Issue 603 – June 11, 2019

Hi Andy,

I absolutely love reading everything that’s posted on your online columns. I’m still learning from you. May I share your content on my website? (Achat, Scouts Mauritius)

Thank you—Merci! Yes, you may share any column or comments within columns, and my only request is attribution. Happy Scouting World-Wide!
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Hi Andy,

Is it OK to have a parent serve on two Scout units’ committees concurrently? One of our “crossover” parents has a younger son in Cub Scouts, where he is the pack’s treasurer. He’d like to continue serving in that capacity until his younger son graduates to our troop and joins up with his just-joined older brother, and he’s expressed interest in our troop’s committee too. We’d like to have him on the committee, but want to be sure this is acceptable under BSA rules. Thanks. (Mike Koubek, CC, Patriots’ Path Council, NJ)

Yes, this is perfectly okay. While it’s not permitted to hold more than one registered position in the same unit (see page 2 of the adult application), no worries about multiple positions in separate units.
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Hi Andy,

A few columns back, you mentioned that a Scout can attend council-level NYLT (National Youth Leadership Training) courses without having attended ILST (Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops), which is, as the title says, carried out at the troop level for skills development and also plays a big role in bonding the elected leaders of the patrols and their troop. But according to the BSA’s NYLT website, ILST is now an NYLT prerequisite. I’m wondering if this may be having an effect on NYLT attendance, which—at least in my own council—has fallen off in recent years. (Ed Colaianni)

Thanks for the update. I’ve double-checked and ILST has indeed been made mandatory for NYLT participation. I continue to consider this a strategic mistake (one of the very few times I’ve expressed an opinion counter to BSA policies or procedures). My reason is simple. While, up to recently, the Scout could decide to attend NYLT and do so by simply receiving the endorsement of his or her Scoutmaster, now all Scouts must rely on the initiative of their Scoutmaster. To actually prepare and run ILST training for a troop’s youth leaders is definitely not a walk-in-the-park, and this assumes that Scoutmasters even know they’re responsible for doing this. If Scoutmasters don’t roll up their sleeves, the Scouts are the ones who lose out on the NYLT opportunity. I’m also quite certain there’s a ripple-through effect that has a further negative impact on NAYLE (National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience). Moreover, with the replacement of NJLIC with NAYLE, and observing that the NAYLE challenge is essentially for individual self-development rather than providing youth leaders more knowledgeable and skilled to run their home troops, crews, and ships, I’m concerned that home Scouting units, receiving no direct benefit from NAYLE, will be less than enthusiastic about encouraging this program.
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Hi Andy,

Our troop’s committee is wondering about Scout attendance and “active participation” in our troop’s meetings and activities, especially as these relate to rank advancement. Our troop provides a large number of opportunities for Scout participation, including service projects, regular weekly meetings throughout the calendar year, monthly camping and hiking trips, and lots more. We’re of a mind that it’s not unreasonable for our Scoutmaster and assistants to start tracking each Scout’s participation, with a standard of 50% required for them to be approved as “active” per rank requirements. We do understand that young people’s lives—just like our own—extend well beyond Scouting, especially including sports, band or orchestra, and other school-related commitments; church and church youth groups; as cadets with a local rescue squad or fire department; part-time jobs, and caring for younger or elderly family members. Some of our committee members think 50% is too lenient—that the standard should be no less than 65% of all troop meetings and activities, and treat all participation below this the same way a student would get an F on a subject in school and have to repeat. On the other side of this, we’re getting push-back from some of our Scouts’ parents, who are saying that a 50% standard is too strict.

We’ve all taken the time to read the GUIDE TO ADVANCEMENT on “active,” but it seems to be more subjective than objective and the authors seem to be mainly ducking rather than addressing this “Gordian’s knot” head-on. In short, it hasn’t helped us resolve this issue.

As a teacher, I lean toward “observable,” “measurable,” and an “equal standard for all.” Others on the committee—people in businesses—follow similar standards: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Bound. And, to be fair, most of our Scouts are already at a 75% or higher participation level.

What do we do to keep the “actives” active and bring along those that aren’t (we really aren’t crazy about “dinging” them when their participation’s below par, but it does negatively affect performance of the patrols they’re in!). (MaryAnn Fabian, Laurel Highlands Council, PA-MD-WV)

Yes, being active is important… Unless you jump into the shower, you’re not gonna get wet! The GTA does assert that assigning a specific percent is definitely “measurable and observable,” but it doesn’t factor in the fact that Scouting’s very first volunteers are the youth themselves. Scouting’s primary mantra in this regard is flexibility. Number two in this arena is Program Produces Participants.

Your troop sounds like one I’d like my own grandsons to be members of! It’s active and has an ongoing program for day outings and weekend campouts. Terrific!

