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When possible, it would be helpful to eliminate the K-6, 7&8, and high school format in ScoutNet when inputing LFL schools.
With the new license agreement structure, it shouldn't matter how we have the units broke out. The issue is with Middle school entries: if you have a school with 6, 7, and 8 graders, you currently need 1 Memorandum for the 6 graders and then a separate one for 7&8. Or, if you 7, 8, and 9 grades in the middle school you need a 7&8 form and then one for the 9th graders.
The registars are confused. Just eliminate the grade brake outs to solve this problem. Units are no longer tracked within the in-school program. ScoutNet should reflect that and less paperwork to be done. Basically... one form per school building no matter how many grades it has.
Thanks...
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Every Council has a newsletter of some sort, whether it be print, electronic or social. It would be helpful if there was a central database of national news items (i.e. new handbook, requirements, factoids, etc.) that could be cut and pasted into Council newsletters. This would most likely be a function of Brand Management. Sort of an AP for BSA.
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10/26/09
In support of our collective goals of increasing membership and retention while simultaneously delivering relevant and engaging program, the “New BSA” has embarked on a new initiative to pilot Personal Watercraft, more commonly referred to as jet skis.
Read the ProSpeak article in the September 2009 issue at: http://www.scouting.org/ProSpeak/best_practices/watercraft.aspx
(Copy and paste the link)
Early in the spring of 2009 councils were invited to submit proposals detailing how they would potentially deliver a Personal Watercraft pilot program. The proposals were required to include details such as; location, training, safety, budget, equipment, promotion and staffing. It was anticipated that our first tests of this new concept would occur during the summer 2010. However, as a result of some great work by the Blue Ridge Mountains Council in Roanoke, VA, we were able to conduct our first pilot during their seven (7) week summer camp program at the Claytor Lake Adventure Base.
High level results of the first pilot are as follows:
• 280 Scouts participated in the pilot
• 90% stated the program “met” or “exceed” their expectations
• 90% of all youth indicated they were either “somewhat” or “very likely” to return to camp because of the PWC program.
• 35% stated participating in the PWC program increased their likelihood of staying in Scouting
• 59% indicated participating in the PWC program increased their likelihood of recommending Scouting to others
Moving forward, we have initiated the process of selecting additional councils to pilot the use of Personal Watercraft during 2010. All councils interested in being considered to pilot Personal Watercraft should submit their proposals to the Innovation Team (National Council), attention of Merril Davis, merril.davis@scouting.org, by November 30, 2009.
To access the proposal form, please click on this title at the top of this web page, then scroll down to find the .pdf file.
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Submitted by High School Junior Donald Lovejoy, Greenwich, CT.
"Math is Buildings" is a program that uses buildings and architecture to make math interesting to learn. I have done extensive tutoring with socio-economically disadvantaged children and I have discovered that math is often difficult for them, with simple concepts seeming impossible for them to grasp. Thus I created this program to make learning math interesting to kids. I have integrated simple math concepts with the steps used in constructing buildings. Because the steps have been itemized clearly, this program is ideal for use by volunteers helping elementary school-aged children with math.
For more information please email Donald Lovejoy at DWRL@optonline.net
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As we move toward mandatory or required training for adult leaders, perhaps we should consider implementing a continuing education requirement. Each leader being required to earn a certain number of CEU's based on their position. CEU's could be earned, for example, by attending Roundtable, a training session, presenting at a training, mentoring a new leader...
Of course this would be dependant on a method of tracking training attendance within Scout-net, an issue which is supposed to be addressed as we move to mandatory training.
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Again, I'd like to suggest that the Benefits Handbook for the coming year be available while we're making choices for our own benefits, even if the changes are or could be minor.
A link is there and all that comes up is a one page PDF file that says "The 2010 BSA Benefits Handbook is not yet available."
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My office staff tells me that effective January 1, 2010, labels for bulk mail need to have all information in all capitalized format, no commas anywhere, and some other changes. Will we have a soft-ware update to accomodate these changes? Can anyone verify this information as I cannot find this on the USPS website.
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our council gets several requests a week (up to several a day at times) for a "complete list of all training in our unit." and currently this is only able to be accomplished by going in to each adult in the unit individually.
We don't want we NEED a report that acts like the Unit Advancement Detail report that will list the adult and then all trainings and awards given.
When we ask region or national reps or the help desk we are told to use the training completed / not completed report which has known flaws and isn't being fixed. also it only lists the basic level training and nothing advanced.
