Scouting Maverick: Scout Better

Author: Aren Cambre

  • Failed councils love fees

    Failed councils love fees

    In today’s episode of “what the hell is going on”, we have the Crossroads of America Council. Starting April 1, 2023, its new bureaucracy-preservation fees inflate annual membership costs to $340, 304% of the prior year’s cost. That’s right, just to be a Scout in this council, you will have to pay $340 a year. ($75 of this is the annual national fee, so $265 is COAC’s bureaucracy-preservation fee.) Dues for your unit and activity expenses are on top of this.

    Doesn’t BSA cap fees? Halfheartedly. Page 14 of BSA’s Rules and Regulations of the Boy Scouts of America, Sept. 2020 edition lets councils charge an “annual registration or program fee … not to exceed the amount of the applicable individual registration fee”, which is currently $75.

    How does COAC get away with $340? Likely because of a word in BSA’s policy: “annual”. COAC flouts national with a monthly bureaucracy-preservation fee!

    BSA national appears to be winking at high bureaucracy-preservation fees: A cursory search shows that 2021 documents mention the council-fee cap, but 2022 documents omit it.

    BSA could easily fix this: Control all council-imposed fees required just to be a member, regardless of how they are applied. They must not exceed $75 over any 365-day period.

    BSA should go further. It should go back to how things used to be–no council fees–within three years: Limit to 50% of the membership fee for year one, 25% for year two, then 0% afterwards.

    This will cause failed councils to collapse, but that is part of the point: Youth in failed councils are better served by rebooted operations or a successful council taking over. Failed councils that wish to turn around will engage in healthy changes, relationship development, and new thinking. Either way, failure is forced out of Scouting.

    This brazen, exorbitant bureaucracy-preservation fee made it past several volunteer and professional checks and balances. That is evidence of a failed council.

    How do you deal with a failed council? First, blunders of this magnitude fall on the Scout Executive. That person must be held accountable.

    Second, turning around failure of this magnitude may require a reboot or dissolution. A reboot is only meaningful under remarkably different professional and volunteer leadership. If that is not feasible, it should seek a managed dissolution, where a different, successful council takes over its territory.

    The Crossroads of America Council is at a crossroads! Will its members choose revitalization, or will they continue to tolerate a clown show? I sure hope revitalization. The youth of Indianapolis are worth it!

    UPDATE (2023-02-10): It is a contagion. Nearby Northeast Illinois Council has done about the same.

    UPDATE (2023-02-12): Per the petition organizer (see photo credit below), Crossroads of America Council has pulled back on its bureaucracy-preservation fee.

    This council’s next steps will determine if it is a failed council.

    No matter what its new funding proposal is, an egregious blunder made it past the entire council volunteer and paid leadership. That is an unacceptable leadership failure. Accountability should be a nonnegotiable part of healing from this.

    Crossroads of America Council admitting defeat, possibly setting the stage to proving it is not a failed council.

    (Photo credit: https://www.change.org/p/prevent-the-decimation-of-membership-of-local-bsa-unit-in-crossroads-of-america)

    UPDATE (2024-10-14): The Scout Executive behind this scheme was dismissed by his council, allegedly in a “resign or you’ll be fired” ultimatum by the council’s board of directors. Financial shenanigans, poor revenue, and a poorly conceived airshow caused this council to bear $1.44 million of losses in 2023 and $1.24 million of losses in 2024:

  • Departed Scouts: letting them go usually is best

    Departed Scouts: letting them go usually is best

    I was Cubmaster of a large pack for 5 years. The biggest waste of my time, in terms of return on value, was re-recruiting departed Scouts.

    What I learned:

    1. I usually cannot fix the problem. The families almost always dodged the truth about why they left. (I am in Texas, where it’s culturally considered better to tell a polite lie than to share truth.) Therefore, the problems I thought I could solve were usually phony. Best way to flush time down the toilet? Solving phony problems.
    2. Rarely did they come back, and when they did, it was not due to anything I did. I can only think of two comebacks associated with my pack, which peaked at 137 Scouts. One is still with the program, with my son in his troop, and the other dropped a year after returning.
    3. Problems are best solved proactively. I am pretty sure most of our losses were due to two reasons: 1. Too many other activities, which is hard to solve. 2. Poor den program.

    On poor den program, not supporting my Den Leaders enough may have been the #1 thing I would have changed if I had a do-over. The den leaders weren’t unsupported–they were trained, and the pack-level program supported den formation and strengthening–but I didn’t do enough commissioner-style supports of Den Leaders.

    We had many awesome den leaders, and I am so thankful for them. They did so much to cause a great program and retention. I feel bad for those who may have been lost and I didn’t assure they had a compass.

