District and Recruiting

[Chief J]

Not sure how to title this, or where to place it, but here is a new one on me. I just found out our District Commissioner wants to establish the lineage of what Troops have what "feeder" packs. They then want to prohibit other units from recruiting from the Pack.

Once I got done laughing, I thought how absurd, and what a waste of time. If anyone in the District actually goes along with this they are fools. My reason for this conclusion is that Webelos and Scouts new to the program should be able to research and join whatever unit satisfies their wants and desires. To say that a Webelo cannot join Troop Y because the Pack and Troop are chartered to the same organization is laughable by my standards.

I hate to see District waste valuable resources on this madness.

Chief J

[riverwalk]

I'm home sick and needed something funny, as another forum I'm in was getting too serious today, haha. Perhaps this was just that person's approach to organizing things. But true, Scouts and Scouters should go where they are comfortable. I know families involved here that have a child in different Troops, because the Youth found their "fit".

[Lynda J]

Districts and troops can't set these guidelines. When we got ready to move out boys up I checkout three different troops. Ended up going with the troop attached to our pack. But we looked. A scout has the right to select the troop he wants to join. And no one should stop him from making his own choice. If the troops in your district are having a good program there shouldn't be a problem with the boys from the packs moving up. If not packs will look for another troop. And that is their right.

[OldGreyBear]

isn't visiting 3 troops a requirement for the Arrow of Light? How can you visit 3 troops but be locked in to one?

next topic...

[cballman]

we recommend to visit at LEAST 3 and then if the boys feel comfortable with any one of these then by all means go. I have seen 3-4 different troops at a crossover for about 7 boys so if your troop dont get everyone then by all means help out another troop with recruiting. to me if I can keep a kid in scouting but not in my troop then yes I will help him find a troop that suits him. its not the amount of boys received but how well your troop does the program. the better the program the more boys that will follow.

[Scouting179]

To restrict where a Webe goes to join a troop is preposterous, absurd and illegal. I can't believe, well, actually I do, that a professional Scouter would suggest such a thing.

What a laugh for the end of the day.

[Lynda J]

I would contact your DE about this. NOt sure it's even legal to restrict what troop a cub can join. Darn sure isn't right. Our troop and pack are both chartered by the same CO. They are great. Basically leave us alone. When we need something we go to them. When they need something they come to us.

[West]

Boys should go where ever they feel comfortable. Adults can be a diffrent matter. The cubmaster of the Pack we charter has decided that his son is going to a diffrent troop. He wanted to move the pack here from a diffrent CO. We were looking to start a new pack so I told him we'd work with him, but I would like his help in rebuilding the troop (which is an ongoing project). He agreed. Now he's apparently changed his mind.

There are a few things that bug me about this situation. #1, his son wants to come to our troop. But dad likes the way the other troop does fundraiseing better. The son visited both troops, and liked ours a lot (you can tell when a kid likes what's going on). I feel quite strongly that we have a better program and don't think that fact that the troop dosn't make as much money every year should be what the decision gets based on.

#2, he had a secret meeting (meaning he sure as heck didn't as myself or someone involved with the troop to come and represent ourselves) with all the parents in the webelos den and talked about all the good points of the other troop, and didn't mention anything but things he saw as problems with our troop. Some of what I've been told was said isn't even true. I learned of this because a couple of these parents were quite upset about what they saw as an attempt to get them to go elsewhere. These parents had been to our troop and liked the potential, but wern't given a chance to speak at this little meeting. The boys wern't allowed to speak at all.

#3, while he was cubmaster we helped him out a good deal in running the program. Of 20 adults in the program 15 of them are active in our church. Other church members have come in and helped in areas of their expertese. So it's not that we havn't lived up to our end of the bargin.

I could have easily had someone else in his positon who would have stuck around to help build the whole program. He assured me he would do that as well. Guess his word dosn't mean much. What bugs me more was the attempted sell of the other troop, and that the boys wern't allowed to express their feelings.

So now I have to figure out what to do with this guy, who wants to be cubmaster for two more years, and his wife- how wants to be webelos leader next year. I have a responsibility to build both programs. Actually we are starting a venture crew too, so all three programs. I can't be putting people in those places who have worked to try to talk boys out of comeing to our troop. It dosn't matter if they succed or not. I just can't have the cubmaster trying to convice people our troop isn't the best.

The worst part is he made fun of some of the adult volunteers in the troop, and made claims that they didn't really want to be there. Strange, the scoutmaster has been there for 2 years and has told me he'd like to stick around at least 4 more. Since his son has been out of scouting for 4 years I don't think he's there just for his boy. Can I really put up with one leader makeing up stories about another? I place a lot of importance on supporting those who volunteer to make our program possible.

This isn't just a territory thing either. I knew all year one of the webelos was planning to go to a diffrent troop, because his brother was in it. That's cool. If he convinces his friends to go too that's ok. 4 of my kids in our troop are in a diffrent venture crew. They will probably stay with that crew until we prove our program. If they like where they are I hope they stay. They do have some gripes about where they are, and if we adress them better I hope they consider moveing over instead of quitting if it gets that bad.

In other words the kids should do what they want. But I can't have adults sneaking behind my back trying to undermine the work I'm doing. Not after they've told me they will stick around and help us out.

[Chief J]

I wholehearedly agree with the Scout should go where he feels comfortable and the adults should support that decision. If an adult forces a boy to go to X when he would rather be in Y, the end result is he will not be a part of the program for very long and both X and Y will suffer.

The Pack my son came from (and I was involved as a leader) does not have a corresponding Troop. When my boy was in Webelos we looked at 4-5 Troops in the area, and decided to go where we are now. My son is doing well and really enjoys it. I am active as the SM of this Troop now, and am having a blast.

Last year when the old pack had crossover, they had Scouts going to three different Troops. I did not get angry or upset that mt Troop didn't "get" everyone. We just took our turns at the crossover bridge and welcomed the boys into the Troop. However, one year later, 6 of the seven that crossed over into my Troop are still active and the Scouts who crossed over into other Troops have left Scouting because they were not happy with the outcome of their chioce. (More than one choice was based on "I want my Son to Troop X rather than Y).

My belief is, as a parent, give the Scout's the opportunity to see several options and support their decision. Don't make the decision for them.

As I said before, this is comical, and a waste of valuable district level resources.

Chief J

[ilduncans]

I sure hope there was som terrible misunderstanding here. Your District Commissioner, a volunteer, was onto something in wanting to understand the relationships that exist between packs and troops. Knowing where troops are receiving crossovers from strong packs is a good way to know where you have troops that are starving, troops that are solidly healthy, and troops that are going to suffer from overcrowding and/or uncontrolled growth. (150 youth in one troop is not often a sustainable situation for more than a few years, especially if it was 50 youth only five years before).

But that same volunteer ventured into some dangerous water in thinking of limiting or enforcing rules on who can move from what unit to what unit. Such rules could never be enforced, first of all. (It'll be a very cold day when a professional turns back a paid youth application, and not much different for your District Vice Chariman for Membership).