How often do you change Scouting leaders?


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I'm asking this from a purely BSA position. The ward I grew up in was pretty steady in its leaders for Scouting.

However, now that I'm working for the BSA, I'm noticing that a lot of wards seem to change their leaders every couple of months. We're trying to post charters, but half the wards have already completely changed everything they have submitted.

Part of me says "oh, well", but the other part of me is concerned about the price and the effect on the boys.

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  • 2 years later...

I think the dynamics of the Ward plays a huge part. In my ward, it seems to be every few years at the most. Since we all seem to shift callings in that amount of time due to the few that serve. Same 10% do the more difficult callings. I am the YM president now for 1 year. The one before me was only a year, before him was 2 years.

I also remember having the same leaders (lifers) growing up.

PS - I was in your scout office this week. Up at the U?

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However, now that I'm working for the BSA, I'm noticing that a lot of wards seem to change their leaders every couple of months. We're trying to post charters, but half the wards have already completely changed everything they have submitted.

This is interesting to me, and I have to wonder if it's detrimental to the program overall. My old scoutmaster (non Church troop) is still involved. AFAIK, he was a scoutmaster for at least 2 years before I joined the troop at 11, and has been continuously active with Scouting ever since. (I'm now 36.) That sort of experience is helpful in a lot of situations.

Even our assistant scoutmasters were generally around for 5 years or more. I can't imagine someone taking it on without it being at least a 4-6 year spot.

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Our troop has a goal of changing scoutmasters every two to three years. But we also have a stated goal of selecting a scoutmaster from one of the assistant scoutmasters or committee members that has been involved for at least 2-3 years.

Our previous scoutmaster filled the role for six years, and is now the charter rep. Our current scoutmaster was a cubmaster for 2-3 years, then was the advancement chairperson for two years before taking on scoutmaster. One of our other committee members was a scoutmaster for 5 years, but had to step down due to health problems that prevented him from going on most trips. He now helps with our weekly meetings and boards of review. We have another assistant scoutmaster that helps run our high adventure program. He was an ASM for 10 years before his last boy left scouting and he has continued to run the backpacking program ever since.

The observation of all of the experienced scouters I've known is that you can get away with short termed scoutmasters if you have a group of very experienced leaders to help carry the load. If you don't have that body of experience, then switching scoutmasters often is probably going to be really bad for the program.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I was in a non-Church Scout Troop and the Scoutmaster has been doing his thing for at least 25 years. His son is in his 40's and is one of the Assistant Scoutmasters and is an Eagle Scout. I prefer to have Scoutmasters with some sort of experience. I remember the Scoutmaster in my ward talking about the regulations and rules of the current BSA being very very different from 15-20 years ago. Of course, there could have been a break when he served as a Scoutmaster before and the period he serves now, but I think it is not a good idea to change Scoutmasters so often unless it is absolutely necessary.

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My husband has been the 11-year-old Scout Leader for 5 years. He is hoping he gets to serve for 7 because then my last son would have graduated out of the 11-year-old scout program.

Our scoutmasters have been a revolving door. It seems like everytime we call one, they end up moving somewhere else.

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How often should we change scout leaders? Certainly less often than we do.

I went through 7 years of scouting with my son in a troop affiliated with another church having 50 to 80 scouts and around 30 adult leaders. Scouting with them has been the best thing I have ever done and I am still camping with them a few years after my son aged out.

Scoutmaster is not a calling, it is a career. It only requires about one hour a week; one hour for each one of those 80 boys. The path to scoutmaster in our troop:

-high level leadership experience at the cub scout level

-first year getting your feet wet working on a committee while your boy is 11 years old

-a year or more as the head of one of the challenging committees like outdoors

-nomination by the 9 member troop commitee when a new scoutmaster is needed

-a year of apprenticeship as the designated next scoutmaster learning the ropes from the retiring scoutmaster

-completion simultaneously of several months of training offered in organized BSA courses (the scoutmaster for my son was wood badge trained)

The term of service is expected to be 5 years or more, although unanticipated circumstances and employment changes can shorten that. Other leaders are expected to serve as long as possible but we change them after a few years. I have been asst. outdoors committee chair for 9 years under 3 heads of that committee and have camped out over 200 nights counting high adventure. Greater commitment to preparation results in stronger and better leaders.

Extreme examples:

1. At one extreme is Mr. Bob who helped start the troop in the 1970’s and was the second scoutmaster after the first one quit. He is still there every week on the front row in full uniform always willing to set the rest of us straight. Believe me there is added value in having a grizzled scoutmaster’s scoutmaster in the middle of things with 40 years of experience. Mr. Bob is like having a general authority in ward council every week.

2. At the other extreme, I was called out of the blue to be the ward scoutmaster when my son was in diapers. I had no training, no assistants, and horribly undisciplined boys. Those few months were the single worst church experience of my life. I have written a nearly 4000 word rant about it titled “Misadventures of a Mormon Scoutmaster” if anyone wants to read it and don’t blame me if you throw up during or after.

I suggest it is not the length of time but the quality of the training and experience that makes a good leader. Excellent training takes time, many years.

Why give our boys anything less than the best in scouting?

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How often should we change scout leaders? Certainly less often than we do.

I went through 7 years of scouting with my son in a troop affiliated with another church having 50 to 80 scouts and around 30 adult leaders. Scouting with them has been the best thing I have ever done and I am still camping with them a few years after my son aged out.

Scoutmaster is not a calling, it is a career. It only requires about one hour a week; one hour for each one of those 80 boys. The path to scoutmaster in our troop:

-high level leadership experience at the cub scout level

-first year getting your feet wet working on a committee while your boy is 11 years old

-a year or more as the head of one of the challenging committees like outdoors

-nomination by the 9 member troop commitee when a new scoutmaster is needed

-a year of apprenticeship as the designated next scoutmaster learning the ropes from the retiring scoutmaster

-completion simultaneously of several months of training offered in organized BSA courses (the scoutmaster for my son was wood badge trained)

The term of service is expected to be 5 years or more, although unanticipated circumstances and employment changes can shorten that. Other leaders are expected to serve as long as possible but we change them after a few years. I have been asst. outdoors committee chair for 9 years under 3 heads of that committee and have camped out over 200 nights counting high adventure. Greater commitment to preparation results in stronger and better leaders.

Extreme examples:

1. At one extreme is Mr. Bob who helped start the troop in the 1970’s and was the second scoutmaster after the first one quit. He is still there every week on the front row in full uniform always willing to set the rest of us straight. Believe me there is added value in having a grizzled scoutmaster’s scoutmaster in the middle of things with 40 years of experience. Mr. Bob is like having a general authority in ward council every week.

2. At the other extreme, I was called out of the blue to be the ward scoutmaster when my son was in diapers. I had no training, no assistants, and horribly undisciplined boys. Those few months were the single worst church experience of my life. I have written a nearly 4000 word rant about it titled “Misadventures of a Mormon Scoutmaster” if anyone wants to read it and don’t blame me if you throw up during or after.

I suggest it is not the length of time but the quality of the training and experience that makes a good leader. Excellent training takes time, many years.

Why give our boys anything less than the best in scouting?

I would love to read your rant.

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