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There are so many road signs advertising directions to churches, fraternal organizations, etc. I suggest we add road signs in every community pointing the way Scout Service Centers and Scout Shops.
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Getting commitments from volunteers to attend an all day Saturday " Day of Training", Pow-wow, or University of Scouting is getting more and more difficult. One of our Cub Leaders forwarded this idea for consideration.
It's a"Brown Bag Scouting" concept. He said why can't we do this over lunch. How about one day a month we host a mini training or info meeting at a Brown Bag lunch.
We could have a Cub Scout and a Boy Scout topic.
For example: Merit Badge Couselor Orientation, Program Planning, Good Den Meetings, Troop Cooperative Games, Building a Pack Committee, Running a Pinewood Derby, Getting the most from Summer Camp, Ceremonies & Recognition, How to conduct a Board of Review, Boy Behavior, Knot Tying, Recruiting the right volunteer, etc. Just to name a few. It might take some time to catch on, but we could reach volunteers without asking them to come out another evening or a Saturday during family time. Cost to the council would be minimal, handouts or a few supplies.
What do you think ?
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Can we change the name of the Webelos program. When I speak about it to 4th and 5th graders I get a lot of laughs and disappointed faces. "We Blow" is what most of the kids hear. "We Below" is what others hear. When they learn that first graders are Tigers and there are Bears and Wolves, the boys are disappointed to learn that they are called "We blow Scouts". Let's make the move to the 21st century and change the name to something more exciting. Like Raptor Scouts or Shark Scouts, or Wolverine scouts.
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At a recent Scouting event that was attended by several Eagle Scouts, my wife was somewhat troubled by the way several of our young men, Eagle Scouts, were conducting themselves at the banquet table. It appeared they had no training on how to properly handle a fork in such a setting.
As a Scouting professional I find it very impotant to know proper etiquette when it comes to lunch with a CEO, the proper way to answer a phone or several other "embarassment stopping" etiquette skills.
Maybe it is time to encourage our Scouts to learn the importance of proper etiquette. Their moms and wives will appreciate it.
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I was disappointed to find out that the United Health Care insurance plans purchased by BSA pay for "therapeutic abortion." Calling some abortions "therapeutic" is the UHC attempt to pass off some abortions as medically necessary. It is never under any circumstances necessary to kill an innocent human being, and such evil action should never be encouraged or condoned by peers, employers or third party contractors.
There is no reason why any business should condone abortion, especially a youth and faamily-oriented movement such as the BSA. And besides, imagine how many of the 50 million babies in the US murdered via abortion since 1973 never got the chance to become Scouts. Think of how that has affected our membership numbers.
If there is some law that requires group medical insurance plans to pay for "therapeutic abortions" then said law should be repealed immediately.
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It would be great if we at the council could look up a users id from their person profile or some where
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So we all know that Youth Protection Training (YPT) expires every two years and with out YPT you're not a trained leader.
In the Council I serve, many adults will take YPT, and the other training courses and say "PHEW!! DONE! Note to self, do YPT again in two years" With the busy lives we all run, so many of us are forgetting that our two years are up and we need to 'recertify'.
Can we incoroprate some type of 'alert email' to Scouters whose YPT is about to run out? Maybe a month before it's experiation date, send the Scouter an email with a link to the website reminding them it's time to do the training again, taking about the importance of YPT, and again thanking them for their service and commitment to the BSA.
Then incorporate some type of follow up email if they don't do YPT again one week from expiration date.
Just a thought. Sometimes e-reminders are a pain...other times they're a blessing
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Across the country we face various degrees of access to schools and hence to youth. Although I was shocked to learn that less youth are actually trick-or-treating these days due to increasing safety concerns, the fact remains that Halloween is the one day where children literally come to us. In my district I am encouraging unit leaders and parents to simply stick Avery labels or stickers on all their candy inviting boys to come and visit their next unit meeting. This should serve two purposes. First, if a boy missed out on the fall roundup sign ups it should be another invitation to Scouting. Second, by placing the Cub Scout or BSA logo on the candy it is an effective method of creating brand awareness within the target audience. The cost of doing this is essentially nothing more than ink and label paper while you can be certain that 100 percent of the marketing is reaching its intended target. I gave out candy bars with stickers to boys at our roundtable meeting last week and before they had eaten the candy they were already wearing the stickers on their uniform. I saw it as just another unexpected benefit.
