January 7, 2019

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2019 and another great year of Scouting. Monday brings us back to our Monday meeting Schedule, our Patrol Leaders are planning an eggciting meeting for Monday night.

Thanks for the Christmas Gifts

I told everyone all I wanted for Christmas was for everyone in the Troop to fill out a Troop Survey. I would like to thank the following families who honored that request. Thank to the Lisowski, McGrath, Kozlik, Andersen(Austen), Townsend, Hayden, Yonkovich, Miller and Koenig families who submitted at least one survey (three or more would be ideal, Father, mother and scout). Also had one without a name, but liked catching Mr. F. Drinking caffeinated soda, I know who you are!! I hope the rest of you didn’t get coal for Christmas. The only plus side of getting coal, it works good for Dutch Oven cooking. If you would like to still do the survey, the survey is at THIS LINK

Upcoming Events

We have some great events coming up and you need to make sure you get signed up for them. The Christmas campout is due this week, but registration, tubing and the auto show are all coming up this month or next, fill out the master sheet and get signed up for all. Check your Court of Honor handout for all the details!

New Youth Protection Rules

As many of you know, the BSA takes the youth (and adult) protection very seriously. The BSA introduced a new youth protection training in the fall of 2018 and require ALL registered adults to take the new course. So first of all, all those adults who want to re-register with the Troop this month, as an adult MUST take the new training, but I would like to encourage ALL PARENTS to take the course so you fully understand the expectations of the BSA regarding youth protection because as parents, you are driving scouts, dropping them off and maybe even picking them up when you car pool or other things related to Scouting. You should understand what rules the adults must follow to keep your son safe as well as your own protection. You can find out more about the training HERE

In light of the new Youth Protection rules, I want all scouts and parents to know that any interaction with adults must include TWO adults. This not limited to when we are on meetings and outings but also communications with adults such as Merit Badge Counselors, the adult leaders in the Troop or other parents. The BSA expects that even for text messages, emails and other communications that another adult be either added to the email, included in the text or whatever form of communications you are using. Scouts, feel free to include your parents, another leader or another adult. For our youth leaders, we encourage you to use the email/text groups the troop has established where there is typically many people involved in the discussion. While these rules apply to interaction between youth and adults, it is not a bad practice even between youth, especially if there is any chance of bullying or something that makes you feel uncomfortable about a situation. This includes any online gaming where you might be chatting with other scouts. For scouts who email adults directly in the Troop, Adults please respond back to those messages by including another adult if the scout has forgotten to add one. It could be their parents, or one of the other leaders in the Troop. Parents, if you get copied on one of these communications, you will understand why. This is probably a good time to remind EVERYONE, if you ever feel uncomfortable about any action or communications from someone else, be sure to tell your parents, another leader or adult. No one should feel unsafe in Scouting or even outside of Scouting. Safety always comes first. For scouts, if another scout comes to you with concerns, don’t be afraid to let adults know.

You got new Toys!

If you got new toys or outgrown some, or even bored with some toys, and you think another scout might enjoy them. Let me know, we might be able to add them to the Christmas Auction at the Christmas campout coming up in a few weeks and someone else can enjoy them. Let’s call it recycling of toys.

Well that is about all for this week, see you Monday at the Troop meeting, let’s kick off the New Year with some great scouting!

Thanks

Mr. F.