Changing School to K-2 with 3-5 sister school

[SM196]

Hello All

Our School system is going from a K-5 program at all the grammer schools to a K-2 and a 3-5 with sister schools or feeder schools. They are going from 9 grammar schools to 8 and then there will be 4 schools K-2 and 4 schools 3-5. Does anyone out there have this kind of school system and if so how do you run your packs? There have been talks about merging packs and also doing Tigers, Bears, and I think Lions are starting up again at the K-2 and then have the other school 3-5 do Wolves and Webelos. We cant change the school system so we have to make it work somehow. There will be a meeting at Council to discuss this next week and I am just looking for any ideas that may help.

Thanks

SM196

[kmorgan221]

Are the schools the chartering organization, or is it at least where they meet? I'm don't understand how the school district changes would affect your pack program, as long as the boys are working on the appropriate rank for their grade.

[SM196]

Hello

Our pack is charterd through the PTO, I believe some others are also. I know that at least one is through a Church and another American Legion Post. We all meet at the schools. Now 2 schools will be "sister schools" as they call it. Both of these schools already have a pack chartered. Should one pack only do Lions?, Tigers, and Bears for K-2 School and the other pack at the sister school run Wolves, and Webelos. Should each pack swap their scouts and send them to an unfamiliar pack and how it runs. The only school that can potentially keep their pack running the way it always had is the K-2 school. they can start with Tigers and keep them in a familiar place through Webelos but that will shut down the other pack and it wouldn't be fair to them just because they are the school with 3-5 grades.

Thanks

 

[kmorgan221]

Gotcha, that makes sense with the PTO being the CO.

 

Even with how you described it, I'd suggest no change in the current Pack program. The Cub Scout program is separate from the actual school program, and as long as they are doing the Cub Scout program for their grade level, I don't see a problem with doing Cubs in a different building than the one they go to school in.

 

I'm interested in other thoughts. I'm sure there will be discussion between the CO, Pack leadership, and your Commissioner/DE to find the best solution for your packs.

 

 

[Eagle92]

SM,

you keep mentioning Lions, are you in one of the pilot councils for Lions? how is does that work? Benefits and drawbacks? not trying to change the subject, but I am very curious about Lions.

[SM196]

There is supposed to be a meeting next week at council. If the packs stay the same where does the school with the 3-5 grades get their Tigers and Bears? I only heard rumblings that council dosent want to merge the two packs and I think that is because they will loose 4 packs even though the amount of scouts should remain the same.

Thanks

[Snow_White]

First, a technical correction - Wolves are second graders, Bears are third graders.

 

This sure presents some logistical challenges - I have never heard a school system set up this way. How far apart are the schools geographically? Does each K-2 have its own sister 3-5, or is it more of matrix arrangement?

 

There might be some considerable effort in moving some charters around, but I would think that it would be worth the effort to have each pack include the full range of Tigers - Webelos. (I've not yet seen the Lions program in action, so I'll leave that out for now.) I'm guessing this would be easier for families with boys in different age groups. I think a pack works better when there are a variety of age ranges with differing skill / maturity levels. And the younger Scouts are always looking forward to moving to Webelos when they've seen a taste of the more involved activities that they can participate in at that level.

 

Just my two cents... Obviously, you need to figure out how to make the logistics work for your situation.

[kmorgan221]

I guess the concern is that any new scouts from the pack at the K-2 school will only go to that pack, leaving the rest without new scouts.

 

While this is a concern, it can be addressed. For starters, a coordinated recruitment by all the Packs can be done, so the Tigers and parents know there's not just the one pack.

 

Geography can also be a factor. With there only being one K-2 school, there will be families that are closer to one pack than another. Cub Scouting is not only a family program, but a neighborhood one as well.

 

Making it clear that not only are there more packs than the one at the K-2 school, there is probably one much closer to where they live.

 

Good Luck,

Ken

 

[kmorgan221]

FWIW, this is exactly how our school system is arranged. One K-2 elementary school, one 3-5 middle school, one 6-8 Intermediate, and finally 9-12 high school.

 

The only difference from when I was in school was there were several neighborhood K-5 schools, then 4 grades 6-8 schools, and finally 2 high schools (9-12). Of course I grew up in a much bigger district and now live in a smaller school district.

 

None of these schools or PTA/Os were or are now COs of a Pack. Our packs have kids from all different schools.

[shortridge]

Personally, I'd be inclined to look at organizing the packs based on geography / neighborhoods / communities instead of splitting them by grade level. Part of the benefit of having a pack with the full Tiger-Webelos program is that the younger guys can look up to the older guys and get excited about what they can do in the future.

 

But the biggest problem with packs split by age, it seems to me, would be the lack of stability in the leadership - of both the pack and the CO. As kids move up, in school and in the pack, you'd be losing your CMs and MCs and DLs every few years, not to mention your CORs and IHs. Every two or three years, you'd be reinventing the wheel with a new pack, which sounds to me like a recipe for disaster.

 

Ask the Council folks who don't want to "lose" a pack to consolidation if they'd like to lose several packs permanently when the adult leadership falters at a transition year.

[SM196]

Hello All

I am still involved with the pack mostly because my son is a den chief for 4 years and I am a Scoutmaster so i guess I am a little rusty on the Bear/Wolves. I'm not sure about Lions but I heard our current CM talking about it with enthusiasm so I thought I'd mention it (not sure if we are going to do it or can). The schools are divided so that they are fairly close and there will be 4 K-2 and 4 3-5 all within reason of each other. Shortridge you hit it on the head that is exactly how most of us feel. I also like the idea of having the program with the full range of age groups and I like Kens idea of having a coordinated recruitment night. In the long run if the boys don't move they will end up going to both schools so they will always be with there friends. This could also lead to the packs having a better program because of the peer pressure from the boys about what kind of activities thast they do.

Thanks for all the great responces so far!

[perdidochas]

I think the best solution would be to keep the current packs, and have your major recruitment meetings at the K-2 schools. Have all the packs come to school night for scouting, and give the parents a choice, based on meeting site, etc. I think setting up Packs by age is a horrible idea.

[infoscouter]

One of the school districts in our Scouting district recently re-organized this way. Each school still has its own pack. The packs "partner" based on attendance areas to hold two joint Join Scouting events, one at each school. Families are encouraged to join the pack nearest to where they live. So far it has worked O.K.

[SM196]

Hello

We had a meeting at Council and had 7 of 8 packs attend. It went very well, the DE and District Membership Chair was there and had the breakdown of the School district. Everyone agreed to all of the ideas that were posted here before I had a chance to share anything. All packs are going to stay as they are and we are going to work with our sister schools to do a coordinated recruitment and a joint newsletter to be sent out through the schools inviting the boys and parents to recruitment night. Very positive meeting considering that not a lot of parents are happy about the realighnment and the fact that one school was closed. All the politics were put aside and the best interest of the program was first like it should be. Thanks for your helpfull replys to my post!

SM196