Seneca District Family Scouting Update for August 2018

1. Prepared. For Life.
• Some troops have made a decision
about whether to help a troop of girls
stand up beside an existing troop of
boys on February 1, 2019
• If you haven’t decided, or if you have
“tentatively” decided subject to getting
enough leaders to deliver the program
properly in the new troop of girls,
there’s still time to decide.
• UPDATE YOUR BEASCOUT PIN (see DC
Matt Byers)
Family Scouting Decision
Time is Coming

2. Prepared. For Life.
• To be ready for “Day One” of Scouts
BSA girls, a lot of planning can be done
now.
• As the “word gets out” about girls in
Scouting, many girls and their families
will want to make plans to join, and
many chartered organizations will want
to see plans in place.
Should We Do Anything
Now, or Wait Until 2019?

3. Prepared. For Life.
How to Decide about a Girls
Troop Alongside Your
Troop?
• Consult the stakeholders in the
decision:
– leaders and families in your troop
– the Scouts themselves
– the Chartered Organization
– other key parties in the community
• Be sure all are up to speed on how
Family Scouting can work for your
community
• Develop a consensus (and as needed
consult parties to reach that consensus)

4. Prepared. For Life.
• Single Gender Troops – But Joint
Activity Permitted.
– Troops will be single gender — all boys or all
girls
– The chartered organization and the troop
leaders (the youth leaders in the patrol leader’s
councils, advised by the respective
Scoutmasters) can decide meeting times and
places
– Separate girl troops and boy troops could meet
at the same time and place, and plan joint
events together (like campouts), as troops
currently do
How Will Boy Troops and
Girl Troops Work

5. Prepared. For Life.
• Effective October 1, 2018, two
registered adult leaders 21 years of age
or over are required at all Scouting
activities, including meetings
• Units with girls need at least one female
registered leader aged 21 or over. And
a registered female adult leader over 21
must be present for any activity
involving female youth
New Rules

6. Prepared. For Life.
• Administration of troops chartered by
the same Chartered Organization may
be “linked”
– The troops can share the same Troop
Committee, supporting both troops
– Adult leaders in a boy troop can be leaders also
in the girl troop (with no additional registration
fee), provided that the Scoutmaster is different
(so the Scoutmaster of a troop of boys may be
an assistant to the troop of girls, and vice
versa)
Separate Troops – But
Option to “Link” Troop
Committees

7. Prepared. For Life.
Other Q/A
• Can Scouts BSA Troops have “Boy
Patrols and Girl Patrols?
– No, they’ll be in their own patrols in their own
troop of boys or troop of girls. Scouts in each
troop will choose their own youth leaders
• Can we share the same Troop Number?
– Yes – if you want. The same number can be
on your shirts, but for charter and advancement
reporting, a different “prefix” number will appear
in ScoutNet records.

8. Prepared. For Life.
Other Topics to Consider
• What Families Need To Know
• Five Things YOU Need to Know

9. Prepared. For Life.
Five Things to Know About
Girls and Your Troop in Fall
2018
• If We’re Not Adding a Troop of Girls, Do
We Have To Deal With Girls and Their
Families?
– Even if you’re not going to have a “sister” troop,
we hope you’ll be helpful to girls interested in
Scouting – even if you’re referring them to
another Chartered Organization’s troop.
– After all, “A Scout is friendly. A Scout is a
friend to all. He is a brother to other
Scouts.” And that includes girls interested in
Scouts BSA.

10. Prepared. For Life.
Five Things to Know About
Girls and Your Troop in Fall
2018
• What Do I Do About our Arrow of Light
Girls and Troop Visits?
– You can let them visit your troop, just like you
always do with boys!
– If your Chartered Organization won’t stand up a
Scouts BSA troop of girls on February 1, 2019,
you can still have them visit your troop and see
how you do Scouting.

11. Prepared. For Life.
Five Things (Cont’d)
• Visits (Continued)
– After all, the purpose of the troop visit is to let
the Scouts see how a troop operates (whether
they join you or not)
– If the girls decide to start their own troop by
themselves and copy how you do Scouting –
that’s an excellent result!
– If you plan to stand up a new troop of girls, use
the visits as a time to recruit new leaders from
the families of Arrow of Light girls.

12. Prepared. For Life.
Five Things (Cont’d)
• Can Other Girls Visit our Meetings and
Camp with Us?
– Yes they can, just like you already do with
boys – but be sure to follow the rule that a
registered female adult leader over 21 must be
present for any activity involving female youth.
– Some troops will insist it be a registered female
from the pack, to be more familiar with the girls,
but a better idea would be one from the pack
and one from your troop.

13. Prepared. For Life.
Five Things (Cont’d)
• If They Come to BSA Activities Now,
Can They Earn Advancement?
– Not until they register on or after February 1,
2019.

14. Prepared. For Life.
Five Things (Continued)
• Can they get instruction now at a troop
activity or other BSA activity like a Merit
Badge clinic (if invited to participate)?
– Yes, and that will benefit them, and make “testing”
and signoff easier after they are Scouts registered
on or after February 1, 2019.
– For example, a Cub Scout’s earning the Arrow of
Light doesn’t mean he or she also earns the
Scout Rank upon joining a troop – it just means
the Scout has benefitted from instruction before
joining a troop, and is likely to be better able to be
tested and pass the Scout Rank requirements
quickly.

15. Prepared. For Life.
Five Things (Continued)
• Instruction (Continued)
– So too with girls who get Scout skills or merit
badge instruction before they join a troop: after
they are registered on or after February 1,
2019, they are likely to be better able to be
tested and pass the requirements quickly.

16. Prepared. For Life.
What Families Need To
Know
• Who can join troops now?
– In 2018, boys age 11 through age 17 can join a
troop, because right now all BSA troops are “all
boy”.
– Also eligible are boys 10 years of age who have
earned the “Arrow of Light” in Cub Scouting.
• When can girls Join Scouts BSA Troops
– Starting February 1, 2019, Scouts BSA troops
formed for girls can go “active” and accept
registration from girls in Grade 6 or age 11
through age 17

17. Prepared. For Life.
What Families Need To
Know
• Different Kinds of Troops Starting in
2019
– There will be separate troops for boys and
separate troops for girls, and no troops with
both boys and girls, although troops may do
activities together.
– Troops under the same Chartered Organization
may formally “link” by sharing the same Troop
Committee, or may informally link, if an existing
troop pairs up with a new “sister” troop as it
gets started.

18. Prepared. For Life.
What Families Need To
Know
• Who Leads Scouts BSA Troops? Will
Troops Do Activities Together?
– Scouts in a troop choose their own youth leaders –
those youth leaders lead the troop, advised by the
Scoutmaster.
– So related troops of boys and of girls will have their
own separate leadership teams.
– But troops can do activities and meetings together,
if the youth leaders (advised by the Scoutmaster)
agree to do so.
– Some may have many common activities and
meetings – some may “go their own way” if that’s
what the youth leaders of the troop plan to do.

19. Prepared. For Life.
What Families Need To
Know
• Undecided Troops/Chartered
Organizations
– Many Chartered Organizations and their troops
are “undecided” in the summer of 2018 about
whether they can support a new troop of girls
– in some cases, existing troop leaders have their
own commitments to the existing boy troop and
can’t commit to support a second troop’s
separate activities
– We hope that most would be thrilled to support
a new troop of girls if parents of new girls and
others commit to leadership roles.