The Duty Roster

[clemlaw]

Stosh wrote:

 

>>>>>Otherwise, they become champion water-boys and experts in doing dishes, and haven't a clue what it takes to run more than a trip to the pump let alone a patrol as a whole.

[local1400]

It worked good then. But now I recall a requirement (2C maybe?) where a Scout cooks for his patrol for an entire campout to fulfill a requirement. The good old days are gone, we gotta get used to the new Scouting way.

[Eagle92]

In my neck of the woods, not only is teh duty roster still done, but also it is required to be posted in a conspicuous place in the patrols' campsites at our camporees.

[moosetracker]

Seems like in 2nd class you need to cook one meal only, and then in First class serve as cook for Breakfast/luch/dinner.. So your patrols need to vary if they are dividing the cooking assignments per meal, for second class, or giving the full event of cooking to one member for first class signoff.. Then if none of the requirements are needed by any member they can choose to divide the work any way they like..

 

Either way, no reason to give up on the duty roster. The roster can be made out to assign one person as cook and divide the other jobs fairly, and then used to make sure the jobs are rotated fairly for everyone to get a chance at the prefered, and not so preferred jobs fairly.

 

Many troops still use it, and it works well for them. Many don't and just assign jobs ad-hoc as they go.

[kbandit]

We use the duty roster. It keeps those who are good at duck and covering to know what is expected of them. We have a few scouts who are just plain work horses and don't mind doing it. I think it shows them as a patrol they all need to pull their weight. Patrol leader on the campout takes care of keeping everyone on track.

[OldGreyEagle]

I am not sure what is being talked about, I think its whether of not patrols use a Duty Roster or not, requirement 4 of the Camping merit badge reads

 

4.Do the following:

a. Make a duty roster showing how your patrol is organized for an actual overnight campout. List assignments for each member.

b. Help a Scout patrol or a Webelos Scout unit in your area prepare for an actual campout, including creating the duty roster, menu planning, equipment needs, general planning, and setting up camp.

 

Why would a duty roster NOT be used?

[Stosh]

In our temporarily small troop, one patrol moving on to two shortly, the PL makes a duty roster, posts it per the requirements and then everyone promptly ignores it for the activity.

 

With leadership being shared, rotated, and assumed by all, if the GrubMaster yells out, "Need some water!", a couple of boys grab the water container and head out for the pump. Usually when they return, they fill pots for the GrubMaster knowing that's why he needed water. They have been GrubMasters so they know the routine.

 

So do the duties rotate? Sure, the next activity will be headed up by a different scout who will function as a PL for the activity. This way when it is necessary to get water and no one helps, he has a chance to set the record straight on his outing. I bust my butt for the GrubMaster this weekend because next weekend he'll bust his butt for me when I'm GrubMaster. If he doesn't he'll hear about it. I guess it's kind of a long term roster idea that spans a number of activities, not just the one.

 

The PL usually has to "enforce" some sort of duty roster as needed because everyone wants to cook all the time, but not clean up. One of the big incentives for the boys to take on an activity is that they get to direct the activities. If one doesn't like fetching water all the time, then volunteer to organize the next activity and assign yourself a plum job.

 

Yes, we have a couple of handicapped boys that can't fulfill the leadership positions, but the boys recognize this and adjust for them. I have a 31 year old scout working on his Eagle who operates on about a 10 year-old level. It's going to take him a long time to get that put together so the boys don't stack a lot of extra responsibility on him at any given time. We also have an autistic boy that struggles with focus and can't follow through so he does end up with a lot of short-term duties on activities. The boys cut him slack on that as well. They do expect him to put up his own tent and keep his gear together and then after that he gets assigned little duties here and there throughout the activity. So, do I make up a roster and expect these boys to be the GrubMasters? Or maybe the GrupMaster asks him to come help out and some of the other boys can fetch the water this time around.

 

With my boys all trained in all the positions, the need for duty rosters is rather minimal. The more they rotate, the more they understand the responsibilities of each position.

 

Only my Chaplain's Aide, QM, and OA Rep actually wear POR patches. The rest rotate things around pretty much. All I expect out of the boys is that when they go into their BOR for rank, they have a ton of examples to brag about of how they showed leadership in the past 6 months. It's pretty hard to turn a boy down that waltzes into his BOR and lets the Committee know that there is no POR patch for Popcorn Chairman, but he organized the whole project, held 8 show and sells with sign-up rosters for each one in various places throughout the community, photocopies of all the boy's personal selling, finances completed on time, orders delivered, prizes acquired and presented, and a report for the Committee that states that the troop raised 3 times as much money this year than last, etc. Not bad for a 12 year old scout.

 

Yeah, right, the BOR looks at the book and says, sorry, you need a patch to get credit.... (Falls under the special project section approved by SM so he's safe!)

 

I often wonder how many 12 year-old young scouts get this kind of opportunity in a mixed-age patrol.

 

Your mileage may vary.

 

Stosh

[clemlaw]

>>>>>>requirement 4 of the Camping merit badge reads

 

4.Do the following:

a. Make a duty roster showing

[Eagledad]

//Yeah, right, the BOR looks at the book and says, sorry, you need a patch to get credit...//

 

You should suggest your BOR get more training.

 

Barry

[Beavah]

I often wonder how many 12 year-old young scouts get this kind of opportunity in a mixed-age patrol.

 

Huh? You're a one-patrol troop, eh? Your 12-year-old is in a mixed-age patrol by definition.

 

Da real issue is that in a small troop, young fellows might get opportunities for a troop position like popcorn guy that would be taken by older scouts in a larger troop. The trick in a bigger troop is tryin' to maintain the mixed-age collaborative experience you've got goin' now on a bigger scale.