  • The case for equity and inclusion: Ending BSA’s specious coed ban

    In 2018 and 2019, BSA allowed girls into its boys-only programs. This inclusion was accompanied by a ban on coed Cub Scout dens or coed Scouts BSA troops.

    The coed ban is specious: It rests on misinformation and on sexist, racist, and harmful folklore. Its pile-on effects reduce youth safety, harm members, and harm the program. In its campaign to perpetuate the ban, BSA gaslights families and volunteers. This and more signals cultural rot, which is catastrophic to an organization that protects youth and develops leaders.

    To end these harms, restore trust, promote equity and inclusion, be relevant to today’s families, and live the values it teaches, BSA must drop the specious coed ban. This allows a choice of coed or single-gender. It also must correct the culture that allowed it to implement and perpetuate the ban.

    The ban can and should be dropped rapidly. The change must not be delayed with a pilot program.

    Read more on the specious and harmful coed ban:

  • UMC’s BSA shift is a blueprint, inflection, and opportunity

    UMC’s BSA shift is a blueprint, inflection, and opportunity

    The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a huge charterer of Boy Scouts of America (BSA) units. It is changing its relationship with the BSA.

    The UMC’s path forward is churches no longer charter Scout units. Instead, councils, which are the nonprofits that run Scouting in defined regions, will become the chartered organizations for all UMC Scout units.

    Explainer: All BSA units are “chartered” by a community-minded organization. A charter is like a franchise. Under BSA’s charter agreement, the community-minded organization owns and operates a Scout unit. This is the longstanding model for BSA.

    Formerly UMC-chartered Scout units will shift to an affiliation agreement with churches. This agreement appears to mainly provides meeting space. For Scout units that successfully navigate this, youth members should notice no differences.

    I believe this change is:

    1. A blueprint for other major charterers.
    2. The beginning of the end of the chartered-organization model.
    3. An opportunity for BSA’s volunteer commissioners.

    This change means a lot on the back end. The unit is no longer owned or operated by UMC churches, and major responsibilities are shifting to BSA councils.

    A premise behind the chartered-organization model is a level of investment and ownership in Scout units that is rare. Even when I was a youth (decades ago!), most units had only a “key relationship” with their chartered organization: “here’s the key to the building, I’ll sign that form once a year, and don’t bug me until next year”. It’s no different today.

    This is certainly not what the chartered-organization model anticipates.

    I am not blaming the chartered organizations. I think the model is obsolete. Can you think of any other major, youth-serving organization that works this way? I can’t.

    We need a new path forward. This is the first time a major, national organization has reached an agreement with BSA like this. Other large charterers are not comfortable with the chartered-organization model. Can the BSA deny them this blueprint? I doubt it.

    Here’s a challenge: The chartered organization has important duties, such as approving adult leaders. Also, since units are owned by the chartered organization, units operate as a part of the chartered organization. For example, First United Methodist Church’s Troop 123 is literally acting as First United Methodist Church in anything it does. This even includes matters like tax reporting.

    It’s a big responsibility.

    In shifting the charters to councils, if we make no changes, we’re heaping a lot of responsibility on council staff, which is already typically lean and overtaxed. How will they take on the Chartered Organization Representative (COR) role?

    Explainer: The COR is the chartered organization’s official representative to each Scout unit. Among the COR duties are approving adult leaders, appointing some positions, setting expectations on behalf of the chartered organization, and voting in council matters.

    Now let’s be clear: if councils are chartering units, we’ve moved beyond the chartered-organization model. We need to rethink the COR! We can divide it into three parts:

    1. Superfluous: Some red tape is needed only because the “charterer” is independent. When BSA itself is the charterer, this red tape becomes junk work. Trash it! (Want to get rid of the loathsome, annual rechartering process? This is how!)
    2. Professional: Some parts, such as fiscal responsibilities related to ownership of a unit, may need to be handled by council staff.
    3. Volunteer: Much of the role may be handled by volunteers in the commissioner staff. This may include approving adult leaders, direct relationship with troops, and more.

    Let’s talk more about point 3: As a prior District Commissioner, I found the commissioner role to be ambiguous. That makes it hard to recruit for. Even 15 years ago, technology had already obsoleted a lot of our function, and the remainder was scattered. A role-enhancement could boost the commissioner role by adding clarity, meaning, and authority. That will help us find more commissioners!

    It is crucial that we align the right personality to the adjusted commissioner role. It’s crucial that we fill commissioner staff with service-oriented problem-solvers who thrive on the initiative, innovation, and independence of unit leaders.

    In changing its relationship with the BSA, the UMC has laid out a blueprint for other chartered organizations. This will soon kill the obsolete chartered-organization model. Change is hard, but volunteer commissioners can take on a good deal of the former responsibility of chartered organizations. In doing so, commissioner service gains badly needed clarity.