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We are all becoming more aware about our need to be more physically fit. Most of the suggestions for how we can bring a fitness theme to scouting are one-time events like fitness themed camporees, or short term events like merit badges.
For the last 4 months I have forced an hour of my day to be devoted to fitness. Most days I walk (2-4 miles). I figure I'm walking about 45 - 55 miles a month. I have lost 55lbs since I started.
I propose that we create an award to recognize youth, volunteers and staff for walking 100 miles in our centennial year. We could develop a little tracking card and a place to mail it in with fees for a patch.
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It is difficult for many BSA employees to set aside additional dollars for retirement. Many Councils, the Regional and National Staff have matching fund programs tied to savings and investment accounts. Some councils match dollar for dollar up to 8% in at least one council. Some matches are 50 cents on the dollar up to a certain percent. Some councils have nothing. It would be good if all councils could offer such an incentive, especially for our younger, entry level people that will really need to save. It would also be good if there was uniformity in this so a person in one council with a high match can accept a 'promotion' to another council without 'giving up' in the retirement savings area. Additionally, it may help us to keep quality people as they build up what could be a substantial 'nest egg' to supplement their pension income.
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I have to say that not only will my school counselors and administrators miss the "old" career interest surveys, but I will too! The old surveys can be scanned sooo much faster (considering I have several thousand to scan) and offer the additional 6 yes/no questions that schools can use as they please. The "new" surveys take too long to scan and don't offer the 6-question section which many schools used to gather data for state documentation and grant writing purposes.
Is there any possibility that we can revert back to the "old" survey?
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I just received information on a YMCA Visa Card. Shouldn't the BSA be on this idea as well. This idea may have been posted before.
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The commissioner tracking system is a good idea, but it really only goes half-way as to how effective it could be. Can we turn it into a one stop unit status reporting system that the commissioners can use in making their monthly reports? Here are a few things I would add:
Unit Status Update - we used the red, yellow, green system
Unit Status Comments - If a unit is red or yellow, what do they need help with?
Automatic Monthly Reminders - Send a reminder to all registered UC's each month to go in and update their status
District Commissioner Access - Ideally, each unit will have a UC, but in reality, they don't. When a unit does not have a UC, the DC or ADC often picks up the slack. They should have the ability to update the status of any unit under their care.
Now, some of this may be in existance, but since professionals don't have access to it, I'm only going off of what my DC tells me.
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Please add a field to flag a vendor as an organization (a company or corporation, not a person). There are times that I need a vendor report of just companies.
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Wouldn't it be nice if the list of print jobs had the same comment you put in when you submitted the job from print selections. Print selections lets you put in comments put then if you run say the same list for every district and you put the comments in and they all show up to print at the same time you don't know which one is which.
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I was trying to provide my units a spreadsheet to show how many youth they've recruited each year over the last 2-3 years. From what I was able to find, the data can be found by district, but not by unit. It would be great if we are able to drill down the data to smaller and smaller subsets within ScoutNet or MyBSA so we may provide information that can help inform and educate volunteers.
With boys crossing over into Cub Scouts or Boy Scouts joining a Venture Crew each year, it's hard to get the accurate information needed.
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OK, I admit, I am overweight... when I earned my Eagle I was 5'10" and 155 pounds. Add an inch to that today but also add 'too much' weight. Like many of our leaders and youth members I can't claim to be as physically fit as I should be. I was a Cub Scout in the 50's and times have changed. Fast food, video and computer games, bussing at our doors for the kids going to school instead of walking and the list goes on. Scouting needs to address this issue in a big way. We need kids out hiking and involved in more physically active aspects of our programs. Districts and Councils can help with this by making hikes and physically challenging events a regular part of the program. When I see 'weight restrictions' on certain National programs I have to think where I would fall on those guidelines. My district just had an event that included a 12 mile hike and the participants were encouraged to 'build up to it' and to use it towards hiking merit badge. Cubs were allowed to participate with either a 3 or 5 mile hike and Webelos were allowed to go the whole distance. We issued a hiking staff medallion instead of a patch and it was very well received. Additionally, we hiked between two points of local Scouting Historical interest from one town to the next and a lot of folks got to see Scouts outdoors in their towns. I am expecting that this sort of an event will become a regular part of our district program planning now. I also am looking for ways to encourage our leaders and youth to make exercise and healthy diet a regular part of their routine. 'On my HONOR I will keep myself Physically Fit'....... As professionals and as a movement we need to do more than give lip service to that promise... I would welcome ideas to bring to my district as well as success stories from other districts/councils.
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