 

I'm with Eagledad. Train your BORs.

 

Beavah

 

[Stosh]

Training my BOR is not my problem. That's what I have a CC for.

 

My Committee does a very good job with being all trained and printed criteria handed out to all participants on how to run BOR's at every BOR. Non-Committee members are given an orientation to BOR's before they can sit in on them.

 

The smiley face at the end of the sentence does have significance.

 

"Huh? You're a one-patrol troop, eh? Your 12-year-old is in a mixed-age patrol by definition."

 

Maybe it would be good to give a definition of what you mean by mixed-aged when all are the same age except one new guy doesn't really fit. They don't all need to have the same birthday to be a same-aged patrol.

 

Hmmmm. Maybe my 31 year old Life scout makes it a mixed-aged patrol. Or maybe my new boy TF is included? Nope, he's gone and done his leadership thingy by being a DC. Eagle Scout? Age 16 and comes to meetings and sits in the corner doing homework, doesn't like to camp. He's there because his dad's an ASM and expects him to be there.

 

Basically the troop is one grade level with the exception of a couple of people. Neither of which really fit in, but are politely accommodated.

 

"Da real issue is that in a small troop, young fellows might get opportunities for a troop position like popcorn guy that would be taken by older scouts in a larger troop."

 

I don't think so because over and over again the Council refused to work with the boy who constantly had to run out to the car and have his mom come in and sign for things, listen to explanations, etc. all of which the boy did and mom went back to the car and said, I hope you got all that, I didn't understand a word he said.

 

"The trick in a bigger troop is tryin' to maintain the mixed-age collaborative experience you've got goin' now on a bigger scale."

 

No, the trick is to split the troop into two patrols at the boy's discretion and let them work in two independent operations, each with their own set of goals and interests. Efforts to expand a mixed-age collaborative experience is to turn the troop into a troop-method program.

 

"I'm with Eagledad. Train your BORs."

 

see above Note the

 

[Eagledad]

Dont know what the smiley face means, but it is ok to suggest more training when your BOR struggles.

 

Barry

[Beavah]

Maybe it would be good to give a definition of what you mean by mixed-aged when all are the same age except one new guy doesn't really fit.

 

Yah, hmmm...

 

So you're in a start-up (or re-start) situation?

 

Those are always interestin', but yeh can't use 'em to describe a "normal" ongoing or mature program. The experiences are very different.

 

Sorry I missed da intent of your smillie.

 

What happened to your recruitin' this year? Startups are always hard, and the recruitin' piece can be the hardest.

 

B

 

 

[Stosh]

"So you're in a start-up (or re-start) situation?"

 

Yep. I took over because the troop was about to fold. Troop is about 60 years old, but didn't have effective leadership for the 10 years before I took over. Former SM burned out trying to run an adult-led program with out help from all but a couple of parents.

 

"What happened to your recruitin' this year? Startups are always hard, and the recruitin' piece can be the hardest."

 

Recruiting is difficult because the competitive troop (where I came from) is very adult led and parents prefer it for their boys. We are right in town and parents drive right past our troop to attend 11 miles away in the country. While we retain almost all of our boys, they lose more than we have each year. In comparison of involvement in activities we are about the same. When we attend a camporee, however, our attendance is about 90% whereas theirs hovers around the 30-40% levels. We had 11 of 12 boys and 2 adults at the last camporee, they had 14 of about 40 and 8 adults. This year we put out the same number of Eagles as they did. They had about 20-25% of their boys attend Jamboree, we had 50%. Even with half our boys going to Jambo, 100% of them attended summer camp AND did a 4-day backpack trip they organized on their own and went on.

 

We had several boys join our troop because their buddies were involved with us, only to have them go to the other troop because their older brothers were out there. It was a parent's decision, not the boys.

 

We have 3 feeder packs which last year crossed over 40+ boys all of which went to the other troop. Out of that I believe they retained maybe one patrol of 8-10 boys. It was nothing to loose 75% of the boys their first year while I was in that troop. They didn't have enough adults to handle that many boys and they have a meeting room which only holds about 20 boys at a time. They have to have their recruiting open-house outside because the building is too small to have the bulk of them indoors.

 

It's difficult for 12 year old boys to compete with adults with 20+ years experience in scouting.

 

As for my BOR personnel and training? CC is parent of one of the boys (older one is Eagle, younger one Star in the troop (Chaplain's Aide)), totally on-board with the boy-led program. MC's consist of former SM (WB trained) and his wife (former CC), another former SM, now treasurer (WB Trained), and 3 parents.

 

My staff is ASM #1) a former SM moved in from a different troop out-of-state, (Eagle with palms), and ASM #2) WB trained, working on ticket (Eagle).

 

I'm thinking my troop doesn't lack for trained adults. The reference I used with the was to indicate that there are those out there that believe unless a boy is elected/assigned a POR and wears the patch, he can't get credit for advancement, i.e. my former troop.

 

One of the CM's from the feeder packs told me the reason why parents don't want their boys to join my troop is because it's too small, poorly run, and doesn't provide enough programs/activities for the boys. He's been watching us for a year now, and has indicated his Webelos cross-overs will be coming over to our troop because he likes what he sees and his son is one of the Webelos. Most parents don't look seriously at a troop, they only look at the surface impressions and draw conclusions from that.

 

Your mileage may vary.

 

Stosh

 

 

 

 

 

[Beavah]

Yah, I'd ask da council office for the contact info for the "drops" from da other troop, eh? Worth at least sendin' 'em an invite.

 

Every troop grows to its natural size, based on its adult leadership. If yeh add more kids, they just spill out. That's the time to get another troop growin' in the area.

 

Good luck with it.

 

Beavah