New Troop Committee Position Needed

[SeattlePioneer]

Recent experience is leading me to the idea that a new Troop Committee position should be created: Cub Pack Representatives.

 

The SMART troop will have a committee member or Assistant Scioutmaster assigned to sit in on Pack Committee Meetings of packs that feed their troop, to be sure that things that need to be done are done and that the troop is helping out with Den Chiefs and joint program activities with the pack when that's appropriate.

 

Call that person a Boy Scout Troop Representative to a Cub Pack.

 

 

But unfortunately, that's all too rare. Most Cub Packs ignore the Cub Packs that provide them with most of their Scouts except for a crossover ceremony when they grab up the Cub Scouts produced with enormous labor by the pack.

 

So if Troops can't be relied upon to do their duty, perhaps Cub Packs should be represented on Troop Committees to lobby for the help and assistance they often need and deserve.

[Troop185]

Some troops work hard to keep a good relation with their Cub Scouts. My official title with our feeder Pack is Webelos Coach. I am also, an Assistant Scoutmaster with the troop. All of the dens have Den Chiefs from our troop. I attend the Pack's meetings and the Cub Scouts Committee Meetings. All of the Cub Scouts know me.

 

I invite the Webelos to some of the troop's activities and campouts (we had two Webelos go camping to Ontario with us over Memorial Weekend), including Eagle Court of Honor. Our troop has a Webelos Campout every May. Also, every June, I have two Webelos Campout up to my cabin in Northern Michigan, for the new Webelos Den, and the Webelos II. We backpacking out to a Wilderness Dunes Area, next to Lake Michigan, and spend the night.

 

Our Cub Scout Committee Chair had three sons, all became Eagles through our troop. She has been the CC for about 15 years, and is still going strong. Our Cub Master and recent graduate Webelos II Leader, have a older son in our troop. We are all well aware, that we need a good Pack to have a good Troop!

[SeattlePioneer]

Hello Troop 185,

 

 

Congratulations on an outstanding program to support your Cub Pack.

 

 

Many they send you MANY AOL Scouts!

 

I just wish this were a lot more common rather than being very rare in my experience as a district leader. Only one troop in the district really makes an effort to aid and support their pack. They are richly rewarded in new Scouts for doing so.

 

 

 

 

[Lisabob]

The idea that a troop could be so presumptuous as to assign someone to a pack's committee, will likely offend many cub leaders (it certainly would have offended me). It would have been a flop with pretty much ALL of the cub packs I used to work with, in a town with about 12 packs and 4 troops.

 

It might work better in situations where there is a clearer one-to-one connection between packs and troops. That just isn't the case for many packs & troops in my district.

 

On the flip side, having a liaison who communicates the upcoming webelos events, helps find den chiefs for den leaders who want them, coordinates crossover details, and runs a new parent orientation shortly after crossovers join the troop - now that is something I've seen work pretty well (and I did it, myself, for a while after my son crossed over).

[SeattlePioneer]

No different than a Unit Commissioner, really. Of course such a thing could be done well or poorly.

[CalicoPenn]

We don't need to add any new committee positions. We simply need to add a sentence to an already existing job description.

 

In the Cub Scouts, the Cubmaster's job description includes this line: Help establish and maintain good relationships with Boy Scout troops.

 

It seems to me that the Scoutmaster's job description should mirror this and include the line: Help establish and maintain good relationships with Cub Scout packs.

 

After all, if we're expecting the top program person in Cub Scouts to help establish and maintain good relationships with Boy Scout troops, shouldn't we expect the top program person in Boy Scouts to do the same?

[mdlscouting]

I would personally suggest that the following tasks should be lumped together, to be addressed by the same person or group of people.

 

 

Coordinating with the Pack

Helping Webelos Den Leaders find Activity Badge Counselors.

Crossover Ceremonies

Webelos to Scout Transition - Training for Parents and Cubs

Den Chief Training

Troop Guide Training

 

 

I don't know if they need to be a member of the Pack Committee, but I'd certainly welcome them to any and all of the meetings, if they made themselves available for that. I'd say they would probably be more useful meeting directly with the Webelos DLs, rather than the Pack Committee as a whole.

 

For the record, our pack and troop have an awesome relationship. I'm CM, and the SM is the second most dialed number on my phone, only behind my wife. I'm planning to ask him to setup such a position from among one of the ASMs.

[BluejacketScouter]

 

http://scouting.org/filestore/membership/pdf/Webelos_to_Scout.pdf

 

We have wanted/needed/tried to have a District Committee member to act as a resource for Webelos to Scout transition, with mixed results - but we're a pretty small district. Still plugging at it. Thanks for reminding me to bring it up at the next DCC.

[fred8033]

The COR is a good person to coordinate packs and troops under the same charter org. He has a right to be there and I don't think people would be offended if he was there. If you have different charter orgs, you have a harder battle to fight.

[ScoutNut]

>>"The COR is a good person to coordinate packs and troops under the same charter org. He has a right to be there and I don't think people would be offended if he was there.">"If you have different charter orgs, you have a harder battle to fight."

[ZScout5]

The Troop Membership Chair on the committee is already responsible for pack relations, but often some of this falls to one of the ASMs.

 

I believe the Pack Membership Chair also has simular responsibility in reverse.

 

No new positions needed, just making sure someone is doing it.

[ScoutNut]

No, a permanent Pack Committee position is NOT needed in order to build a relationship with a Troop.

 

Any given Pack should pursue relationships with multiple area Troops. This does not mean that a Pack must have multiple Troop "representatives" on their Pack Committee.

 

A relationship can be formed by having a conversation between 2 parties. Folks are not restricted to having conversations only with those who are a permanent member of their unit Committee.

 

I say that as a Unit Commissioner of a number of different units (none of which I am a personal member of), and as a 15+ year member of a Pack whose only other long-term volunteer is the Cubmaster at 10+ years.

[Oak Tree]

We assign an ASM to this position. He makes sure to invite the Webelos dens to an outing with the troop, he coordinates crossover ceremonies, he makes presentations to the den parents on what to expect in Boy Scouts. He coordinates with having them attend troop meetings. He is generally the new Scout ASM, so that once the Scouts cross over, they continue to deal with him. He works with them to make sure they are ready for their first camping trips, etc.

 

We do find that having lots of communication with the Webelos parents is a good thing. We do have a pack/troop at the same CO, so it's a natural relationship for us.

 

The Scoutmaster does participate in the pack leaders email list, just so he has an eye on what the pack is planning. It's good to try to coordinate various things (like not having a camping trip the weekend of crossover, or something.)

[frankpalazzi]

We've been doing it for years! We call it "Troop/Pack Relations Chair."