  • Scout units should never have bylaws

    Scout units should never have bylaws

    (Editorial comment: Sacred cows are tasty. Apparently bylaws are sacred cows. Many comments are reacting to sentiments not expressed in this article. To be clear: It is good to document practices. It’s not good to turn them into formal bylaws.)

    While formal policy’s certainty may be appealing, it is a bad idea for Scout units. (Note: I use “bylaws” and “policy” interchangeably. I mean 1. a set of written rules that are 2. formally adopted by the adults of a Scout unit that 3. seek to generally regulate a Scout unit.)

    Bylaws turn the unit committee into a legislative body. This distracts from the committee’s role as a working group.

    Bylaws encourage rule-worshipping and administration. They discourage creativity and leadership.

    Let me re-emphasize something: BYLAWS ARE ANTI-LEADERSHIP! They are about rules and processes, the domain of administration. Steering a unit towards a compliance regime is steering it away from leadership-mentoring opportunities.

    Bylaws demean volunteers and youth leaders, saying they should not be trusted.

    Bylaws will eat you up. “But I just want one policy!” Once you let the genie out of the bottle, getting to “extensive policy” is fast: due to the golden-hammer effect, more problems will be “solved” by more policy.

    Conscientious units don’t need bylaws. BSA already has plenty of rules and regulations. Gray areas can be managed through the lens of the Scout Oath and Law. In rare cases where these aren’t enough, documenting one’s practices are sufficient. In extremes, the chartered organization might weigh in.

    Some mistakenly think Scout units need bylaws because all organizations need them. No, because Scout units are not organizations. They are a part of their chartered organization.

    Finally, BSA recommends against bylaws. In the Cub Scout Leader Book, 2018 edition, page 94: “Creating a set of bylaws or operating procedures is not necessary; all packs operate by the guidelines described in this manual.”

    Bylaws for Scout units are counterproductive. They create costs, they don’t solve problems better than documented practices, and they have substantial risks.

    Alternatives to bylaws

    OK, no bylaws or policy. What else can you do? Three things:

    Use the Scout Oath and Law. Those are the best lens for working through challenges.

    Use what BSA already provides. Don’t reinvent the wheel. BSA already has a bloated corpus of rules and recommendations. The last thing any volunteer needs is more rules.

    Document your practices. You do not need legislation to document practices. For example, if your unit’s practice is that campout registration deadlines are the Sunday before the campout, then the camp chair might write this down in a shared document.

  • Don’t renew inactive adult leaders

    Don’t renew inactive adult leaders

    Scout units often have non-participating adult leaders. Renewing them is a poor practice.

    This is not a call to ingloriously kick them out. It is a call to conversation. After I share why inactive adults should not be renewed, I give conversation ideas.

    Why

    Being an adult leader means a high level of access to a unit. Information on and access to youth must be managed carefully. Part of that means adult leadership is appropriate only for people who are known to each other. Non-participating adults are not in relationship with the other adults, creating a safety and cultural risk.

    No organization is static. The more time that elapses from when inactive adult leaders last participated, the more risks when they reappear. Are they familiar with the latest YPT revision? Are they familiar with the current youth and families? What if unit practices evolved?

    The Key Three annually attest to the suitability of leaders. That is done when they sign the annual recharter agreement. How is attestation possible for people who lack an active relationship with the unit? What does it say when the Key Three attest to such people? (The Key Three is the Committee Chair, Chartered Organization Representative, and the top program leader–Scoutmaster, Cubmaster, Advisor, or Skipper.)

    Inactive adults may lack incentive to be fully trained. They may jeopardize Journey to Excellence scores.

    There are direct costs with no benefit. The treasurer has to manage more transactions. The membership chair has to manage more memberships. The training chair has to chase down absent adults. The committee chair or Scoutmaster must account for missing leaders.

    Finally, adult leadership is a privilege and a responsibility. Re-registering non-participating adults cheapens the purpose of adult leadership.

    Philosophical note: The adult uniform always has a position patch on the left shoulder. This is intentional. BSA is a youth-serving organization, so the only role for adults in Scouting is in being some kind of adult leader. By extension, unit-level adult leaders who are not fulfilling a leader role are contravening a premise of the BSA.

    The conversation

    Having ghost adult leaders on a unit roster is a sign of deferred, crucial conversations.

    These leaders are renewing with good intentions. That must be respected. However, the privilege of continued registration must be tied to an active role. Any inactive leader who returns to an active role is a win!

