District chairman's Corner

October 4, 2007

Hello fellow Scouters -

A couple of recent events have indicated to me that the I needed to write what follows and that all unit leaders in our district need to read it and understand it completely.

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) provides a youth program complete with activities, publications, youth program handbooks, uniforming, a nationally recognized “brand name”, training materials for youth and adults, and guidelines for safety and youth protection. Community organizations such as churches, PTA’s, VFW Posts, American Legion Posts, etc. “buy” this program from the BSA to use as their youth program. They pay for the program through membership fees paid at registration and then once a year at re-charter time. Adult volunteers administer and “run” the program for the Chartering Organization according to BSA guidelines and regulations. It’s important to note that the program is not “customized” or “segmented” to “fit” each organization’s idea or the unit leaders’ idea of what the program should be. Units are not free to pick and choose the parts of the program that they use or follow.

In addition, the BSA provides liability as well as accident and sickness insurance for its youth and adult members. There is a “catch” though involved in this insurance coverage – “Accident and sickness insurance pays regardless of fault as long as the accident occurred during an official Scouting activity and the unit or council has purchased the coverage.” This is an important point to keep in mind when planning a Troop, Pack or Crew activity. Activities that are not conducted by properly (BSA) trained leaders and that are not approved by the BSA and are not age appropriate as determined by the BSA are not covered by the liability or accident and sickness insurance by the BSA.

This means that if a unit is involved in an activity that does not meet BSA regulations, leaders may be personally liable for expenses and damages if a youth is injured or worse during that activity. Also, the BSA’s coverage will not apply.

The BSA publishes a “Guide to Safe Scouting” that lists approved and age-appropriate activities for its youth members and also lists activities that are not approved. The most up-to-date “Guide” is available free of charge on-line at the following link where it can be downloaded and printed:

http://www.scouting.org/nav/enter.jsp?s=xx&c=ds&terms=guide+to+safe+scouting

A copy was also given to each Scout unit on the Lighthouse CD – that CD also contains additional safety and insurance information for unit use. It is also available in printed form for a nominal charge (for paper and printing time) at the Scout Shoppe in the Council Service Center. In the strongest way possible, I urge each and every adult leader to get a copy of this guide and read it from cover to cover. It should be used when planning unit activities to be sure that the activities are “approved”. It must also be made available to the parents of the youth in your unit so that they can read it and be assured that the program that their children are participating in is safe and age-appropriate.

So, as much as we’d like to take our Cub Scouts on a canoe trip, take our Boy Scouts to a paint-ball field, put on our own archery or BB-gun program at a Cub Scout family camp, take our Boy Scouts to our gun club let them shoot automatic weapons – NONE of these is an approved activity and we just can’t do it. If these activities are listed on an application for a Local Tour Permit, you can be sure that the Local Tour Permit will be denied.

Personally, I can think of no reason to put my life savings and my house at risk by putting on non-approved activities for Scouts – I don’t know that you really wan to take that risk either. If you have any questions about this information, please call or e-mail me, your Unit Commissioner or your Scouting professional.

Yours in Scouting –
Steve Stefanko
Chairman, Headwaters District

September 28,2007

I hope you all had a safe and restful summer full of all the things we do in the summer, vacation, golf, travel, time with the kids, summer camp, etc.

In the coming months, I will be posting comments here regarding District Events, Training opportunities, Council-wide issues, District issues, Properties issues and other topics.

The initial message here is to let you know about your District Committee. A wise man once simplified the description of a District to me in a few short words– a District does what a unit cannot do by itself because of the limitations of scope. Most units do not have enough adult leaders to run a comprehensive training program for youth and adults, plan large events three or four times a year, stay up-to-date on recruiting techniques, stay current with advancement requirements and procedures, raise funds to help provide our program to our youth, keep abreast of National policies and program enhancements- in addition to providing the weekly program that is Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts and Venturing.

The District Committee exists to make sure that these areas are addressed and available to each and every Pack, Troop, and Crew in our District. The committee has chair-persons for each of these areas and they in turn have committees working for them to address issues, programs, opportunities, concerns and regulations.

The Committee exists to make YOUR unit’s program better and more diverse for the youth. They plan and put on District-wide program events (Camporees, Winter Fun Days, Klondike Derbies, Recognition Dinners etc.), training events (OWL, BALOO, Wood Badge, etc), Advancement events (Eagle Boards of Review, Belt Loop Days, etc.) coordination of membership drives, popcorn sales and FOS campaigns. The chair-persons for each of the sub-committees are listed on this web-page as well as are their e-mail addresses. PLEASE use these good people and their committees as resources for your programs – they have lots of experience and are always willing to help out, offer advice and listen to concerns that you may have.

I look forward to serving you as your District Chairman and helping you make your program the very best that it can be for our Scouts.

Steve Stefanko