubmaster Award?

[Eagle92]

Ok this is interesting. Looking up "Venturing Adavcnement" and you get only 1 true hit and that is for the Insiginia Guide. Allother hits are CS, BS and Sea Scout advancment.

 

Now type in "Venturing Awards" and you get a bunch of stuff, and from this site http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/venturing/awards.aspx they call Venturing related materials "acheivments"

[gcnphkr]

Overall for a Scoutmaster it's not obvious whether this is easier or harder - I think it might depend on your unit. When we were a very young unit, we barely got 50% of our Scouts to First Class. Now that we have bunches of older Scouts, a lot of them are happy to coast along at Star or Life until they hit 17. So now the First Class requirement is easy, but the 60% advancement is harder.

The new is much easier, at least as I interpret the old requirement. It is not that the majority of the troop is First Class, but that the majority of scouts attain it. That includes all those scouts that drop out the first year at Scout and Tenderfoot. Very hard to do, not to mention that every new scout lowers your percentage. We finally made it to 50% it takes a lot of work maintaining it. The new requirement is the unit's youth, so worse case for Boy Scouts is that you wait until after the roster is cleared at rechartering. Even without that our troop of 67 is at about 76% (81% when three of them finish their Eagle BOR next week).

[Kahuna]

"Someone at national screwed up as #1 they left out Sea Scouts ( although an argument can be made that they are included under Venturing)"

 

Agreed they screwed up and while it's a kind of insult, Sea Scout Skippers ARE part of Venturing, so whatever applies to them applies to us.

[Oak Tree]

jet526, that's an interesting interpretation.

 

As written, the current requirement is "Have a record of proper use of the Boy Scout advancement program, resulting in a majority of Boy Scouts in the troop attaining the First Class rank."

 

Since it says "a majority of Boy Scouts in the troop", I was interpreting it to mean that a majority of the Boy Scouts who are currently in the troop are First Class. It does not say "a majority of Boy Scouts who have joined the troop". Plus, in terms of logistics, it would be harder to effectively calculate the percentage as you describe it. How far back do you go? Any Scouts who have been in the troop in the last two years? Seven years? 18 months?

 

And if you say that it means a majority of Scouts need to attain First Class during the Scoutmaster's tenure, that would be effectively impossible for a new Scoutmaster in our troop today. Over two-thirds of our troop is already First Class. Even with a new class of Webelos crossing over, there aren't enough Scouts who could possibly earn First Class in 18 months.

 

While the council would theoretically have the data to check this award, I strongly suspect that in my council they just take the committee chair's word that the percentage has been attained.

[moxieman]

Oak Tree asked: "Did we really need another knot for Cub Scout leaders to earn?"

 

I'd like to ask the very same thing. There's a separate knot award for every position in BSA Cub Scouting, but there isn't a similar system for Boy Scout Leaders. So, yes, do we really need another Cub Leader knot, or will this knot replace the Cubmaster Award? And I forsee that we'll have to start wearing more of those annoying little "devices" to denote how we earned the knot in question like with the Scoutmaster/Commissioner/Committee/Venturing/whatever-they-think-of-next Key Award (the green/white knot).

 

[Eagle92]

Speaking of devices i got 3 questions:

 

1) What device does a CM wear: CS or Webelos since both devices cover parts of the CS program?

 

2)Does someone who is a Sea Scout Skipper wear the Venturing Seavice or the Sea Scout Device?

 

3) Can someone who earned it as a Venturing Adviser earn it a second time as a Sea Scout Skipper, since Sea Scouts falls under Venturing, and Vice versa?

[gcnphkr]

It would be during the SM tenure.

 

Yes it is hard to do. I would think that, except for a new troop, having half the troop First Class or above would be trivial. Figure two years to First Class, seven years in scouts makes 70%. Okay, I know, scouts don't just drop out the first year. But the ones that make it to First Class tend to stick around.

 

There seems to be two versions of the requirement "a majority of Boy Scouts in the troop" and "a majority of troop Boy Scouts". I'm not sure when the change occurred.

[Kahuna]

2)Does someone who is a Sea Scout Skipper wear the Venturing Seavice or the Sea Scout Device?

 

The Sea Scout device would be appropriate, although I think technically you could wear the Venturing one. But why would you want to?

 

3) Can someone who earned it as a Venturing Adviser earn it a second time as a Sea Scout Skipper, since Sea Scouts falls under Venturing, and Vice versa?

 

Yes, you can. Then you can wear both devices.

[eghiglie]

Either award is a challenge to earn

 

I was just nominated for the old award two weeks ago and council called me to let me know that it is no longer available. The CC was sent the new paperwork and she filled it out and sent it in.

 

Local council also told me they are not sure when the certificates and square knots come in.