But I’m going to recommend not establishing a hard-and-fast percentage that doesn’t take individual circumstances into account. Instead, treat participation on a case-by-case basis (regardless of troop size) and rely on The Patrol Method to encourage participation. In fact, The Patrol Method is Scouting’s linchpin: Without patrols, there’s no troop and—larger—there’s just no Scouting! Scouts have better Scouting adventures when they’re responsible members of their patrols. Patrols attend meetings together and stand together, they compete together, they attend Camporees and summer camp together…and, for all outings, they’re responsible to one another. This means your best bet is to try to do as little as possible to formalize “troop” events in favor of full and intact patrols as possible, with the Patrol Leaders responsible for their patrol members to show up, and with each patrol member having a specific “job”—from a rotating “Duty Roster.” Make sure this includes all meal planning, all food purchasing and packing, cooking gear for all patrols, tenting by patrol, and—critically—even transportation patrol by patrol. In short, except for paperwork like medical forms and such, everything is done by patrol!

Think of meetings committee members like yourself attend in the workplace… If six or eight of you are supposed to show up, you’ll be there because—among other reasons—your absence will be instantly spotted; but if several dozen of you were called to a meeting, and you duck it, it’ll more than likely go unnoticed. Same with Scouts! This is why—when attendance at troop meetings and other activities is taken—checking off who’s there and who isn’t is the responsibility of each Patrol Leader’s appointed patrol scribe, who turns these notes in to the Senior Patrol Leader (not the Scoutmaster!).

The Senior Patrol Leader and Scoutmaster review these notes, so that they both can have a chat with the Patrol Leader of a multiply-absent Scout, and, if necessary, the Scoutmaster can plan for a brief conference with any Scout who’s missed three or more events in a row. (For one or two, the Patrol Leader has a chat with that Scout and goes to the Senior Patrol Leader if there’s any sort of issue.)

Each individual Scout is going to be a bit different from all others. Some will have mandatory “band camp” the same week as the troop is supposed to be at summer camp. Others will have football practice on the same Saturday as a planned hike. Still others will have after-school jobs that push homework to the evening hours—sometimes on the same night as a troop meeting, especially if it’s prep time for a test or exam. Then there are piano lessons, Little League, traveling soccer or baseball, church youth group mission trips, and certainly the family responsibilities you’re already sensitive to (and more power to you for this!), and so on.

The GTA is crystal-clear on two key points: “Ultimately…youth should be allowed to balance their lives with positive activities outside of Scouting” and “If a (Scout) has fallen below their (troop’s) activity-oriented expectations, then it must be due to other positive endeavors—in or out of Scouting—or due to noteworthy circumstances that have prevented a higher level of participation.”

This is where GOOD sense trumps “common” sense, and this can be easily determined in Scoutmaster conferences with each Scout. Remembering that such conferences have less to do with being about advancement requirements than being opportunities for the Scoutmaster to get to know more about each Scout’s life OUTSIDE of Scouting! This is where the Scoutmaster learns about each Scout’s involvement in the kinds of activities you and I have just talked about, and a lot more! This is where a Scoutmaster learns there’s an absent parent, or a disabled sibling, or an invalid grandparent, or a part-time job for which the money earned helps support the family, and this list is infinite as well.

We adult volunteers are giving generously of our time, talents, and treasure to the youth of our nation—our nation’s future, in fact—so let’s be equally generous in understanding that while Scouting is an important part of a young person’s growing up, it’s hardly the most “demanding” and that’s as it should be. Scouts aren’t Scouts because they’re compelled to; they’re Scouts because THEY WANT TO! And we aren’t “gatekeepers”—we’re gate OPENERS! We’re not here to find ways to trip up the Scouts we’re here to serve, or to create arbitrary roadblocks; but neither are we here to bend standards or carry kids across finish lines. Scouting is THEIRS, the “troop” belongs to the PATROLS, and we’re here to make sure they get Scouting as it’s intended… As one wise reader once told me, “We’re here to PRESENT; not INVENT.”

I believe you’re all going to be just fine! Happy Scouting!
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Hey Andy,

I’ve been a Scoutmaster for 14 years. In addition to retiring, I’m moving to a new town. I don’t want the full-time responsibility being a Scoutmaster demands, since my wife and I will be doing a bit of traveling. How would you suggest I approach a new Scouting community and where might I best help? Any suggestions welcome! (Bill Daniel, Gulf Stream Council, FL)

With your experience, you’d likely be a wonderful Unit Commissioner! Contact your new council and track down the District Executive for the area you’ll be living in, introduce you, and ask to be put in touch with the District Commissioner. Meet over a cup o’ coffee and find a troop that could use some hands-on guidance-with-a-feather.

Being a UC is a great opportunity to help, and you’re not committed to a weekly schedule. I’ve been a Unit Commissioner for over 20 years, and I wouldn’t trade that position for all the tea in China!

Happy Scouting!

Andy

Have a question? Facing a dilemma? Wondering where to find a BSA policy or guideline? Write to askandybsa@yahoo.com. Please include your name and council. (If you’d prefer to be anonymous, if published, let me know and that’s what we’ll do.)

[No. 603 – 6/11/2019 – Copyright © Andy McCommish 2019]