    The conversation should respectfully guide the inactive leader to one of these outcomes:

    1. Return to an active role. This is a win! You kept a leader, and you have new help. Be sure that the role is specific. Not simply “Committee Member” but “training lead”. Not simply “Assistant Scoutmaster” but “mentor to the Bobwhite Patrol”.
    2. Move to the district. Districts often need additional staff, and the district is a great place to continue helping Scouting. Pro tip: Reach out to your District Commissioner and District Chair. Do they need help?
    3. Unit Scouter Reserve. This position is for a temporarily uninvolved leader who intends to return (code 91U for regular or 92U for college reserve). This is an inactive status, so there is no position patch. The only required training is YPT, so it does not count against JTE metrics. This should only be used if both:
      1. A temporary life circumstance prevents involvement. A great example is a temporary move away from the area, like for a military deployment or to go to college.
      2. The adult has a genuine intent to resume an active role once the life circumstance ends.
    4. Merit badge counselor. This role has no registration cost.
    5. Ending the Scouting career. This point comes for everyone. Sometimes our fond memories get in the way of us making a rational assessment. While we all hope for someone to continue in an active role, we sometimes need to celebrate the role someone once had.

    Details

    Every rule has an exception. Adult leaders who are involved on the district or council level, but for whom there isn’t a clean membership option on those levels, might be best to maintain membership with a unit. Examples might include camp director (volunteer role), Order of the Arrow involvement, or similar. The unit still must set an expectation that this person maintain relationship with it.

    What is “active” is up to each unit. Think carefully about where this bar is set. A leader who provides a valuable service but only twice a year: do you consider that person active? (You may!)

    No, adults do not need to register to attend unit events. BSA only requires adult registration when attending an event that lasts for over 72 hours. Three notes:

    • Unregistered adults should be supervised by a registered leader.
    • Unregistered adults do not count for minimum-adult-leader requirements, such as the two-leader policy.
    • While YPT is not required of unregistered adults, it is still a good idea.

    Conclusion

    Inactive adult leaders generally should not be re-registered. Inactive adults may be requesting re-registration because of their fondness for the unit, and we must be sympathetic to that. Inactive status is an invitation to a crucial conversation, to guide the adult to a preferred, new state.

  • Scouting must be fun, adventure, and meaning

    Scouting must be fun, adventure, and meaning

    I’ve talked to many who were in Scouting decades ago.

    Their best memories: fun, adventure, and meaning. Not badges.

    Do a two-point test on everything your Scout unit does:

    1. Is it fun or adventure, or does it get you there?
    2. Is it something meaningful that the Scout or family don’t get otherwise? (e.g., challenging family discussions, leadership development)

    If either is yes, it’s a good thing. If neither are yes, avoid it.

  • Upgraded Venturing Activity Planning Form

    Upgraded Venturing Activity Planning Form

    BSA’s Venturing Activity Planning Worksheet hits the right topics, but it’s an old-school, print-only PDF.

    Here’s a Google Docs version: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q8gQJ3rNGPLvbPdtP2d__6uawclVRlx2kAcZADgzij0/edit?usp=sharing. Copy it, then change the red text.

    The Google Docs version helps with collaboration, sharing, and assuring access to current information.

    This follows BSA’s wording and structure, with light changes where needed.

  • Do they want to come back?

    Do they want to come back?

    “Do they want to come back?” Leaders must ask that after every Scout event.

    “Do they want to come back?”

    Nothing else matters until that answer is “yes”!

    If they don’t want to come back, they won’t do advancement.

    If they don’t want to come back, they won’t come to the next campout.

    If they don’t want to come back, they won’t pull in their friends.

    If they don’t want to come back, they won’t lead.

    What makes them want to come back? Two things:

    • Fun. This is especially important with the youngest Cub Scouts and middle-school Scouts BSA members. It still a big deal for the oldest Venturers.
    • Fulfillment. This gets into “was it worth it?” For example, did this meeting help me feel prepared for that mountain biking trip?

    “Do they want to come back?”

    Ask yourself that after every event. If the answer isn’t “yes”, then solve that problem before anything else. It’s that important!

  • Deciphering BSA medical forms

    (UPDATE: BSA updated its AHMR in December 2019. While some details are different, the big picture remains the same.)

    BSA’s medical forms are complicated! I made a guide to help leaders know how to check form completeness: AHMR review.

    To summarize, you have to make sure Parts A, B, and C are fully filled out. Additionally, you have to review some details, like immunizations, required signatures, allergies, dates, health insurance, and more.

    This guide will make it clearer to know which boxes to check:

    Example of medical form dechipering guide.
    Example of medical form dechipering guide.

    I recommend you review BSA’s Frequently Asked Questions Concerning the Annual Health and Medical Record. I think my guidance is good for the vast majority of simple cases. There are still boundary cases that will need different consideration, and the FAQ covers many of them.