Unit Commissioner Corner

All your efforts paid off. You built relationships with key people in the school administration and you have been granted access to students during school time. Now is the time to execute your events leading up to and including sign-up night. The following are the best ways to motivate the students to join Scouting: Class to class presentations about two to three minutes, respecting instruction time and classroom routines and procedures. Leave a small gift with the teachers as a thank you. School wide rally gets students motivated and is appreciated by students. It is still an interruption to the normal instruction time, so make it worth it. Recess and gym class presentations are not as appreciated by the students, but reduces disruptions to instruction time. School News is the easiest sell, but it is possible that the student are not paying attention. You may have to do something weird to get their attention. The following preparations must be done in advance of a school presentation...

  Well, you tried to gain access to school following the ten best practices for gaining school access in the previous post: "How to Gain School Access." Despite your best efforts, you are right where you started. When I taught special education at a school for students with emotional behavioral disorders, I asked my students: "What part of this can you control?" That is my question for you. Here are some best practices for recruiting without school access. It is what you can control. Attend PTA/PTO meetings to present the benefits of Scouting and invite people to a sign-up event. Set-up a Facebook event with a geofencing strategy. Encourage peer-to-peer recruiting. Communicate with Mom Groups in the community. Offer to host a STEM/STEAM night with Pinewood Derby cars. Offer stickers with a QR code to your unit's sign-up page. Ask for a Scout Uniform Day at school during special days such as 9/11. Ask for an Open House table space. Update Pin information on BeaS...

 The post pandemic recruiting environment has been difficult for many Scouting units. School access is limited and our bag of tricks that have worked in the past are not available to us. There is a separate blog forthcoming titled: "How to Recruit Without School Access." This post will give us ideas on how to gain school access. The best tool to gain school access for Scouting is RELATIONSHIPS. When key leaders at the school have a relationship with the unit, they are more likely to allow the unit leaders access. Relationships build the trust that is needed for the administration to feel at ease with our presence. They need to trust that we will respect their instructional time, provide appropriate take home materials, and add value to their mission of educating students. The following are some best practices to build year round relationships with the school: Adopt a school - Have your Scouts do service projects at the school. Invite Principals and teachers to Scouting event...

Unit leaders put a lot of effort into their endeavors to serve the Scouts and deserve to be recognized. When I started out as a Cub Scout leader in my child's Pack in 1996, I had no idea about adult awards. I served as a Pack Committee member, Assistant Webelos Den Leader, and Webelos Den Leader for a total of three years without recognition. I have heard it numerous times: "I'm in it for the kids, not for myself." That is a great attitude, but misses a vital point. The point is, that we motivate the Scouts to advance, when we receive recognition. The Scouts love it when we succeed at something, because they truly care about their leaders. The following link will take you to the Progress Records for each award at the unit level.: https://www.scouting.org/training/training-awards-and-recognition/ Including one of these Award Progress Records as part of the onboarding process will help the new leader see a path towards achievement, part of the unit, and with Roundtable ...

There are several things that can affect your status of being "Fully Position Trained". The main culprits are: Hazardous Weather Training for direct contact leaders has expired IOLS for Scouts BSA leaders not taken. Position Specific Online Training not completed or In Person Classroom Training not posted. Changing positions in the unit. All direct contact leaders are required to take Hazardous Weather Training once a year. For Scouts BSA units, this would be Scoutmasters and Assistant Scoutmasters. For Cub Scout Units it will include Cubmasters, Assistant Cubmasters, Den Leaders, and Assistant Den Leaders. If your Hazardous Weather Training expired, your status as Trained will be affected. Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills (IOLS) is required for Scoutmasters and Assistant Scoutmasters. In the past, Outdoor Webelos Leaders Skills (OWLS) was required; however it has been retired as of February 28, 2018. IOLS is offered at multiple times throughout the year at Council lev...