Here Troop 17 leaders have worked to capture some basic questions regarding being part of a Troop that we get from parents, and of course the answers to those questions.
Anytime a parent of a Scout, or prospective Scout, has any questions regarding Troop 17 we ask you please reach out to our leaders. Communication and alignment provides the best experience for your Scout!
It is important for parents to always keep in mind that ALL of the leaders in Troop 17 are volunteers. Each of our leaders is dedicating their time, energy and sometimes even money to provide your Scout with the best possible experience; this is all done with no compensation outside of the satisfaction and pride they get from watching Scouts grow through the program.
The Troop's key leadership ask that parents always keep this in mind when engaging leaders. You may not get a response to your email or text immediately, leaders can make mistakes, or forget about something they were supposed to do with your Scout. Regardless of what may happen, please engage our leaders and treat them respectfully and remember they are volunteering to be a Scout leader.
If you do ever find yourself having a concern with a leader that you feel is not being resolved through respectful discussion with that leader, please come to either the Scout Master or Committee Chair with your concerns and they can work to address the concerns you have.
This is the most common question we get from parents, at least those who love the outdoors as much as the Scouts do.
The answer to this question is yes, however there are a few "buts" that come along with that.
This is another common question from families that have been in Scouting and in most all cases the answer to this question is no. While you may be familiar with the family oriented program in Cub Scouts, Scouts BSA's program is not designed based on this concept. Many activities that Troops participate in have restrictions that prohibit, under Scouting America rules, youth that are not registered in a Troop from participating. Younger siblings are specifically not permitted to come on any overnight Troop activity (such as camping).
While the Arrow of Light rank in Cub Scouts is intended to prepare Scouts to become part of a Troop, its focus is on preparing the Scouts and not the parents, thus this question often comes up. Another challenge is that many times the Cub Scout leaders teaching these materials have not been actively involved in a Troop (at all or since they were a Scout themselves); while doing their best the lack of experience in a Troop can lead to not truly preparing a Scout for crossing over.
The simple answer to the question is that the Scouts BSA program and Cub Scout program are, by design,
fundamentally
different programs which use similar, but very different, approaches to teaching skills and developing youth into leaders.
The table below shows the three largest conceptual differences between the Cub Scout and Scouts BSA programs, while this does not encompass all the differences it is intended to provide parents and Scouts insight into the what and why of these differences
While we still consider Scouts and parents trustworthy, the answer to this question is no. In Scouts BSA a Scout needs to demonstrate they have learned a skill or completed a requirement to a leader who is approved to sign off that requirement for the Scout. To ensure that the standard of demonstrating a skill is equal for all Scouts it is required for your Scout to demonstrate the skill to an leader to get it signed off. If your Scout did something at a family outing it was good practice, they may be asked to demonstrate the skill again to a leader.
As a side note, in Troop 17 parents of a Scout are generally not given the authority to sign off on requirements for their Scout. If you are a leader in the Troop, this means that even if you witnessed your child perform the required skill it will likely need to be demonstrated to another leader to be signed off.
Troop 17 requests that parents be prompt, preferably early,
in picking up and dropping their Scouts off, however you are not required to
remain at any activity or meeting with your Scout.
Please note that Troop 17 is required to follow all Scouting
America youth protection policies and therefore you cannot leave your Scout at
a meeting until the proper adult leadership is present at the meeting.
You may find the answer to this question is your Scout. Scouts BSA is intended to put responsibility onto the Scout, part of this responsibility is getting requirements signed off. While Troop leadership will regularly remind Scouts about getting requirement signed off and set aside time to do so; they do not approach Scouts to "sign things off". It is the responsibility of the Scout to ask a leader to review and sign off requirements when the Scout feels they are ready to show they have completed the requirement.
There is a spot in the Scout Handbook where a Scout can check a requirement indicating they feel it is ready to be signed off. If they take their book with those checked to an appropriate leader, the leader will review and verify with the Scout they have completed the requirements and then sign off those completed. If for some reason the Scout is unable to demonstrate they have completed the requirement the leader will provide them guidance regarding how they should work to complete the requirement. The Scout Handbook is setup this way intentionally to help enable the Scouts to track and be responsible for their advancement.
So, while there may be other reasons, more often than not when a Scout is not getting things signed off it is because they are not taking the time to meet their responsibility of asking a leader to review and sign off requirements.
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