CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
Scouts, Scouters and Parents,
Greetings. I hope that all are well as we move into May. Next Tuesday, we are going to hold course on Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops (ILST) from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm. This web-based course is for members of the Patrol Leaders Council (PLC -- all Scouts in leadership position) and is the basis for a Scout leader to earn the "Trained" patch. For Scouts in leadership positions, you will receive an individual invite with log-in instructions. This will be a different syllabus than previous sessions; I hope to see you there.
This week I want to answer a couple of Frequently-asked Questions (FAQs):
Q1: If I am in a leadership position and the Troop's policy for leadership credit is 80% of attendance in outdoor activities, will I get credit during this time that we are not meeting?
A1: Yes. You will receive credit for the months that we had to cancel a campout.
Q2: What is BSA's policy for Eagle Scout during this time? Will there be extensions past one's 18th birthday?
A2: Yes. BSA National Headquarters has granted local councils the authority to grant extensions until 30 September 2020. The extension must not exceed three months past a Scout's 18th birthday. You can find more details at scouting.org/coronavirus.
Q3: Can we hold Patrol Meetings online during social distancing?
A3: Yes, but special care must be taken to adhere to BSA Youth Protection policy. When scheduling, a Patrol Leader needs to have two adults present online. One must be a registered Scouter in the Troop with up-to-date Youth Protection Training (YPT). Scouts need to be in uniform so they are easily recognizable as members of the Troop. The session needs to have an administrator who verifies participants and kicks out anyone not readily recognized as a member of the Troop (e.g., "Zoom Bombing"). Invitations should go to individual email addresses with a passcode for the session so that attendance is limited to the intended attendees.
This week's Scoutmaster Minute:
Many of you have heard me talk about William "Green Bar Bill" Hillcourt. Green Bar Bill was an emigrant from Denmark, where he was active in Scouting and earned Danish Scouting's highest award – Knight-Scout. He started working for BSA in 1926 and stayed an active and influential Scouter until 1992. He wrote the first Handbook for Patrol Leaders in 1929 (and others in 1950, 1967, and 1980), three editions of the Boy Scout Handbook, two Scoutmaster Handbooks, the first edition of the Scout Fieldbook, and many other publications. He was a prolific contributor to Boy's Life and Scouting Magazine. What follows is his article explaining The Outdoor Code in the March 1967 edition of Boy's Life:
"Funny thing about conservation: the DON'Ts are just as important as the DOs. I can't think of any other field in Scouting where it's possible to DO a Good Turn by NOT DOING something. Open up your Boy Scout Handbook, take a look at the 'Outdoor Code' that's required reading for all Tenderfoot Scouts, and you'll know what I'm talking about.
Take the Code's first point: 'Be clean in my outdoor manners.' How do you and your fellows prove that you are? Mainly by DO-NOT-Dos: By NOT dropping trash—sandwich bags, candy wrappers—where you happen to stop for lunch. By NOT burying garbage on your campsite (carry it out!). By NOT littering the outdoors with broken bottles, jars, or tin cans.
Second point: 'Be careful with fire.' Here again, the proof is mostly in your DO-NOT-Dos: You DO NOT start a fire where it might spread out of control. You DO NOT leave it unattended. You DO NOT depart from your campsite before you are sure the fire is out.
Third: ' Be considerate in the outdoors.' There are plenty of DO-NOT-Dos involved here: DO NOT make a nuisance of yourself. DO NOT trespass. DO NOT cross planted fields. DO NOT climb fences. DO NOT destroy property.
Even the fourth point, 'Be conservation-minded,' is full of DO-NOT-Dos: DO NOT pollute rivers and lakes. DO NOT hack trees with your ax and DO NOT peel off bark. DO NOT destroy wildflowers. DO NOT hunt or fish out of season.
It's my personal opinion that most of the littering and a great deal of the vandalism that's done in the great outdoors of our country is done thoughtlessly by scatterbrained people. Somehow, all Americans need to be taught to think before they act…Keeping America beautiful is everybody's business."
A Scout is Courteous.
Yours in Scouting Service,
Doug Henry
Scoutmaster, Troop 1396
CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED